Batman and Robin (film)
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- See also the Batman film series *Batman and Robin on DVD
Batman & Robin is a 1997 film from the Batman film series starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin and introducing Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), a niece of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (Michael Gough). Gough and Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon) are the only two actors to feature in all four of the original Batman films. The villains in this movie are Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman; Mr Freeze, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who received top billing for this film); and Bane, played by Jeep Swenson. This is the final film continuity-wise in the original Batman movie franchise (1989–1997), as the franchise's story was re-imagined with 2005's Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan.
Batman & Robin was made on a budget of $125 million and had a worldwide gross of $238 million. The film also opened at #1 at the box office. Despite its box office successes, the film was met with near universal criticism from fans of the comic books, critics and the general public.[1] It was mocked for its poor script, and the film was dubbed Batman on Ice by critics for an opening scene where Batman and Robin glide on skates while battling Mr. Freeze's henchmen. The film has since become infamous for the Batsuit, specifically the prominent nipples in the molded plastic.
Contents |
Plot
The film opens with Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) preparing for action. Batman and Robin arrive at a museum and encounter Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his henchmen. They steal a diamond, but Batman stops him. To escape from Batman's watch, Freeze covers Robin in ice, and Batman has only eleven minutes to defrost him or he will freeze to death. Batman lets Freeze escape in order to save his sidekick.
The scene shifts to South America, where botanist Pamela Isely (Uma Thurman) is working under Dr. Jason Woodrue (John Glover). Woodrue refuses to tell her who he is working for, exactly what they are trying to achieve, or how it relates to Venom, the formula she has developed to give plants the ability to defend themselves. Snooping, she witnesses Woodrue use her formula to turn a diminutive convict into a hulking monstrosity dubbed "Bane" (Jeep Swenson). Woodrue discovers her and tries to sway her to his side. When she rebuffs him, he tries to silence her permanently by toppling a shelving unit of poisons on her. This does not kill her, but it does change her physically and mentally. She emerges, to Woodrue’s surprise, as a beautiful seductress who proceeds to list off her other changes, the last being that her "lips are filled with 'Venom'." To prove this, she kisses Woodrue, killing him instantly. She devotes her new life to destroying humanity and recreating the environment, with plants dominating the ecosystem. She proceeds to destroy the lab, taking Bane as her sidekick. She decides to visit Wayne Labs in Gotham City, in hopes of sharing her plans with Bruce Wayne.
Back in Gotham, Alfred Pennyworth's (Michael Gough) niece, Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone), makes a surprise visit and is invited by Bruce Wayne to stay until she goes back to school. That night, when she's talking to Alfred, it is explained that her parents died in a car accident and that Alfred was very close to her mother, Margaret, nicknamed "Peg."
Wayne Enterprises is unveiling a new telescope at a press conference interrupted by Isley. She proposes a project that could help the environment to Bruce Wayne, but he declines her offer, as it would kill millions of people. That night, a charity event is held by Wayne Enterprises with special guests, Batman and Robin. At the event, someone dressed up as an ape starts dancing seductively, and strips until revealing itself to be Poison Ivy wearing a sexy outfit. She spreads her pheromone dust that makes all of the men at the event, including Batman and Robin, drool over her gorgeous body. She puts herself up for the date auction being held. Batman and Robin immediately start bidding competitively while she offers them sexual favors, leading to Batman being the victor. However, he cannot enjoy it for long as Freeze crashes the party and steals the diamond from the event. Freeze is then caught by Batman, who forbids Robin to come with him as he had his mind on Poison Ivy.
Freeze, who has been imprisoned in a chamber within Arkham Asylum, is rescued by Ivy as she disposes of two police guards by giving them her deadly kiss and they escape from the prison. Hearing the news, Batman and Robin rush to Freeze's hideout, only to find that he's no longer there. They enter a room where Freeze's wife is being held and learn about her disease. During a confrontation with Bane, Ivy uses the distraction to attempt to seduce both Batman and Robin. Though Ivy comes close to seducing Robin and kissing him, Batman reveals Ivy's deadly ability. Robin then becomes frustrated with Batman and starts a fight with him. During their argument, Ivy and Bane manage to escape. Before escaping from the factory, Ivy, after being asked by Freeze to rescue his wife, disconnects the cryogenic chamber because she believes she is the dominant woman in Freeze's life. At Ivy's hideout, she is confronted by Freeze concerning the whereabouts of his wife. Ivy informs him that Batman killed her by shutting off her life-supporting chamber, thus resulting in Ivy and Freeze combining forces and planning to destroy Gotham along with the rest of the world.
