When Tim Burton and Michael Keaton announced that they'd had enough of the Batman franchise, director Joel Schumacher stepped in (with Burton as coproducer) to make this action-packed extravaganza starring Val Kilmer as the caped crusader. Batman is up against two of Gotham City's most colorful criminals, the Riddler (a role tailor-made for funnyman Jim Carrey) and the diabolical Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), who join forces to conquer Gotham's population with a brain-draining device. Nicole Kidman plays the seductive psychologist who wants to know what makes Batman tick. Boasting a redesigned Batmobile and plenty of new Bat hardware, Batman Forever also introduces Robin the Boy Wonder (Chris O'Donnell) whose close alliance with Batman led more than a few critics to ponder the series' homoerotic subtext. No matter how you interpret it, Schumacher's take on the Batman legacy is simultaneously amusing, lavishly epic, and prone to chronic sensory overload. --Jeff Shannon

Rated:   PG-13

Studio: Warner Studios

DVD Release Date: August 22, 1997

Run Time: 122

The Riddler: Joygasm!

Dr. Chase Meridian: Hot entrance!

Two-Face decides a victim's fate with a coin toss
Two-Face: Ah. Fortune smiles. Another day of wine and roses. Or, in your case, beer and pizza!

Two-Face: One man is born a hero, his brother a coward. Babies starve, politicians grow fat. Holy men are martyred, and junkies grow legion. Why? Why, why, why, why, why? Luck! Blind, stupid, simple, doo-dah, clueless luck!

The Riddler: Riddle me this, what sort of a man has bats on the brain?

The Riddler: Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?

Batman: Commissioner Gordon?
Dr. Chase Meridian: He's at home. I sent the signal.
Batman: What's wrong?
Dr. Chase Meridian: Last night, at the bank, I noticed something about Two-Face. His coin. It's his Achilles' heel. It can be exploited.
Batman: I know. You called me here for this? The Batsignal is not a beeper.
Dr. Chase Meridian: Well I wish I could say that my interest in you was... purely professional.
Batman: You trying to get under my cape, doctor?
Dr. Chase Meridian: A girl can't live by psychoses alone.
Batman: It's the car, right? Chicks love the car.
Dr. Chase Meridian: What is it about the wrong kind of man? In grade school it was guys with earrings. College, motorcycles, leather jackets. Now, *oh*, black rubber.
Batman: Try firemen, less to take off.
Dr. Chase Meridian: I don't mind the work. Pity I can't see behind the mask.
Batman: We all wear masks.
Dr. Chase Meridian: My life's an open book. You read?
Batman: I don't blend in at a family picnic.
Dr. Chase Meridian: Oh, we could give it a try. I'll bring the wine, you bring your scarred psyche.
Batman: Direct aren't you?
Dr. Chase Meridian: You like strong women. I've done my homework. Or do I need skin-tight vinyl and a whip?
Batman: I haven't had that much luck with women.
Dr. Chase Meridian: Maybe you just haven't met the right woman.

Dick Grayson: I need a name! Batboy, Nightwing, I dunno. What's a good sidekick name?
Bruce Wayne: How about Dick Grayson, college student?
Dick Grayson: Screw you!

Alfred Pennyworth: I'm sorry to bother you, sir. But I have some rather distressing news about Master Dick.
Bruce Wayne: What? Is he alright?
Alfred Pennyworth: I'm afraid Master Dick has, uhm, gone traveling.
Bruce Wayne: He ran away?
Alfred Pennyworth: Actually, he took the car.
Bruce Wayne: He boosted the Jag?
Alfred Pennyworth: No, sir. Not the Jaguar. The other car.
Bruce Wayne: The Bentley?
Alfred Pennyworth: No, sir! The *other car*.

Alfred Pennyworth: Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, sir?
Batman: I'll get drive-thru.

pauses

The Riddler: You should have let me in on this. We could have planned it, prepared it, pre-sold the movie rights!

upon reaching Claw Island
Robin: Holey rusted metal, Batman!
Batman: Huh?
Robin: The ground, it's all metal. It's full of holes. You know, holey.
Batman: Oh.

