Theres actully an amusing video on youtube where Joel Shcumacher appologies to the fans for this picture. That was slightly amusing.
However... I dont just take things at face value. Its worth upacking what happened here.
What I'm saying is that Batman Forever was probabily considered a huge success because it must of made a lot of money in merchandising.
I've seen The Number 23 which was also directed by Joel Schumacher and I thought it was pretty good.
The quetion is why Batman Forever was made that way?? The reason being Tim Burton's Batman Returns was not that well recieved. I enjoyed Batman Returns, but somethings dont work. Such as the penguins with rocket launchers on their backs in the last scenes.
And the film was not kid friendly. So Warner Bros commissioned Batman Forever with Joel (and produced by Tim Burton's company). I personally feel its not his fault Batman Forever and Batman & Robin wernt that good. I feel the people who are accountable are Warner Bros for giving him a mandate to make the films this way for mechandising purposes.
The other point is some stuff in these films is actully very good. I really enjoyed watching Bruce's relationship with Dick (when their not Batman and Robin). Bruce does his best to protect someone he feels is his younger brother, and he really does suffocate Dick. I really enjoyed when Bruce ask Alfred whether he thinks hes 'arrogrant, controlling, pig headed'; and Alfred says he is.
For me Joel got that part right. What is Batman if not an attempt to control death? The death of his parents which he continues to avenge... I thought the relatonship between Bruce and Alfred was also really well done. Michael Gough and George did a good job here, Bruce unable to let go of his inability to control death.
Personally I feel, yes they are bad films on some level, but there are somethings that are really well done. I think Joel is a very good director, he simply followed the mandate given to him by Warner Bros; and what choices did they have, Batman Returns didnt work, it was a good film, but it didnt work in positioning the character for better films.
This is the problem I have with Nolan as well... He made three films, which dont account for all the variabiles in comics. And now hes says hes done with Batman. Fine. Why dont you make your own series of films with your own characters? Batman now has to be rebooted because Christopher Nolan has completed a trilogy of Batman films. If he didnt want to make this Batman available for further feature films, et al. Why bother making them in the first place. Just because hes finished with Batman, it dosent mean that the series has to finish.
