Batman & Robin

1997 Action/Adventure

This was the third follow-up to Tim Burton's Batman (1989), the original revisionist look at the Gotham City legend, as well as the second in the Batman series directed by Joel Schumacher and the first featuring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader; it features not one but two super-villains, and a new heroine to fight crime alongside Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Dick Grayson (aka Robin) (Chris O'Donnell). The experiments of Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to preserve his late wife cryogenically have gone horribly wrong, turning him into the evil genius Mr. Freeze, who must keep his body at sub-zero temperature in order to say alive -- and he wants to put Gotham City on ice. Shy horticulturist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) goes a bit wild with a Venus Fly Trap-like creation she's been working on and mutates into Poison Ivy, who wants to kill all the people on Earth so plants can take over. Can Batman and Robin stop these fiends before their plans go too far? Meanwhile, Bruce and Dick's faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough) isn't feeling well, so his niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to pay a visit. When Barbara finds out what her uncle's employers do in their spare time, she decides she wants in on the action, and she joins the crime fighting twosome as Batgirl. Batman & Robin also features Jesse Ventura in a small role as a prison guard; it would be his last film role before becoming Governor of Minnesota in 1998. more..

Director: Joel Schumacher

Starring: George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell,Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone

Reviews

  • Joel Schumacher, director and ringmaster, piles on the flashy showmanship and keeps the film as big, bold, noisy and mindlessly overwhelming as possible.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • Unfortunately, the charming Batfamily can't stay in their cave indefinitely; they've got to go out and fight crime. And that's where this elaborately high-style production from Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher hits an iceberg.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    29 November 2012

  • Batman & Robin, like the first three films in the series, is wonderful to look at, and has nothing authentic at its core.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    29 November 2012

  • It's the lightest of the Batman movies, the most cartoony, the dumbest and the least ambitious. But it holds the audience's attention, brings on a few laughs and never really gets boring.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    29 November 2012

  • George Clooney looks great in a cape, but this fourth installment in the series has invested so much capital in razzle-dazzle special effects that it hardly matters whose head is under the pointy-eared helmet.

    David Sterritt - Christian Science Monitor

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Top Box Office Films

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1998)

  • Best Costumes

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1998)

     
  • Favorite Actress - Sci-Fi

    Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1998)

  • Best Hard Rock Performance

    Grammy Awards (1998)

  • Favorite Movie Actress

    Kids' Choice Awards (1998)