Dick Grayson: All I can think about every second of the day is getting Two-Face. He took my whole life. And when I was out there tonight, I imagined it was him that I was fighting, even when I was fighting you. And all the pain went away. Do you understand?
Bruce Wayne: Yes, I do.
Dick Grayson: Good, cause you gotta help me find him. And when we do, I'm the one who kills him.
Bruce Wayne: So, you're willing to take a life.
Dick Grayson: Long as it's Two-Face.
Bruce Wayne: Then it will happen this way: You make the kill, but your pain doesn't die with Harvey, it grows. So you run out into the night to find another face, and another, and another, until one terrible morning you wake up and realize that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why.
Dick Grayson: You can't understand. Your family wasn't killed by a maniac.
Bruce Wayne: Yes, they were. We're the same.

Batman: I read your work. Insightful. Naive, but insightful.
Dr. Chase Meridian: I'm flattered. Not every girl makes a superhero's night table.

Dr. Chase Meridian: He'll slaughter them without thinking twice.
Batman: Agreed. A trauma powerful enough to create an alternate personality leaves the victim...
Dr. Chase Meridian: - in a world where normal rules of right and wrong no longer apply.
Batman: Exactly.
Dr. Chase Meridian: Like you. - Well, let's just say that I could write a hell of a paper on a grown man who dresses like a flying rodent.
Batman: Bats aren't rodents, Dr. Meridian.

Dr. Chase Meridian: By the way, do you have a first name, or do I just call you Bat?

Bruce Wayne: Perhaps letters of the alphabet.
Alfred Pennyworth: Of course, 13 is M.
Bruce Wayne: 1 would be A, 8 would be H, and 5 would be E.
Alfred Pennyworth: M-A-H-E?
Bruce Wayne: Perhaps 1 and 8 are 18.
Alfred Pennyworth: 18... is... R. M-R-E.
Bruce Wayne: How about "Mr. E"?
Alfred Pennyworth: Mystery.
Bruce Wayne: And another name for mystery?
Alfred Pennyworth: Enigma!
Bruce Wayne: Mr. E. Nygma. Edward Nygma. Stickley's suicide was obviously a computer-generated forgery.
Alfred Pennyworth: You really are quite bright, despite what people say.

The Riddler: Tell the fat lady she's on in five.

Two-Face: You have broken into our hideout. You have violated the sanctity of our lair. For this we should crush your bones into POWDER. However, you do pose a very interesting proposition: therefore, heads, we accept, and tails, we blow your damned head off!

The Riddler: Now the real game begins!

to Two Face after Batman shows up

The Riddler: This is your brain on the box. This is my brain on the box. Does anybody else feel like a fried egg?

after being defeated
Batman: Poor Edward. I had to save them both. You see, I'm both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Not because I have to be. Now... because I choose to be.
holds out his hand. The Riddler backs away as he sees a bat
The Riddler: AAAAHHH! AHHHHGH! AAAAGH!

Stops Two Face killing Batman
The Riddler: Don't kill him! If you kill him, he won't learn nothin'!

after shooting down the Batplane
The Riddler: I hope they can find the little black box.

The Riddler: Like the jacket? It keeps me safe when I'm... jogging at night!

Chase has told the Riddler that Batman will come for her
shouting

Two-Face: You're counting on the winged avenger to deliver you from evil, aren't you my friend?
Bank Guard: Are you going to kill me?
Two-Face: Maybe, maybe not. You could say we're of two minds on the subject.

Two-Face's Lair
The Riddler: Love what you've done with the place. Heavy Metal meets House and Garden.

to Two-face

talking to the shadow
Edward Nygma: Won't tell ya' if you don't say please!
Dr. Chase Meridian: Edward, please. Who is batman?
jumping out

are trying to sink Robin's boat
Two Face: B12!
The Riddler: Hit! And my favorite vitamin might I add.

hit boss on head with coffee canister
Edward Nygma: Caffeine will KILL YA!

to Two-Face, who has just blown a hole in the ceiling of his lair

Bruce Wayne: I was scared at first, but only at first.

