A Dark and Stormy Cinema, Part 4: Mask of the Phantasm

“Vengeance blackens the soul, Bruce. I’ve always feared that you would become that which you fought against. You walk the edge of that abyss every night, but you haven’t fallen in, and I thank Heaven for that.”

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Directors: Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm
Writers: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko, Martin Reaves
Starring: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Mark Hamill
Music By: Shirley Walker
Rated PG (Contains violence, implied sex, and some chillingly effective uses of Laughing Gas™)

A shadowy, caped figure is killing gangsters in Gotham, and the police’s number one suspect is Batman. But this is one cinematic Bat who never kills, so he’s busy trying to find the real culprit and clear his own name. Things just get a little more complicated when a persecuted mob boss makes the colossal mistake of asking the Joker for help. Meanwhile,  an old flame named Andrea Beaumont comes back into Bruce Wayne’s life, causing him to reminisce on the beginning of his nighttime career, and to wonder whether the path he’s chosen is the right one.

There seems to be a common perception in the Western world that cartoons can only be one of two things: harmless but unsophisticated entertainment for children, or juvenile comedy for adults. When an animated movie dares to transcend those two categories, it often struggles to find an audience. That was definitely the case with Mask of the Phantasm. Despite being based on a popular TV show (Batman: The Animated Series), it was a dismal failure at the box office, and even though it’s gained a following among Batman fans in the 26 years since its release, the average movie-goer still hasn’t heard of it.

Which is a terrible shame, because, with the possible exception of the Nolan trilogy, this movie is the best interpretation of Batman ever to reach the big screen.

One of the things that set Batman apart from other superheroes is the dark, moody atmosphere that has been built up around him over decades of comic book stories. Gotham, with its perpetual stormy nights and teeming underworld of costumed criminals, has become as much a supporting character in his story as Alfred or Commissioner Gordon. Both the terrifying, bat-themed persona he creates at night and the deceptively shallow, glamourous playboy image he projects by day would fit right into a 19th-century Gothic romance. The Tim Burton movies have a little bit of that mood going on, with their gargoyled buildings and dramatic music, but they’re too garish to fully capture it. Mask of the Phantasm, on the other hand, is absolutely drenched in Gothic atmosphere, from the first sweeping shot of Gotham’s dark Art Deco cityscape to the last haunting line of dialogue. Lightning flashes across black skies to accompany the discovery of a corpse, clouds of bats fly out of cave mouths to signal a tragic event, and the Phantasm itself looks and talks like a character escaped from an early Dracula movie.

“Your angel of death awaits…”

Then there’s the music. Shirley Walker took Danny Elfman’s already-great Batman theme and ran away with it in this movie, reimagining it as both an epic choral chant and a fast-paced backdrop for the action scenes. But it’s not just that theme; every bit of the score brings something important to Mask‘s storytelling. The Phantasm’s eerie, high-pitched motif adds to its menace while creating a disturbing echo of Batman’s music, and the Joker’s ever-cheerful circus music makes his scenes even more unsettling. Aside from the cheesy end-credits song, which kind of ruins the mood, it’s one of the best superhero soundtracks I’ve ever heard.

All of this endears the movie to me tremendously. I like my Batman Gothic (it’s in his city’s name, for crying out loud!) and this was the first feature film to really embrace that aspect of his character. But this movie can claim a few other “firsts” as well. It was the first movie to give Batman an origin story (albeit one told through flashbacks). It was the first movie to introduce an original villain who wasn’t in the comics, and also the first to introduce an original love interest. Most importantly, it was the first Batman movie to really tackle the question of why the Dark Knight does what he does.

Short version: Deep, dark parental issues.

Unlike other Batman origin stories, this movie doesn’t show the Waynes’ murder, but it still does a fantastic job of showing the effect it had on their son. While they never actually appear in the flesh, Thomas and Martha’s presence haunts this movie as much as the Phantasm haunts Gotham. Their portrait in Wayne Manor stares down at Bruce while he tries to find a way to strike fear into criminal’s hearts, and their tombstone looms over him in silent judgement while he struggles to decide between his newfound love for Andrea and his vow to fight crime. Whereas other movies have been content to take Batman’s pursuit of justice for granted, this one takes its time exploring the mixture of guilt, grief, and righteous anger that might drive someone like Bruce Wayne to dedicate his life to vigilantism. And it also explores the dark side of that decision. Like Bruce, the Phantasm wants revenge on Gotham’s criminals, and unlike him, it doesn’t draw the line at murder. But by the end of the movie, it’s clear that the line between Batman’s methods and his enemy’s is perilously thin.

