And worse, it gives the unfortunate, reductive impression that Batman's Rogues Gallery is so limited that the only option was to copy and paste Jack Nicholson's Joker rather than letting The Riddler and Two-Face do their own thing. The result is that Batman Forever feels like it's trying to stride out away from what came before, but which is patently anchored by that which it seeks to avoid.

He is a malevolent showman whose fundamental drive feels more capitalist than anything in the pursuit of individual bragging rights, which feels like an essential misunderstanding. Where the comic book original Riddler was more like a chess master manipulating his foe, Carrey's version is the kind of villain who despatches an enemy by throwing them out of a window. He was told to jettison anything that would lead to embarrassing situations like McDonald's pulling their Happy Meal tie-in to Batman Returns but retain the more marketable elements.Īnd then there's Jim Carrey's jester-like Riddler, who frustratingly has kernels of the real deal in there - like his desire to prove he's better than Bruce Wayne - but who is way more Napier than Nygma. But for the studio to make sure they could still call on the fans of Burton's Batman movies, they entrusted incoming director Joel Schumacher with an agenda to make his Batman different but to keep the parts that worked.

To reboot at that stage would have been illogical, so Batman Forever was presented as a sort of soft sequel, continuing on the same timeline, but avoiding mentioning the past overtly at all cost, unless entirely necessary. Related: Batman Forever Unreleased Extended Director’s Cut DOES Exist The sequel perhaps less so, but it was still a lucrative movie, and to reject both entirely would be to risk alienating an entire audience. because both Batman and Batman Returns made money and fans. On the back of Batman Returns' release, Warner Bros were forced into a change of direction - in both senses - as pressure from merchandising partners and anxiety over maximizing earning potential led to the rejection of Tim Burton's gleefully grotesque image of Gotham.

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