Two-Face destroys Robin's boat
The Riddler: YOU SUNK MY BATTLE SHIP!

Edward Nygma: You were supposed to understand. I'll *make* you understand.


 

• Brad Dourif was considered for the role of the Riddler.
• Mark Hamill (I) was briefly considered for the Riddler. Hamill plays the Joker in the animated "Batman" (1992) series.
• While learning to twirl a cane, Jim Carrey reportedly broke around a dozen prop canes and some of his trailer furniture.
• The Robin costume weighed 41 lbs.
• Dick Grayson suggests "Nightwing" for a hero name; an in-joke for the comic books, where Dick Grayson now appears as Nightwing, an identity he took after he abandoned the Robin costume in 1980s.
• In the film there is a doctor named Burton. Tim Burton (I) directed the first two Batman films and produced this sequel.
• At one moment, to Batman's surprise, Robin exclaims: "Holey rusted metal, Batman!", then explaining: "The ground, it's all metal. It's full of holes. You know, holey" - a jokey reference to the old US TV show "Batman" (1966/II) with Adam West (I), where Robin would yell his trademark exclamations of surprise every once in a while: "Holy something-or-other, Batman!".
• Will Shortz, "puzzlemaster" on National Public Radio and editor of the NY Times crossword puzzle, created the Riddler's riddles.
• The scratches on the tails side of Two-Face's coin form the letters HD, the initials of Harvey Dent, Two-Face's former identity.
• Sanders, Elizabeth, who plays Gossip Gerty, is the widow of Kane, Bob, the man who created the Batman character.
• The design of the Flying Graysons' costumes was a reference to the red, yellow and green spandex that Robin wears currently in the comic books.
• Early concepts of the final showdown on Claw Island had a huge, muscled, Riddler sitting on his throne when Batman finds him. The Riddler twists the two skulls on his armrests and the Riddler's muscled body is revealed to be a shell which splits in two, from which the real Riddler (wearing his white and green jumpsuit) steps out. This description made it into the junior novelization of the movie by Alan Grant, and was also featured in the video game based on the movie.
• In Canada, the French version of the Riddler's name is Le Sphinx.
• 'Chris ODonnell (I)'s sister can be seen directly behind him in the party scene where Robin is first introduced to the public
• In the movie, there is a scene where Two Face keeps flipping his coin until he gets a result he wants. In the comics, a key element of his split personality is that he unquestioningly accepts the result of a single coin toss concerning any decision he makes.
• When Dick Grayson ('Chris ODonnell (I)) drives the Batmobile around Gotham, a McDonald's restaurant can be seen in one of the shots. Director Joel Schumacher put it in the background, despite pressure from McDonald's to have it more visible.
• Rene Russo was originally cast to play Dr. Chase Meridian when Michael Keaton was still attached to the project as Batman. However, when Keaton dropped out of the project and was replaced by Val Kilmer, Russo was deemed to old to play his love interest and was replaced by Nicole Kidman.
• Alec Baldwin was almost cast as Batman.
• Tom Hanks was the first choice to replace Michael Keaton as Batman.
• Before deciding not to don the cape and cowl for a third time, Michael Keaton met with Joel Schumacher and declined to join the project after deciding that he did not like the direction in which Schumacher was looking to take the franchise. In the brief time that Tim Burton (I) was still considering doing a third Batman film, Riddler was the only villain that he planned on using. The idea of using Two-Face did not come up until Joel Schumacher joined the project.
• In the original Batman (1989), District Attorney Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams. Williams accepted the role with the knowledge and expectation that Dent would eventually become Two-Face: he reportedly had a clause put into his contract reserving the role for him in any sequels, which Warner Bros. had to buy out so they could cast Tommy Lee Jones.
• Chase remarks about "Or do I need skin tight vinyl and a whip", an obvious reference to the film's prequel's (Batman Returns (1992)) character "Catwoman".
• When left at Wayne Manor, Grayson informs Wayne that he is leaving. To this, Bruce replies that the circus would be halfway to Metropolis, which is the city of Superman.
