Batman Forever

After Tim Burton jumped ship, the captaincy of the Batman franchise was handed to Joel Schumacher – with, shall we say, mixed results.  

With Michael Keaton also bailing out, the bat-cowl was instead donned by a visibly uninterested Val Kilmer (Big Val and Schumacher famously spent most of the shoot not speaking to each other). Meanwhile, Tommy Lee Jones (Two Face) and Jim Carrey (The Riddler) spend the film competing to see who can mug at the camera the hardest, creating two of the most irritating villains in superhero history.  

These problems made Batman Forever (1995) a distinctly inferior sequel - thought still not as bad as the cinematic war crime Schumacher would commit two years later with Batman & Robin.  

Widely considered one of the worst superhero films ever committed to celluloid, that follow-up nuked the franchise so thoroughly it was more than a decade before the Caped Crusader could return to the big screen.  

Still, whatever its deficiencies, Batman Forever does at least deliver an exploding helicopter. And that's why we're here. 

Exploding helicopter action

The chopper goes boom during Two-Face's attempt to steal an absurdly oversized bank safe. Using a Sikorsky helicopter, he yanks the vault through the bank's wall and attempts to fly off with it. 

 

Fortunately, Batman turns up to ruin the fun. He unhooks the safe, then climbs aboard the helicopter. Using his cap (which apparently doubles as a blackout curtain), he blinds the pilot, causing the chopper to plough into the Statue of Liberty - despite the film not actually taking place in New York.  

Verdict 

A pretty decent explosion with a satisfyingly crunchy trail of wreckage. Then again, you'd expect at least something to blow up in a movie that cost $100 million. 

Relevance to plot 

Negligible. The whole sequence is really just an excuse to demonstrate Two-Face's chaotic approach to crime. Is dragging bank safe through a city via helicopter the work of an evil mastermind... or a showboating idiot? 

Artistic merit 

Schumacher knows his action onions and the scene is handled competently. Look closely, though, and the helicopter looks suspiciously model-like.  

Exploding helicopter innovation 

First helicopter to crash into the (fake) Statue of Liberty. 

Positives 

There's a pleasingly artful moment where the spinning rotor blades hack into Lady Liberty's head, and the debris cascades down her robes like fiery confetti. 

Negatives 

It's never explained how Two-Face survives a 500-foot fall, an exploding helicopter, and a general lack of superpowers - unless you count "can flip a coin" and "acts like a discount version of the Joker". 

Interesting fact 

When preparing for the role of The Riddler, Jim Carrey reportedly planned to shave a question mark into his hair. He later reconsidered as he was due to appear in court to finalise his divorce and presumably didn't want to look like a man who'd lost a bet.