Back in the mid nineties, I enjoyed Batman Forever, although subsequent revisits to the Joel Schumacher film have swayed my opinion. Now, I can’t see through the ridiculous story, the distracting neon in every scene or the campy villains. But it sounds as though this insult to all five senses was almost a very different film, one more akin to Tim Burton’s originals before the editing process.
The website BatmanOnFilm has scoured every source at their disposal to paint an interesting picture as to what the film could have been. You can check out the full article over here, but we’ve listed some of the more interesting changes below.
The main plot was still the same, with the two villains being Jim Carrey’s Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face, however the film itself clocked in at 2 hours 40 minutes, which is 38 minutes longer than the theatrical release. Apparently a lot of this was minor scenes involving Carrey’s adlibbing as the nefarious character.
The change in the tone was looking to be apparent right from the beginning, with the film opening with Two-Face breaking out of Arkham Asylum. Here a Doctor would have discovered Dents Psychologists hanging from the ceiling with the words ‘The Bat Must Die’ written in blood on the wall. It’s certainly a much darker opening than what we eventually got.
One of the biggest plot points which was excised was the idea that Bruce was starting to believe that he was in fact a ‘harbinger of death’, something which was revealed in a flashback scene which saw a young Bruce reading a passage in his fathers journal which read ‘Bruce insists on seeing a movie tonight…’. Which fuels the characters guilt and leads him on the path to becoming Batman. This was also supported by a series of lines which alluded to the Dark Knight being a killer which again failed to make it into the final cut but would have went a long way in explaining Bruce’s motivation.
He would later atone for his guilt in another cut scene, taking place straight after the scene in which Wayne manor is raided by Riddler and Two-Face. Having taken a shot to the head, Bruce awakens to a bout of amnesia, not remembering his time as Batman until Alfred takes him down to a cave below the Batcave. It’s here that he regains his memories after coming face to face with not only a giant bat, but also his own guilt.
Other scenes which would have created a slightly darker film than what we eventually got included a scene which saw The Riddler beating the security guard he was practicing his punches on, with his his cane. Much more brutal than what we got.
Overall it sounds as though we nearly came close to seeing a film much more in line with Burtons vision, but alas, the editing process got in the way. It’s certainly a shame we dint get to see a more serious side to the film’s villains, both of who made deserved better.
What do you Think? Are you a fan of Batman forever in all its campy goodness? Would you have preferred to have seen this darker version? Let us know below!
Source: BatmanOnFilm