When Are We Going To See the 170 Minute ‘Batman Forever’?

Batman movies have always been surprising. From Adam West's campy entries to the rise of the darker Tim Burton films to the Christopher Nolan crime trilogy, they're frequently places for directors to flex their muscles. 

But in the mid-'90s, Joel Schumacher took over the franchise and wanted to blend darkness and camp to create his own vision. It started with Batman Forever, a move that cast Val Kilmer in the bat-suit and brought villains Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones front and center as the Riddler and Two-Face, respectively. It's a wild ride that tries to balance the tones in ways that don't always work. 

But now, there might be a 170-minute version that takes a darker turn. 

Writer and podcaster Marc Bernardin broke this story. For those who do not know him, he hosts Fatman on Batman, now called Fatman Beyond with Kevin Smith, a podcast dedicated to the caped crusader. 

On Twitter, Smith tweeted to the world that he got a copy of the movie and had watched it. He plans on chatting about it on Jun. 19 on their show after seeing The Flash. 

In an interview, Bernardin said, "I think that [the 170-minute version] went much deeper into his childhood psychosis and his mental blocks and that it was a more serious, darker version of that movie that was one of the first assemblies that Joel filed with the studio and they eventually cut it down because they were like 'It's too dark for kids. We gotta sell these Happy Meals, so maybe let's not invest ourselves in the trauma of childhood murder. We've got Jim Carrey, let him do some s--t.'"

This sounds pretty intriguing, even if I'm not a huge fan of the original. Schumacher passed away a few years ago, which is disappointing because it would have been fun to get his perspective on the longer version and to wonder if he even meant for that version to be seen by the general public. 

Would you be interested in watching it? Let us know in the comments. 

Source: World of Reel