I vehemently disagree. I think the 3rd Batman is a masterpiece, with great actors (Val Kilmer, Tommee Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnel, Jim Carrey, and even a small part by Drew Barrymore) all performing extremely well, really interacting, fitting each other, and following a brilliant, brilliant script. I even loved the music.
After seeing the 3rd installment (and loving it), the fourth was a horrible disappointment. I thought just about everybody was miscast, and then the story was so appaling in every way, and so subject to silly visual ideas, that the whole thing comes across like an expensive B-film.
Even Chris O’Donnel and Michael Gough come off real bad here, which makes me suspect that the script and the director (maybe Joel lost his passion for it after his row with Val?).
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger could possibly have pulled off his badguy part, if only he had used a standin for his voice. Uma Thurman didn’t have a convincing character to work with and/or her acting couldn’t make a difference.
On the whole I felt all casting decisions were wrong in that movie, and when I saw the title of this thread Clooney as Batman was the first thing I thought of. Then by coincidence the movie was on TV yesterday night, and it was even worse than I remembered! It’s almost as bad - nay, almost worse! - as Street Fighter (probably the only good thing about that one was the casting
).
**Cool that someone here thought the exact same thing about Clooney’s performance. **
Actually there’s a comment on imdb that I agree with, even though I’m less critical than he is of the rest (I never read many comics anyway):
“The bright spots of this movie? Jim Carey’s wardrobe, Val Kilmer’s performance, Drew Barrymore’s portrayal as “Sugar,” and the addition of Robin’s character. As I already stated, they were not faithless in the story line of his history and how he came to be with Bruce Wayne. It was the one thing I admired about this movie, that the character development was quite deep and actually very good.”
First film I ever saw with Val Kilmer, without knowing it was him, I learnt that way after Top Gun, was Real Genius. Man that was great. Of course I had the perfect age for it when I saw it, long long ago, but I loved it.