Director
Joel Schumacher inherited the Batman franchise from Tim Burton and
began steering it in the campier direction of the Sixties television
show with this third installment. First-time Batman/Bruce Wayne (Val
Kilmer), in his only outing as the Caped Crusader, is effectively
brooding as he ponders strange dreams about his parents' death and
escapes his own near-demise at the hands of Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones),
a former district attorney driven insane and turned into a master
criminal when a gangster throws acid in his face.
Meanwhile, as sexy psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) tries to
analyze and seduce both Bruce Wayne and Batman, Wayne Enterprises
employee Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey) reacts badly to getting fired, using
his self-invented mind-energy device to transform into the
super-intelligent Riddler. The Riddler teams up with Two-Face to bring
down Batman and drain the minds of Gotham City residents with his
device, while Batman gets some much-needed help in the form of circus
performer Dick Grayson (Chris O'Donnell), out for vengeance after being
orphaned by Two-Face.
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