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Batman & Robin (1997)

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NOTE: This commentary is only on the October 2005 2-disc special edition. Prior DVD releases did not have commentaries.

Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director Joel Schumacher Rating:7.3/10 (11 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by stuartbannerman on March 19th, 2007:Find all reviews by stuartbannerman
The thing is with Joel Schumacher commentaries is you know exactly what your going to get. If you like that sort of thing its great. If you dont then its awful.
Me. I like Joels chat tracks, they give you enough information so you learn about the films production. But not too much information that your nose bleeds or head spins.
With Batman and Robin Joel doesnt shoot the film down but does point out the mistakes that were made with it (yes yes i know MAKING the film was the biggest of all)
A very relaxed and feet on the coffee table sort of audio track and another decent Schumacher track.
Course he does think everyones the best actor and the most wonderful person of all time but thats just his personality. Doesnt sound like he has a nasty bone in his body
Reviewed by The Cubist on March 21st, 2007:Find all reviews by The Cubist
He tends to recycle some of the comments he made on the Batman Forever track and there is a hint of defeat on this one. A lot of gadgets and vehicles were designed and put into the movie for lucrative toy lines. He talks about how the studio wanted a more kid-friendly, family-oriented Batman even though he wanted to adapt Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One. One can sense the disappointment in Schumacher’s voice at this missed opportunity.
Reviewed by Taishi81 on June 6th, 2010:Find all reviews by Taishi81
I love this commentary! Joel Schumacher actually apologizes for this movie. He is very candid about the studio pressures that took the film in a different direction from BATMAN FOREVER and he conveys the production decisions in a frank manner. All filmmakers that screw up like this should follow Schumacher's example and just come clean.
Reviewed by Hungry Baz on February 27th, 2013:Find all reviews by Hungry Baz
There is an awful lot of pausing in this track. Joel is probable embarrassed by his mistakes. He explains how he wanted to work with Uma Thurman after seeing her in Baron Munchausen, how he and George Clooney filled Chris O'Donnell's new car with popcorn, apologizing for this movie over and over, references to the comic, pointing out actors from other movies he's worked on and apologizing yet again.

He ends the track 10 minutes before the movie's actually over.
Reviewed by TylerMirage on October 2nd, 2016:Find all reviews by TylerMirage
I found this one to be a bit weaker than Joel's "Forever" commentary because of a few things. As The Cubist said, a fair chunk of the tidbits he shares are repeats from his track on "Forever". There is a bit of pausing and dead air, and then with about three minutes of actual 'story' left, he peaces out of the commentary. I don't expect filmmakers to speak through the credits (though it's nice), but I was rather disappointed that Joel couldn't afford another 180 seconds to at least finish the race.

Now, with that said, it's not an awful commentary. It's still Joel's casual discussion of the movie, rather than laboured cramming of factoids in there, but you can hear a hint of exhaustion or defeat in his voice. You can tell that he enjoyed the movie and the process, but acknowledges where he might've let down the audience.

It's not a commentary that I feel is essential to listen to, but if you're a Batman fan or have listened to any of the other Burton/Schumacher Batman commentaries, might as well add this one to your list.