Tim Burton introduced audiences to his gothic interpretation of Gotham City. With Burton as director and Michael Keaton as The Dark Knight, they were unstoppable. Both were responsible for the brilliant comic book films Batman and Batman Returns. These two films brought the franchise to life and told the story of the caped crusader in a way never seen before.

However, the franchise continued after Burton and Keaton with a new tactic to Batman storytelling, where the cape and cowl would continue to be worn, but by different actors. Joel Schumacher took over the directorial reins while the role of Batman was passed over twice in this version of the franchise. Val Kilmer continued the role in Batman Forever, which received reviews that were hardly as favorable as the previous two films. It was the next installment that raised the most eyebrows.

In 1997, Batman and Robin was released with George Clooney taking the role of The Dark Knight. The reviews and reception from this film were poor enough to end the franchise until Christopher Nolan revitalized it with his trilogy starring Christian Bale over a decade later. Batman and Robin was a film that has gone down in infamy and has been the punchline of joke after joke. However, there are redeeming qualities to this film in regard to George Clooney as Batman. Almost 25 years after its release, it is time to take a new look at Clooney and his version of the bat.

The Good: George Clooney’s Batman

Clooney took a more confident but mysterious approach to Bruce Wayne, which mirrors Batman’s well known persona. Bruce is always seen wearing black and is disconnected from life outside the cave. Clooney portrays this version of Wayne fairly well. He is more himself when he is laced under the hood than as the billionaire playboy, although the suave actor is certainly believable playing a billionaire. Clooney maintains his slick authority in the sequences as Wayne. This authority is demonstrated in a more subtle way than as the caped crusader, but it translates well on the screen.

The heart of this film is the familial bond between Alfred and Bruce. Michael Gough had portrayed Alfred since the first Batman in 1989 and remained in the role through the four films prior to Michael Caine starring as the butler in Nolan’s films. Clooney jumps into the one-time role and embraces the relationship with the dying Alfred, actually creating one of the best bonds between Wayne and his butler in Batman movies. Clooney maintains Batman’s character’s integrity and utilizes his traits from the comics to act as the world’s greatest detective.

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In Alfred’s heartfelt moments with Bruce, Clooney conveys emotion that seeps out from Batman’s intentionally stoic and often cold persona. The coldness mirrors his antagonist Mr. Freeze. Towards the final act of the film, and perhaps one of the highlights from the two-hour runtime, Batman talks one-on-one with Mr. Freeze after beating him in his own freezing game. Batman has a heartfelt moment with Freeze to get him to see the light once more. Underneath the bat suit, Bruce is dealing with the potential loss of Alfred. This comes forth in a bittersweet way as Batman tries to speak to and reach the man underneath the over-the-top frozen armor, whose ill-fated bride suffered from the same condition as Alfred.

Clooney (drawing on that strong relationship his character had with Alfred) is most believable here (and whenever he’s being serious in this very silly film). As Batman, Clooney is just one piece of a larger cartoonish world around him, but these moments from Clooney grounds Schumacher’s outlandish Gotham, which evolved over the years into an increasingly silly, neon-lit, colorful environment in which Schwarzenegger’s ridiculous Mr. Freeze feels right at home. Despite the bonkers world around him, Clooney sells every bit of it when tapping into Batman’s seriousness and repressed emotions, and is the driving force of the film itself.

The Bad: Batman & Robin

The elements of Batman & Robin that are “bad” extend far more than Clooney himself. He is just one piece out of a larger puzzle that starts with the writing. Back in 2015, Clooney was a guest on The Graham Norton Show to promote his new film at the time, Tomorrowland. He made headlines by stating his disdain for the film.

“I always apologize for Batman and Robin. Let me just say that I actually thought I destroyed the franchise until they brought it back. Somebody else brought it back years later and changed it. But I thought at the time this was going to be a very good career move… it wasn’t.”

First and foremost, Batman is quite the jokester in this film. There are more puns in this film delivered by just Batman alone than in any other installment combined (outside the Adam West TV show, of course). It gets old as quickly as Freeze’s ice bazooka, and it seems like Clooney is playing two different roles sometimes — a very good, more subdued Batman, and a silly, pun-slinging caricature of him. The script and the direction are just ridiculous, and Clooney gets caught in the crossfire.

The Ugly: George Clooney’s Batman Suit

Next, Batman seems to have an array of bat themed accessories on his costume and on his person that have never existed before. Clooney’s Batman owns his own credit card, physics defying grappling hooks, and additions to his suit himself that accentuate curvatures and… chest features. The ice-skating sequence was also not Batman’s shiniest moment as well.

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Clooney also looks very uncomfortable while wearing his suit. Again, while stating his grievances with the film on The Graham Norton Show, Clooney continued by talking about how tortuous Batman’s cape and cowl was to wear.

“Well, the suit’s brutal. You know, at the time in particular it weighed like 60 pounds […] And I’m bolted into this suit, I can’t move, and [Schumacher] would direct you as if you would have some emotional scene. He would go (imitating Schumacher) ‘Okay people, alright George, your parents are dead. You have nothing to live for and ACTION!’ […] It was a fantastic experience for me.”

Knowing this, it is painstakingly obvious that this suit was incredibly uncomfortable to be put into. Clooney’s movements are robotic and limited. But that could just very well be the nature of the 60 pound hunk of rubber that you are bolted underneath. It was not a favorable experience for Clooney, but the film will always have a place in the Batman franchise regardless of its unintentional hilarity.