Batman and Robin: Schumaker giving the middle finger to WB?

[Spoonman]

Schumacher was ONLY interested in Year One after pissing off every single Batman fan with his crappy `97 installment of the franchise.

Everything you see in Batman & Robin is Schumacher thinking that he was making something good.

He was even quoted as saying "its called comic books not tragic books."

As far as I know, Schumacher always wanted to make Year One, he's been saying that since the days of BF, but what is true is that he pushed for the idea of a Year One adaptation after the B&R debacle..so ironic that he was the one that proposed the reboot of the Batman franshise to WB even if he didn't get to do it himslef. Now, I love what Nolan is doing but I'm curious about a serious and dark Batman movie by Schumacher (to a lesser extent than watching Burton's Batman 3), since like other people in this forum I like Schumacer as a director and also find very weird that he tends to do serious thrillers (most of them of my liking) and then see what his Batman movies turned out...

I don't know if giving the finger is the apropiate term, but as flawed as BF is, in comparision to B&R, I feel as if Joel was way more interested and passionate on that particular film.

I must clarify that I totally disagree with the notion of BF being somewhat descent because Joel didn't have much control and B&R ended the way it did because Joel had total control on it (some people try to mirror this to the Burton thing with B89 and Returns). Batman Forever was totally Joel's just like B&R, but it seems to me that in BF Schumacher tried to deliver what WB was asking of him (to resurrect the franchise and make merchandise third partys happy) but at the same time trying to make a film that appealed to both a young and adult audience, and when BF hit it big and it was clear that WB wouldn't let him do his Year One he lost much of the passion and ended up with the B&R we all dislike (I presume) and know.

Just my two cents.

 

[ab38416]

One of my favorite Schumacher quotes:

I said initially to WB: "If you don't want a Robin, don't hire me." - Joel Schumacher on Batman Forever

 

[uofsc93]

Hardly - as a lifelong Batman fan I can still recall (this was ten years ago mind you!) the dread that shook me watching Entertainment tonight or some show where the "director" was musing on about how it was time for Bruce Wayne to get over the tragic murder of his parents and have some fun! or something along those pathetic lines. I knew the franchise was dead from that point and was so elated when it failed to live up to its corporate bottom lines.

 

[RobC]

See i've seen both sides of the argument. I was 10 when B+R came out, to me it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now I hate it like cancer.

 

[Pumaman]

I was 10 when Batman Forever hit the big screens (my first bat-movie in the cinema, yaye!) and I was a little kiddy about that and Batman & Robin since they both featured more Bat-action. Now I despise both of those movies, but like every 'other' Schumacher film that I've seen.

So my bet is that he could've delivered a more realistic and dark batman... if he would've wanted. Apparently he, wb and the toy companies didn't want that. What.A.Shame.

 

[DV8]

I actually made a thread on this same subject a LONG time ago . . . Schumacher is a great director; he also made Falling Down and The Lost Boys (one of my favorite vampire movies ever) . . . . he could have made a gritty, heavyweight drama out of Batman but I think the studio was on his case to make Batman more kid-friendly . . . s

o yeah, he showed them . . . . and in hindsight we would have never gotten the kind of reboot we're getting now had it not been for Schumacher's antics . . . so in a very strange way, he saved the franchise (by ruining it haha)

 

[RobC]

lol, he did save Batman. Maybe that was his plan all along...

Oh Joel, you shrewd fox you!

 

[I Am The Knight]

See i've seen both sides of the argument. I was 10 when B+R came out, to me it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now I hate it like cancer.

I've always hated it. When I got out of the theater I knew I had just seen something awful. Even if I couldn't describe it....I was like 10, too.

 

[RobC]

Really? To me it was fun, I knew it was lighter then BF, and I much prefered BF, but to me, it was a good film. Now i'm older I can appreciate what a rubbish film it was, and it's historical and cultural significance in effectively killing that Batman franchise...

 

[funkycrime91]

I've always hated it. When I got out of the theater I knew I had just seen something awful. Even if I couldn't describe it....I was like 10, too.

Same here! I was very young, but I just despised it.

 

[RobC]

Huh... Guess I was the dumbest ten year old in 97...

 

[Spoonman]

I was 12 when B&R came out and was very dissapointed with it, I was expecting something more in line with BF (I was 10 when that came out and liked it a lot, just like the previous two Bat films) and even at 12 it was really evident to me how ridiculous B&R was (I remember wishing Val was in the suit instead of that "ER guy"), it was the first Batman movie for which I didn't get any merchandising item, be it toys, collectibles, dishes, books, you name it...I knew it in my heart that the movie sucked hard!! and the feeling of dissapointment when I got out of the cinema is still easy to remember...

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

I've always hated it. When I got out of the theater I knew I had just seen something awful. Even if I couldn't describe it....I was like 10, too.

That realization didn't hit me until my second viewing. Seeing it in the theatre with my mom, I enjoyed it as a kid who loved everything Batman; it was probably mostly due to still being on the high of anticipation, as I was so hyped for it (and had collected everything with Poison Ivy on it, as I thought she was the hottest thing in existence).

But then when I got it on vhs months later, we sat down as a family to watch it together (along with my aunt, uncle and cousins who had not seen it yet) and I found myself being literally embarrassed by it. I was a kid, and I was thinking "My own family is going to laugh at me for being a Batman fan because this thing is ridiculous."

But I still took it in stride and assumed that Batman 5 was to follow, and I would just accept what Schumacher churned out. When that project died down, I started to resent the movie for destroying the franchise. For a few years, I loathed it. Then, after Begins came out and all was right again in the world, I looked back on the film as something I can watch and laugh at and have an occasional good time with (most of it; some of it is an awful bore, primarily the Batgirl stuff).

It is pretty amazing as a slice of Batman history, and just shows how far in both directions film adaptations can go. Just take a picture of Bane in his purple monkey outfit and compare it to a picture of TDK's Joker. HOW ARE THESE BOTH ADAPTATIONS OF THE SAME COMIC?

 

[RobC]

Really? Man, it took me years to realize what a hunk of crap it was. What the hell is wrong with me? It didn't even dawn on me, the comparison ith BF.

I was such a Batman n00b when I was 10.

Dang.