Batman & RobinSave

We open with Batman (George Clooney, replacing Val Kilmer who declined to return after Batman Forever) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell, reprising his Batman Forever role) suiting up in the Batcave. The film deliberately establishes the Bat-suit-and-Robin-suit through an extended slow-motion suit-up sequence that has been canonically-criticized as 'gratuitously sexualized.' The opening sequences feature substantial close-up shots of the Bat-nipples (Bat-suit-design-detail that was widely-criticized for its fetishistic framing), Bat-codpiece, and Robin's tight-fitting acrobat-suit. The choreography is canonically-restrained — the suit-up is the primary content rather than action.

Mr. Freeze / Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is robbing a Gotham diamond exchange. He needs the diamonds to power his freezing-suit's thermal-regulation-system. His backstory: his wife Nora is dying of MacGregor's Syndrome — a rare genetic-disease that requires constant cryogenic-suspension to survive. Fries has been working on a cure for the disease for years, using his industrial-laboratory connections to acquire the research-funding. The freezing-suit was originally a research-tool for the cryogenic-medical applications; an industrial accident has trapped Fries in the suit permanently. He is now Mr. Freeze.

Poison Ivy / Dr. Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) — a botanist transformed by exposure to pheromone-extract chemicals in a South-American jungle laboratory — has been killing male humans through her poisoned-kiss technique. Her transformation has been amplified by pheromone-induced-mind-control capabilities. She is allied with Bane — a massively-muscled brute who has been genetically-engineered through Venom-chemical exposure. Ivy's broader operational goal: replace Gotham's-human-population with plant-life through a global-pheromone-distribution scheme.

Ivy and Mr. Freeze form an uneasy alliance. Ivy has been pursuing Mr.-Freeze for his cryogenic-laboratory-equipment; she intends to use his equipment to cryogenically-suspend-Gotham's-human-population while her plant-life expands to replace them. Mr. Freeze is largely-disinterested in Ivy's broader scheme but agrees to cooperate in exchange for her MacGregor's-Syndrome-research expertise. The two share Mr. Freeze's Gotham-laboratory headquarters across the film's middle act.

Batman and Robin recruit Batgirl — Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone) — Alfred's niece who has discovered her uncle's connection to the Wayne Manor Bat-family. Barbara is a Oxford-University motorcycle-stunt-performer who has been visiting her uncle during her summer-vacation. She discovers the Batcave through unauthorized-exploration of the Wayne-Manor's-hidden-passages. She demands Batgirl-partnership status; Bruce initially-refuses but eventually agrees. Her costume — purple-and-black motorcycle-styled — is deliberately-distinct from Batman's and Robin's uniform aesthetics.

Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough, reprising his role from Tim-Burton-era and Schumacher-era Batman films) is diagnosed with MacGregor's-Syndrome — the same disease that has been killing Mr. Freeze's wife Nora. Alfred's diagnosis becomes the film's emotional anchor. Bruce, Dick, and Barbara have been devoted to Alfred for years; his impending-death drives the broader narrative-motivation. Alfred's medical-condition parallels Mr. Freeze's wife's condition — creating character-empathy between Batman and Freeze across the film's broader third act.

The team confronts Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Bane at Gotham Observatory — Freeze and Ivy have been using the observatory's telescope-equipment to amplify their cryogenic-freezing-operation across Gotham. The final-battle is approximately 25 minutes of screen-time, combining practical-stunt work with extensive-CGI-augmentation. The action choreography has been criticized as incoherent — multiple action sequences don't connect cohesively across the broader narrative arc.

Batman convinces Mr. Freeze to provide the MacGregor's-Syndrome research that could cure Alfred — Batman appeals to Freeze's emotional-wife-motivation to recognize Alfred's life-saving-significance. Mr. Freeze cooperates. He provides the research; Alfred's condition is stabilized. Mr. Freeze is institutionalized at Arkham Asylum — but shown-care-with Nora's stabilized-body-frozen alongside him. Poison Ivy is defeated by Batgirl in direct combat. Bane is defeated through the Venom-extraction process.

The film closes with the Bat-family-team in formation: Batman, Robin, and Batgirl standing together in traditional-superhero-pose against the bat-signal-projection. The three-character-team-formation has been criticized in retrospect for its tonal-inconsistency with the broader Batman-character. The final-pose has become internet-meme-foundational across 2000s-2010s social-media culture.

The film's commercial-and-critical-disaster. Batman & Robin grossed $238 million worldwide on a $125 million production budget — modest commercial success that fell-substantially-below-the-Schumacher-Batman-Forever's $336 million. Critics responded with overwhelmingly-negative reviews (Rotten Tomatoes 12% — one of the lowest scores ever received by a major-studio superhero film). The Bat-nipples controversy, the tonal-incoherence, and the villain-performance-issues (particularly Schwarzenegger's punning-Mr.-Freeze) were widely-criticized.

The Batman-franchise-aftermath. Batman & Robin effectively-killed the Batman-franchise for 8 years; Warner Bros. refused to continue the Schumacher-Batman-direction. The Batman-franchise was effectively-frozen until Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005). Joel Schumacher has publicly-apologized for the film multiple times across subsequent-decades — most prominently in interviews-with Vice and the Joel-Schumacher-documentary (2020). Schumacher died in June-2020 at age-80; his Batman-Forever-and-Batman-&-Robin films are considered low-points in his broader-directorial-career.