Maybe it took a villain named Mr. Freeze to produce a Batman with any warmth. Cool! After three previous movies and two previous Batmans, it was enough already with the brooding and the posturing. In "Batman & Robin," George Clooney finally gives us a Caped Crusader who is winsome and eminently likable.
And not just likable, either. This guy has a bedside manner that even Clooney's TV alter-ego, Dr. Ross on "ER," should envy. He actually gives Alfred the butler a hug and kiss. This guy you could root for. You could, that is, if you even once believed he was in the slightest danger.
But "Batman & Robin," like its predecessors, is truly a comic book movie, which means that nothing is ever at risk, even when all of Gotham City is threatened with obliteration. "Batman & Robin" is the best in the series since the original. It is a visual delight with inventive special effects and set designs, spectacular costuming and vivid heroes and villains. It's a satisfying spectacle and also a completely uninvolving one, the cinematic version of a beach book.
The movie is truer to comic book sensibilities than any of the earlier ones. Joel Schumacher, who also directed the irritating "Batman Forever," is far more successful in this outing, creating a world in which the antics of superheroes and their adversaries become oddly plausible. In an early scene, Batman and Robin, who have been rocketed into space, make their way back to Earth on makeshift surfboards. Absurd? Of course, but it is the sort of clever improvisation that was routine in the DC Comic books that spawned Batman.
In "Batman & Robin," Gotham City is again drowning in a sea of latex. Outside of your local S&M shop, you won't see this much form-fitting clothing anywhere. Even more surprising are the number of people the movie has assembled who actually look appealing in these outfits.
As the resident superstar villain, Arnold Schwarzenegger is Mr. Freeze, who threatens to send Gotham City into the Ice Age. Freeze is a microbiologist who, as a result of a laboratory accident, must keep his body at arctic temperatures. Completely bald with glittery, silvery skin and translucent eyes, Freeze's sartorial tastes lean toward air-conditioning units. He looks like the Tin Man on steroids.
