Batman & Robin

The fourth Bat-flick finds this juvenile franchise running on empty. Oozing insincerity and perplexed paternalism, Clooney plays Batman as an irrelevant bystander. Screenwriter Akiva Goldman sets up a 'revenge of nature' theme, with Schwarzenegger's lumpen Mr Freeze croaking interminable 'cool' puns ('chill'), and Thurman vamping as eco-terrorist Poison Ivy, but soon falls back on recycling random Bat-pieces with scant rhyme or reason. Robin, the blandly obnoxious O'Donnell, meets his match in Silverstone's unintentionally hilarious Oxbridge biker chick, but Batgirl is just another doll looking for a merchandising tie-in.