Oh, man. I love Batman & Robin. It's actually one of my favorite movies of all time. And, no. I'm not joking. A while back, I ranked every Batman movie, and I put Batman & Robin at the very bottom. But, you know what? If we're talking about personal favorites, Batman & Robin is one of my favorite Batman movies ever.
In fact, if you asked me to be honest with myself and rank the movies how I personally feel about them (because I typically defer to actual quality rather than just my personal enjoyment when I make these lists), I would say that number 1 is The Dark Knight. Number 2 is 1989's Batman. And number 3 is Batman & Robin.
Now, don't get me wrong. The George Clooney-led Batman & Robin is aggressively bad. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a worse movie on the big screen in my entire life (well, besides maybe the Rollerball remake with LL Cool J). That said, the Troll 2 levels of enjoyment that I get out of this film are simply unmatched. Because I ADORE so-bad-they're-good movies, and Batman & Robin may be the baddest. So, come into my Batcave and listen to why I love Batman & Robin with my full heart and soul.
Unlike Batman Forever, Batman & Robin Fully Embraces The Cheese
Do you want to know a bad Batman movie? Batman Forever. Yes, Joel Schumacher directed both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, and they almost have a similar style. But, I would argue that while Batman Forever is cheesy, it doesn't go full throttle into the gorgonzola like Batman & Robin does.
My biggest complaint with Batman Forever is that Jim Carrey as The Riddler, and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face feel like they’re in the wrong flick. What is unquestionably one of Jim Carrey’s worst movies, and almost certainly Tommy Lee Jones’ worst film, Batman Forever sees the two of them hamming it up like mad, but the rest of the film around them almost seems like it wants to be taken seriously.
And, I get it. After following the two Tim Burton films, Joel Schumacher likely wanted to do something different, but also didn’t want to stray too far away from what came before it. So, what we end up getting is a very comic-booky movie, but also one that is sometimes dark. What I mean is, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey seemingly want to push it all the way up to 11, while the rest of the film itself is mostly at a 6 when it comes to the oddball department.
Not so with Batman & Robin, which is at 11 all the time. This is the kind of film where Batman and Robin have ice skates in their boots. Because why wouldn’t they? It's also the kind of film where Bane isn’t a nuanced genius who was born in the darkness, but rather a giant brute who grunts the whole movie and goes “Hrrrhhrhhr!”. Hell, this is a movie where Batman has his own credit card. I mean, come on now. How could you not love this movie?
George Clooney Is Actually A Great Batman
Now, when we ranked the live-action Batman actors, George Clooney ended up near the bottom, and look, I get it. I would have put George Clooney at the bottom of one of these lists, too, since I know people take their Batman seriously, and putting George Clooney any higher is a big risk. That said, George Clooney is actually a really great Batman.
Here’s the thing. I feel like every Batman actor has to fit the tone of the film that he’s in. Adam West played a perfect Batman for the campy ‘60s show, and Michael Keaton played a more serious version of the character in the two Tim Burton films. But, Val Kilmer was a pretty lousy Batman, and only because, as I mentioned earlier, Batman Forever is such a tonally weird film.
But George Clooney is perfect in the distinctly insane world that Joel Schumacher created for Batman & Robin. He’s not exactly the straight man since he’s also kind of bizarre himself, but he’s also suave, debonair and always engaging as the Caped Crusader, so I think he does an excellent job in the role. Yes, I know George Clooney himself says he “wasn’t good” at playing Batman, but, well, that’s just his opinion, man.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Got Paid Millions Of Dollars To Essentially Spout Ice Puns
Do you know how much Arnold Schwarzenegger made for Batman & Robin? According to what George Clooney once said, $25 million. Do you know how much George Clooney made? $1 million. That’s the actual figure Clooney said during an interview with The Howard Stern Show. And if the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger made WAY more than George Clooney isn’t one of the funniest things you’ve ever heard, then check this out – all Arnold really did for his time making the movie is spout ice puns.
As a dad, I can appreciate these really bad jokes, and I honestly cannot say an ice pun without using Arnie’s voice. In fact, the other day, I was at a meeting at the school I work in, and I unknowingly said, “Allow me to break the ice,” just like Arnold. It took my coworker to say, “Batman & Robin?” for me to even realize what I was doing. I guess that $25 million was worth it then, huh? Chill!
Poison Ivy Has Never Been In Any Other Live-Action Batman Movie, And She's One Of My Favorite Batman Villains
Talk about criminal! We’ve had FOUR live-action Catwomen on film with Lee Meriwether, Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway and Zoe Kravitz, but only ONE live-action cinematic Poison Ivy. What gives? Well, unfortunately, even though I loved Uma Thurman vamping it up in Batman & Robin, we might never get another version of the character since she’s already been done in a Batman movie, and the Caped Crusader still has a large, unused rogues’ gallery that he still hasn't gotten through yet.
This is a shame since Poison Ivy is one of my favorite Batman villains. And, as an eco-terrorist, I really think she’d be cool with an update to make her more relevant to the here-and-now. I could even see Robert Pattinson’s version of Batman taking on a version of her. But alas, that most likely won’t happen. Even so, at least we got SOME version of the character on the big screen, and that ain’t nothing.
We Likely Wouldn't Have The Christopher Nolan Trilogy Without It
Lastly, without the colossal dislike of Batman & Robin, we likely wouldn’t have gotten the massive overhaul that was the Christopher Nolan trilogy. Now, we know for a fact that Joel Schumacher was set to make a sequel to Batman & Robin titled Batman Unchained, and that it would have featured Nicolas Cage as The Scarecrow, and yeah, that could have been interesting.
But can we all just agree that it was so much better that Christopher Nolan got his hands on the Caped Crusader after Batman & Robin, which changed the course of a cinematic Batman forever (pun not intended)? Because just think: without Batman & Robin being SO out there and zany, I’m not sure if Warner Bros. would have reached out to the very cerebral Christopher Nolan to revamp the franchise. The verdict is still out there, but without Batman & Robin’s failure, we might never have gotten The Dark Knight, and I think we’re all the better for it.
What do you think, though? Do you also unabashedly love Batman & Robin? For more news on all things Batman, make sure to swing by here often!
