Batman Forever

Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton, based on the DC Comics character Batman. It is the third instalment of the initial *Batman* film series, with Val Kilmer replacing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell. The plot focuses on Batman trying to stop Two-Face (Jones) and the Riddler (Carrey) in their villainous scheme to extract confidential information from all the minds in Gotham City and use it to learn Batman's identity and bring the city under their control. He gains allegiance from a love interest—psychiatrist Dr. Chase Meridian (Kidman) and a young, orphaned circus acrobat named Dick Grayson (O'Donnell), who becomes his sidekick Robin.

## Plot

In Gotham City, the crime fighter Batman defuses a hostage situation caused by a criminal known as Two-Face, the alter ego of the former district attorney Harvey Dent, but Two-Face escapes and remains at large. Edward Nygma, a researcher at Wayne Enterprises who idolizes Bruce Wayne, has developed a device that can beam television into a person's brain. Bruce offers to let Nygma come up with schematics for the device and set up a meeting with his assistant. However, after Nygma demands an answer from him immediately, Bruce rejects the invention, believing it to be too close to mind manipulation. After killing his supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and begins sending Bruce riddles, seeking retaliation against him.

Bruce meets Chase Meridian, a psychiatrist who is obsessed with Batman, and invites her to come with him to a circus event. After a performance from the circus performers, The Flying Graysons, Two-Face arrives and threatens to blow up the circus unless Batman comes forward and surrenders his life to him. The Flying Graysons attempt to stop Two-Face, but most of them get killed as a result. Only Dick Grayson, the youngest member, survives as he climbs to the roof and throws Two-Face's bomb into a river.

Bruce invites the orphaned Dick to stay at Wayne Manor. Dick, still troubled by the murder of his family, intends to kill Two-Face and avenge his family. When he discovers that Bruce is Batman, he demands that Bruce help him find Two-Face so that he can kill him, but Bruce refuses. Meanwhile, Nygma, inspired and delighted by watching Two-Face's raid at the circus, turns himself into a criminal called the Riddler and forms an alliance with Two-Face. The two steal capital in order to mass-produce Nygma's brainwave device so that Riddler can use it to learn Batman's secret identity.

At Nygma's business party, Nygma discovers Bruce's alter ego using the brainwave device. Two-Face arrives and crashes the party. He nearly kills Batman, but Dick manages to save him. Meanwhile, Chase has fallen in love with Bruce, which surpasses her obsession with Batman. Bruce decides to stop being Batman in order to have a normal life with Chase, and to prevent Dick from murdering Two-Face. Dick runs away while Bruce and Chase have dinner together in the manor, where Bruce reveals his secret identity to her. The Riddler and Two-Face arrive and attack Wayne Manor; in the process, the Riddler blows up the Batcave. The criminals kidnap Chase after Two-Face shoots Bruce, and the Riddler leaves him another riddle.

Using the riddles, Bruce and his butler, Alfred, deduce the Riddler's secret identity. Chase is imprisoned by the Riddler and Two-Face in their hideout. Dick returns and becomes Batman's sidekick, Robin. Batman and Robin head to Riddler and Two-Face's lair, Claw Island, where they are separated. Robin encounters Two-Face and nearly kills him, but chooses to spare his life and is captured. The Riddler gives Batman a chance to save only one hostage, but Batman destroys the Riddler's brainwave collecting device, causing the Riddler to suffer a mental breakdown and allowing Batman to rescue Robin and Chase. Two-Face corners the trio and determines their fate with the flip of a coin, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, causing Two-Face to stumble and fall to his death, avenging Robin's family.

The Riddler is taken to Arkham Asylum and imprisoned, but he claims he knows who Batman is. Chase is asked to consult on the case, but Nygma says that *he* himself is Batman, due to his damaged memories. Chase meets Bruce outside and tells him that his secret is safe before parting ways. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman with Robin as his partner to protect Gotham from crime.

## Cast

* Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne/Batman
* Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
* Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler
* Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian
* Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin
* Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
* Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon
* Drew Barrymore as Sugar
* Debi Mazar as Spice
* Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty
* René Auberjonois as Dr. Burton
* Joe Grifasi as Hawkins, the Bank Guard
* Kimberly Scott as Margaret
* Don "The Dragon" Wilson as the leader of the Neon Gang.
* En Vogue as Hookers
* Ofer Samra as Two-Face's thug
* Ed Begley Jr. as Fred Stickley
* Patrick Leahy

## Sequel

Batman Forever was followed a sequel: Batman & Robin (1997)