In the sky, a Robin signal appears, made by Ivy when she and Bane stole the Bat-Signal from the police headquarters. Witnessing this, Wayne informs Dick about Ivy's true intentions and asks him to trust him. Robin locates the signal and asks Ivy about Freeze's plans. Ivy reveals Freeze's plans and finally manages to kiss Robin. Robin reveals that he is wearing rubber lips, making him immune to the toxic effects of her kiss which enrages Ivy. She angrily traps Robin, followed by Batman, who appears shortly thereafter. As Ivy tries to run-off, she is confronted by a young, costumed girl who appears and begins a fight with Ivy. The fight ultimately ends with Ivy getting kicked into a giant flower and trapped by its petals. Shortly after, Batman and Robin both escape from their traps. The girl, dressed in a female version of the Batsuit, informs them that she is Batgirl and reveals that she is Barbara and knows the location of the Batcave. The three of them decide to go after Freeze together. By the time they get to the lab where Freeze and Bane are, Gotham is completely frozen. Batgirl and Robin have a confrontation with Bane, which ends with Robin pulling the tube off Bane's mask and releasing the venom, turning him back to the scrawny man that he was.
Batman and Freeze begin to fight each other, with Freeze still thinking that Batman was the one who killed his wife. Batman wins the fight, as Batgirl and Robin unfreeze Gotham. Batman shows Freeze a recording of Ivy during her fight with Batgirl; it shows Ivy telling Batgirl that she was the one who pulled the plug. Freeze is angered by the betrayal and is informed by Batman that his wife is not dead; she is restored in cryogenic slumber and has been moved to Arkham waiting for him to finish his research. Batman proceeds to ask Freeze for the cure Freeze has created for the first stage of MacGregor's Syndrome, the disease that Freeze's wife is suffering from, for a friend (Alfred) who is dying. Freeze essentially atones for his misunderstanding by giving him medicine he had developed. At the manor, Batman attaches the tubes to Alfred's life support, and he, Dick, and Barbara watch on. Ivy is shown imprisoned in Arkham and Freeze walks in, informing her that he is her new cellmate and intends to make her life a living hell for almost killing his wife. The next morning, Alfred wakes up, alive and well. Everyone agrees to let Barbara stay at the mansion, and the three of them decide to work together fighting crime.
The film ends with the image of a Bat-Signal, with Batman, Robin and Batgirl running as if appearing from the signal itself towards the camera. As their flowing capes come together, the screen fades to black and goes to the closing credits.
Cast
- George Clooney as Bruce Wayne / Batman: The crime-fighting protagonist of the franchise. Batman, along with Robin and Batgirl, take on three villains: Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bane. However, Batman has an argument with Robin, and Batman feels that he can take on villains without Robin. Until the end, he realizes Robin is family and asks for his help to defeat their evil foes threatening Gotham City. Meanwhile, Bruce is trying to help Alfred back to health.
- Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin: Batman's sidekick is shown as an apparent amalgamation between the characters of Robin and Nightwing. He is also depicted as being unhappy in his role as somewhat of a second fiddle, and shows a weakness for Poison Ivy's beauty, as he gives in to her sexual advances, even after he knows she is evil.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze: Before becoming Mr. Freeze, he started off as a brilliant scientist named Victor Fries. However during his studies, he falls into a vat of liquid nitrogen. He survives; although his whole body is only adaptable to ice. At the same time, his wife falls ill and in order to keep her alive, he puts her in a tank of water wearing an ice crystal necklace that Fries gave her as a gift. After teaming up with Poison Ivy, he vows to freeze Gotham City. This version was prone to making puns related to cold weather and temperatures.
- Uma Thurman as Doctor Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy: Before her start as a villainess, Poison Ivy started out as Dr. Pamela Isley, an employee to Doctor Jason Woodrue, in South America. But after he creates Bane, he asks for her to. She refuses making her boss throw toxic poison chemicals on her. Isley dies, but moments later, she resurrects as Poison Ivy and kills Woodrue with a kiss full of poison. Ivy destroys the lab escaping with Bane and goes to Gotham City and teams up with Mr. Freeze to freeze the city while ruining the partnership of Batman and Robin.
- Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Wilson / Batgirl: A new interpretation of the Batgirl character, who in this film is the niece of Alfred Pennyworth, unlike the comics where she was depicted as the daughter of Commissioner Gordon. She was kicked out of her boarding school and came to visit "uncle Alfred."
- Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne's faithful butler, often an avuncular advisor to both Bruce and Dick. Alfred is dying from MacGregor's Syndrome which is the same fictional illness Freeze's wife is suffering at the same time. While sick, he prepares his niece, Barbara, with a suit so she can fight along Batman and Robin. After Batman defeats Mr. Freeze, Freeze gives him two tubes of medicine to help heal his dying butler.
- Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon: The head of police in Gotham City.
- Elle Macpherson as Julie Madison: The love interest of Bruce Wayne.
- John Glover as Doctor Jason Woodrue: Woodrue is a mad scientist who created Bane and accidentally transforms Pamela Isley into Poison Ivy in an attempt to kill her. He is the first victim of Ivy's poison kiss, after he witnesses her transform from the unattractive nerd she was before to the amazingly sexy seductress. He gives into her advances, and is killed because of it.
- Vivica A. Fox as Ms. B. Haven: The only female member of Mr. Freeze's gang.
- Vendela K. Thomessen as Nora Fries: The cryogenically frozen wife of Mr. Freeze.
- Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty: Gotham City's top gossip columnist.
- Jeep Swenson as Antonio Diego / Bane: Rather than being the devious, intelligent villain of the comics, Bane is a mindless thug who serves as the sidekick and protector of Poison Ivy, and is barely even capable of speech, except to say "Monkey Business!
Development
Given the success of Batman Forever, a sequel was planned, with Joel Schumacher, Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell set to return. Poison Ivy was earmarked as the next villain and Julia Roberts was reported as a suitable candidate. Akiva Goldsman, who had co-written the screenplay to Batman Forever was hired to write the script. With the perceived success of Batman Forever toward a "kid-friendly" audience, Warner Bros. sought for the sequel to include even more material geared towards that audience.
In February 1996, Kilmer decided not to return for a sequel, feeling that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains, much as Michael Keaton had when he vacated the role.[5] Kilmer went on to do The Saint with a salary of $6 million – triple the amount of his contract for Batman Forever. When asked why he did not return for a fourth installment, Kilmer said he liked the characterization of Simon Templar better than Bruce Wayne. Kilmer commented, "Simon is a literary character who uses his wit, and not violence. Batman is a real screwed-up guy who has hustled an entire city, and now he's running around in a cape. What's it all about?" Days later, George Clooney signed on to take over the part. Clooney was signed for three films, with a contract totaling $28 million. Clooney backed out of the long-in-development Green Hornet motion picture in order to star in Batman & Robin.
Batgirl was finally introduced in the franchise and Gwyneth Paltrow was the first choice for the role. Paltrow declined the role however. Kristin Chenoweth was considered next for the role but she declined as well. Alicia Silverstone was finally cast for the role of Batgirl. For this movie, she was named Barbara Wilson and was the niece of Alfred Pennyworth rather than the daughter of Commissioner Gordon as in the comics. Julia Roberts, Demi Moore, Nicollette Sheridan and Sharon Stone were all considered for the role of Poison Ivy. Moore turned down the role and it is speculated that both Roberts and Sheridan did as well. In March 1996, Uma Thurman was cast in the part.[9] Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, and Ben Kingsley were all considered for the role of Mr. Freeze, though ultimately Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast because Joel Schumacher decided that Mr. Freeze must be "big and strong like he was chiseled out of a glacier". Sylvester Stallone and Hulk Hogan were considered for the role of Mr. Freeze if Schwarzenegger had not wanted to play the character.
Box office
Published financial figures indicate that the movie was made on a budget of $125 million. Batman & Robin opened at #1 at the box office, and had an opening weekend of $42,872,605 in 2,934 theaters averaging $14,612 per venue, which were two of its very few successes. However, over time, its popularity slipped, (possibly when put in competition with Men in Black, another summer film, which became a huge financial success) and the film collected only $107,325,195 domestically—less than any other Batman film—and $130,881,927 abroad, for a total worldwide gross of $238,207,122, making it technically a success but not on the scale the studio had hoped, particularly given its budget.
