Batman Forever

The circus comes to Gotham City as Joel Schumacher takes over the Bat-franchise, trading Tim Burton’s doom and gloom for a neon-soaked “joy-gasm!” (as exclaimed by Jim Carrey‘s Riddler) that recalls the original ’60s television series (with a slightly smarter screenplay, anyway). Bruce Wayne loses the twitchy edge provided by Michael Keaton as Val Kilmer takes over the role, though his more traditionally handsome looks might make for a more “classic” portrait of the billionaire playboy; his enemies here include disgruntled Wayne Enterprises employee Edward Nygma (Carrey), who brings out the detective in the Dark Knight with his series of diabolical … well, riddles, and former District Attorney Harvey Dent (Tommy Lee Jones, looking nothing like Billy Dee Williams), whose hideous facial scarring has transformed him into Two-Face (that rare villain who, in the words of the Riddler, is “both a summer and a winter”). Wayne finds a friend and Batman a partner in the form of Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell), a revenge-minded acrobat, and both Wayne and Batman gain a love interest in hottie shrink Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), who finds the new men in her life to be “interesting,” to say the least. A lighter, more “fun” film than its immediate predecessor, “Batman Returns” … if not necessarily a better one. – IFC Staff