Batman and Robin is the worst movie but I actually personally hate Forever more because while one could easily tell B&R was going to be a trainwreck, Forever initially showed promise. For one thing, Schumacher wanted to keep the tone consistent with the Burtom movies (but WB felt Returns alienated kids from seeing it so they forced him to make it family-friendly). Kilmer seems like a good choice to play Batman. While it sucks we lost Billy Dee Williams, Tommy Lee Jones was a great pick for Two-Face. Jim Carrey totally could portray the smug yet brilliant Riddler. Nicole Kidman was playing an original character but regardless great actress so all good. The only weak link was Chris O'Donnell who was too old to play Dick Grayson, maybe if they had skipped the origin and had as Nightwing right away it would have worked but they really should have cast someone 15-17 years old (or can pull off the look of that age like Tom Holland).
But then the film came out and was a total let down. Kilmer is trying but just doesn't give the best performance (and apparently the mask doesn't let him breathe through his nose considering he never shuts his mouth). Jones doesn't play Two-Face but an obnoxious clone of the Joker and completely glosses over his entire origin. Carrey just acts like he's in one of his usual comedies and doesn't feel anything like the Riddler. Nicole Kidman plays an adult woman who acts like a horny teenager considering virtually all her dialogue is trying to get into Batman's pants even if its involves misusing police equipment! And O'Donnell sucks. There's plenty of other problems too like Batman spending so much time giving Grayson shit for wanting to kill Two-Face, but then he clearly kills Two-Face at the end with the coins trick as he knew Two-Face couldn't resist grabbing for them (and unlike Two-Face and Talia in the Nolan trilogy where their deaths felt unavoidable given the circumstances, here it just felt unnecessary, like he couldn't have tried to catch Two-Face with a grappling hook or something). The film tries to be goofy and serious at the same time which granted can work on occasion (see the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon) but does not have the competence to pull it off. The one good moment is when Two-Face declares he will murder the Graysons if Batman doesn't show up and reveal his identity, Bruce immediately stands up and screams that he's Batman. That is fucking awesome. He's willing to sacrifice any possibility of a normal life just to ensure a few innocent people don't die. Good stuff. Sadly it's a lone gem in a pile of shit.