• The movie was going to be shot in Cincinnati, using the old subway tunnel. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome (the arena where Dick Grayson's family is killed) is based on the exterior of Union Terminal, a famous 1930's Art Deco train station in Cincinnati.
• The role of the security guard Two-Face captures was written for Wayne Knight (I), who was expected to accept it.
• The exterior set for Two Face's hide out is the same set used in the first disappearance of Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) in Batman Returns (1992).
• Exterior scenes of Wayne Manor were filmed at the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture on Long Island, NY. The production team had to change the school's "W" on the entrance gate because it had an anchor behind it.
• Joel Schumacher's decision to put nipples on the Bat-costumes and an earring on Robin caused controversy - it even bothered Batman creator Bob Kane. Schumacher said he wanted the costumes to have an anatomic look, while the earring was supposed to make Robin more hip.
• Actors Kimberly Scott (I) (Bruce's assistant) and Michael Paul Chan (a worker at Wayne Enterprises) came back for Batman & Robin (1997), but in different roles, playing scientists at the Gotham Observatory. Joel Schumacher frequently uses them in his movies.
• Michael Worth (II) tested for the role of Robin.
• Olympic gymnast Mitchell Gaylord was a stunt double for 'Chris ODonnell (I).
• Val Kilmer learned he was the new Batman while he was literally in a bat cave in Africa, doing research for another project. He accepted the role without reading the script. Val Kilmer and Joel Schumacher clashed frequently on the set. At one point, Schumacher had what he describes as a "shoving match" with Kilmer. 25 minutes of the film were digitally color corrected at 2K resolution - a very early example of digital grading for motion pictures.
• The Scarecrow was originally going to make a cameo appearance but was scrapped because there where too many villains.
• Scott Speedman tried out for the role of Robin
• The scene where Dick Grayson sorts and dries his laundry using kung-fu moves was taken shot-by-shot from a similar scene in the Hong Kong film Yong zhe wu ju (1981) (aka "Dreadnaught").
• After seeing him in this film, record producer George Martin (I) approached Jim Carrey about performing the song "I am the Walrus" for his Beatles tribute album "In My Life". Carrey accepted.
• Joel Schumacher had asked Bono of U2 to reprise his role of Macphisto that he played during the band's ZOOTV tour, but Bono denied, saying that when ZOOTV ended so did Macphisto, so instead U2 contributed the song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" to the soundtrack.
• Leonardo DiCaprio screen tested for the role of Robin.
• After Tim Burton (I) stepped down as director, Sam Raimi (then a popular "cult" director) offered his services to the studio. He never got the job because the studio felt he wasn't a big enough name. Raimi went on to become a big name by directing Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004).
• The character Dr. Chase Meridian was given her first name as a pun, since she spends most of the film chasing after Batman.
• Robin Williams (I) was approached for the role of the Riddler, but he refused to consider the role unless Warner Bros. apologized for its previous behavior in casting the Joker. See the trivia for Batman (1989).
• After the Batmobile rides up the wall to escape from Two-Face, there was going to be a car chase on the rooftops of Gotham. Due to time and money constraints, this idea was scrapped and used in the next film, Batman & Robin (1997)
• The Batmobile was usually driven by stunt drivers, but 'Chris ODonnell (I) insisted on driving it himself in the joyride scene - but he crashed it into a curb and dented a fender.
• Reportedly, the role of Robin was narrowed down to two finalists: 'Chris ODonnell (I) and Leonardo DiCaprio. In order to decide who should get the role, the producers went to a comic book convention and asked groups of 11 year old boys (the target audience of the film) who would win a fight between the two actors. O'Donnell was overwhelmingly chosen by the boys as the winner of the fight and ultimately he won the role.