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Title: An Insult to the Character
Review: If you're a Batman fan, you can't help but be insulted by this travesty directed by Joel Schumacher. Over-blown, over-done and over-acted, this film practically trashes all the elements that made this series popular. When this particular film series started there was a deliberate attempt to give fans a non-campy Batman after the old Adam West TV show. At least the 60's TV series was SUPPOSED to be over-the-top, but having a more "serious" approach to the character treated this way is inexcusable. Only George Clooney's underused Batman and Michael Gough's solid-as-always Alfred have any dignity to their roles. Everyone else overacts in one way or another. Schumacher's style was OK in BATMAN FOREVER, but he went overboard using a paint bucket rather than a brush in this travesty. (For those politically inclined, Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura has a cameo as an Arkham guard who gets poisoned by Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy.) A film to avoid, unless you want cheap laughs.
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