Which, to me, is one of the great things about a Batman who doesn’t kill. It’s very hard to explore the difference between justice and vengeance in a movie where the hero has no qualms about setting his enemies on fire. (It’s also hard to let the villains return in sequels under those conditions.) But in a movie like this, where Batman values human life and genuinely cares about bringing criminals to justice, the writers are free to explore all the ramifications of his war against crime without making him unsympathetic.

And that’s not all I love about the version of Batman in this movie (and the Animated Series that spawned it). This version basically combines all my favourite Batman character traits. He’s a detective. He’s a ninja. He’s genuinely frightening in costume and obsessed with his crusade to the point of instability, but isn’t above sharing a little dry humour with his butler (and by the way, every line out of Alfred’s mouth in this movie is gold).

“Why, you’re the very model of sanity. By the way, I’ve pressed your tights and put away your exploding gas balls.”

I also love the way this movie handles its romance. Normally I wouldn’t be on board with a brand new love interest for a superhero appearing out of nowhere (Andrea was never even mentioned in the Animated Series), and romance is generally my least favourite part of any action movie to begin with. But Andrea is not only an interesting character in her own right, but also a fantastic foil to Bruce. Like him, she has dead loved ones to whom she’s in the habit of talking as if they were still watching her, and like him, she’s hiding a much more complicated personality beneath a shallow socialite veneer. Their relationship is believable and brings out some great character development on both sides. His love for Andrea also shows Bruce that he could have a normal life if he really tried…which just gives all the more weight to his inevitable decision to become a Bat.

“I didn’t count on being happy…”

At a well-paced length of just over an hour, this movie manages to develop Bruce/Batman as a character far more than all its predecessors combined. Its tragic story also does double duty as a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing vengeance and hate to consume one’s life. Batman is a hero, in part, because his crimefighting takes him so close to “the edge of that abyss,” as Alfred puts it, yet he never takes his eyes off his quest for true justice–and his far-flung hope of a better future for Gotham.

If you’re even slightly interested in Batman, or even if you just like good movies, I highly recommend tracking down Mask of the Phantasm and watching it. It is a spinoff of sorts, but no knowledge of the Animated Series is required to understand it (although I would also highly recommend watching that show). Personally, I can’t give enough praise to artists like Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, Shirley Walker, Kevin Conroy, and all the supporting voice actors for their work in bringing a truly great Batman to the screen for the first time. This movie is everything I want in a Batman story, and I enjoy it more every time I watch it. It deserves so much more than to be dismissed as a silly cartoon.

Best suit-up scene in a Batman movie, for one thing.

Speaking of silly cartoons, though, my next couple of posts in this series will have to deal with what is often considered the dark age of Batman movies: the Joel Schumacher era. Can’t wait to see if it’s as bad as I’ve heard!

1. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
2. Batman: The Movie
3. Batman Returns
4. Batman (1989)
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???

A Dark and Stormy Cinema, Part 3: Batman Returns

“Sickos never scare me. At least they’re committed.”

Batman Returns
Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Daniel Waters
Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer
Music By: Danny Elfman
Rated PG-13 (Contains lots of violence and lots more thick sexual innuendo)

After the defeat of the Joker, a new criminal arises in Gotham to challenge Batman. This time it’s a deformed, sewer-dwelling freak known as the Penguin, who has recently emerged into the light, ostensibly to find his true identity. But he’s really planning to take over the city with the help of shady businessman Max Schreck. Meanwhile, a murdered woman is mysteriously brought back to life by a bunch of cats, which somehow gives her gymnastics skills, a radically different fashion sense, and a taste for crime. Bruce Wayne starts a flirtation with post-resurrection Selina Kyle, but Batman finds Catwoman an increasingly troublesome obstacle in his fight against the Penguin.

First of all: this movie is bonkers. It is both more cartoonish and far more dark and gruesome than its predecessor. Batman Returns contains all of the following and more: an army of cute penguins; a plot to drown a bunch of infants in toxic waste; a gang that commits crimes using coordinated dance moves; multiple graphic shots of women falling to their deaths; and more Christmas decorations than I’ve seen in a movie outside the Home Alone series. Oh, and parts of it are also a rather thoughtful dive into the duality of the human condition. I’m having a hard time deciding whether this movie is a black comedy, a tonally-confused tragedy, or something else entirely. I think I’ll have to settle for calling it a Tim Burton film.

