Rating:

Originally published June 20, 1997

The role of Batman has become one of the most puzzling casting problems in all of Hollywood - title billing in a $200 million-a-pop franchise, but a job that nobody seems to want.

 At least not for very long. We're now on ``Batman and Robin,'' the fourth installment of the resurrected series, and we're already on our third Batman.

 What a transition it's been.

 First there was Michael Keaton, the disturbed Batman. Then there was Val Kilmer, the sexy Batman. Now comes George Clooney, who stakes out new territory as sort of the Fred MacMurray of the group, playing worried father to the headstrong Robin (Chris O'Donnell again) and the feisty Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone).

 Not a very glamorous role, but Clooney is hardly in a position to complain, since virtually any actor with a chin can wear the suit, and come to think of it, Keaton didn't even really have a chin.

 As the series has regressed, it's become abundantly clear that Batman isn't the marquee attraction.

 Warner Bros. keeps the franchise viable by casting a major box-office attraction as a villain - Jim Carrey as the Riddler in ``Batman Forever,'' and now Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze in ``Batman and Robin. ''

 The skimpy plot has Mr. Freeze stealing diamonds, the key ingredients he needs for the cryogenic technology he needs to keep his terminally ill wife frozen, and to freeze Gotham City, just because he's an angry guy.

 He is abetted by another villain, Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), a former botanist turned into a mutant but foxy plant woman after an industrial accident.

 Though she gets only modest help from the script, Thurman makes Ivy into an amusing character, one of the movie's few interesting performances.

 Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, is a tiresome collection of lame, frost-related puns.

 ``Let's kick some ice,'' he shouts at one point.

 Ivy and Freeze square off against Batman, Robin and Batgirl, who must stop squabbling long enough to form an effective fighting force, which they need to defeat the combined strength of the new super-villains.

 There's not much suspense in that, but there is a great deal of color and noise, the dubious trademarks of director Joel Schumacher, who inherited Batman from Tim Burton.

 Schumacher is not the least bit interested in Batman's psychological problems. He's reduced the caped crusader, his associates and all of the series' many villains to kitsch, and his ``Batman'' movies are extravagant musicals - only without the music.

 The ``action'' sequences are elaborate choreography and decoration without much action, and the spectacle is light and color and sound, without being particularly spectacular.

 The formula seems to work for him - commercially. The movies aren't very satisfying to watch, and apparently they aren't even much fun to be in.

 Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney. Sounds like a law firm. Look for a fourth partner soon.