Over/Under #1

In these occasional features I will briefly assess two movies: One underrated, one overrated.

OVER: Batman Forever

Most folks liked Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, and about half of those folks liked his follow-up, Batman Returns. However, I can't get my mind around how anyone stuck around for the third installment, Joel Shumacher's regretable Batman Forever.

Supposedly a lot of film was left on the cutting room floor, which is why the audience gets a severely underdeveloped "Batman Forever" theme: Batman reconciling that he can be both Bruce Wayne AND Batman 'forever,' as he makes peace with his memories. You have to look pretty hard to find this in the movie though, so the 'Forever' mostly feels like fair warning that you'll feel like you're engaged in Chinese water-torture while you watch.

Val Kilmer was downright wooden as Batman, Nicole Kidman was a brainless hormonal bimbo as a "Doctor," and worst of all, the villains were truly wasted. Tommy Lee Jones could've provided a compelling Two-Face, but instead he plays a nutcase with a handgun, some hired goons, and bad fashion sense. Jim Carrey was near the height of his popularity at this time, but turns in only a slightly effeminate pink-haired Riddler--whose riddles all link together to reveal his alter-ego's true name, which never matters anyway.

Top it all off with whipped cream (fluffy dialogue, oddly fantastic and un-violent action, and an obsession with bright colors) and a cherry on top (Chris O'Donnell as a thirty-year-old Robin with nipples on his costume), and you have a poop-sundae.

Somehow this movie made a lot of money, and was decently-reviewed at the time. Since then, numerous fan reviews have pulled the Critic's Score on Rotten Tomatoes down from an extremely generous score of near 70%. It is now holding steady a more-fitting (though still generous, IMHO!) 44%. There is hope for our planet after all, it seems, but that doesn't mean this movie isn't overrated.

UNDER:

Rocky Balboa! Rocky got 10 Oscar nods and came home with 3 golden statues, including Best Picture. Its popularity then spawned 4 sequels of questionable merit, and the series traded its roots to spiral into full-blown Cold War hysterics as Rocky ended communism. My wife and ESPN's Bill Simmons insist that Rocky V is so bad that it does not exist.

Rocky Balboa (a.k.a. Rocky 6) brings Stallone back to the slums of Philly, and back to being a complete human character instead of just a fighting dynamo. The best part of this movie is that it makes you love Rocky Balboa again. He's a selfless dummy with an enormous heart who never quits trying to help his neighbors. He's the Italian Samaritan! It was a good decision to let Adrian go (she'd become a broken record of discouragement long ago), and Milo Ventimiglia turned in a strong effort as Rocky's semi-estranged son.

Overall, it provided satisfying closure to a movie series that has spanned the better part of most of our lives. That deserves kudos, as does the movie's necessary self-awareness due to its outlandish premise.

True, it is currently garnering a 76% approval rating on RT, but that's not praise enough for the second-best in a 6-movie series that made over $1 billion dollars and collected 11 Oscar nods (by my count). Plus, this movie gets the coveted "REDEMPTION BONUS:" Rocky V was so bad that Stallone himself said he would give it a "zero out of ten," but he was able to turn it around and make one of the few good sequels out there.