Say what you will about Gotham, but at least it’s festive!

I can understand why Burton didn’t get to direct any more Batman movies after this one. The character had always been heavily marketed to children, and, while the 1989 movie did take a darker turn than usual, the average 8-year-old could probably watch it without being psychologically scarred. I’m not so sure that’s true of the sequel. Not only is it more violent, not only does it have a highly sexualised female villain (and, even worse, a deformed Danny DeVito dropping innuendo into every other line), but it also tells its story with a very twisted, mean-spirited sense of humour that tends to overshadow its more serious moments. For example: at one point, Batman (who is even more murder-happy in this movie than the last) plants a Looney Tunes-style bomb on a henchman during a fight and, just when the poor dope realises he’s about to explode, gives him a smirk so goofy that it’s become a meme. That’s just one of many, many scenes that made me laugh and then immediately feel like a very bad person.

There’s a reason why Batman rarely smiles in costume.

But while Batman may be more gleefully homicidal in this movie, he’s also not glamourised like he was in previous instalments. In case you weren’t sure before, Batman Returns confirms that Bruce Wayne is not a happy man. When we first see him, he’s sitting alone in his dark mansion, just waiting for the Bat-signal to light up the sky. We find out later that Vicki Vale has left him due to his…eccentric lifestyle, and he seems to have just about given up all pretense of a social life. His alter ego has completely taken him over, and it takes the emergence of a couple of new costumed freaks (one of whom also happens to be a rich orphan with a Vitamin D deficiency) to make him see how close he is to becoming one of them. Throughout the movie, Bruce’s biggest struggle is between his desire to be a normal, good person, and his compulsion to be Batman. Which gives him a lot in common with the two villains.

One area where this movie definitely improves upon its predecessor is its romance. Whereas Vicki Vale’s role in the first movie was mostly limited to screaming and showing off her legs, Catwoman gets her very own story arc, which mirrors Batman’s. Like him, she’s torn between a desire to be normal (in order to get with the seemingly-normal Bruce Wayne) and the temptation to embrace her violent, aggressive Catwoman persona. In keeping with the weird brand of feminism that tends to show up in ’90s media, that persona both empowers and destroys her, while, of course, making her much more attractive than her frumpy pre-murder self. She’s still not exactly my favourite female character of all time, but she’s fascinating in her own way. Her mutual attraction with Batman makes sense, given how much the two have in common, and I actually kind of cared about their relationship, unlike the one in the first movie. Of course, I’m a pretty enthusiastic BatCat shipper in all Batman media, so I could be biased.

“I am Catwoman. Hear me roar.”

The Penguin, likewise, starts the movie as an oddball trying to fit in with society–maybe even the upper crust of society. And for part of the movie, he seems to be succeeding. Despite his looks, he quickly becomes popular in Gotham by painting himself as a hero (I guess Gothamites aren’t as shallow as most TV audiences). But unfortunately, the Penguin’s deformity is more than skin deep, and it only takes a bit of rejection for his evil, animalistic nature to reveal itself.

I’d say he’s got a chance in 2020.

At its heart, this is a movie about three weirdos trying–mostly unsuccessfully–to find a place for themselves in the world. Like its predecessor, it differs wildly from the Batman stories I’m used to, and its characters bear very little resemblance to their comic counterparts. But they’re still good characters in their own right. I could definitely have done without some of the Penguin’s gross lines, but he and Catwoman are both excellent villains, and I like the character development that Batman gets in this movie, too.

But because of the movie’s weird tone, it can be hard to know how much of it to take seriously. Am I really supposed to sympathise with Catwoman, or just laugh at how she’s a literal “crazy cat lady?” Can there really be any pathos about the Penguin when he’s giving hammy speeches to an army of birds while looking…like that? Then there are all the things in this movie that are never explained–Catwoman’s resurrection, Penguin’s gang of clown/mimes, etc. Are these things supposed to make sense, or are we just supposed to accept that this takes place in a cartoon universe where magic happens for no reason? The violence, especially, switches back and forth between realistic and ridiculous so often that it’s hard to tell what kind of universe the movie is trying to establish.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this movie just a bit more than its predecessor, because unlike Batman 1989, it’s about something more than just Batman fighting a bad guy. Granted, it’s also insane and ridiculous and weird, but there’s a kind of charm to that, too. I wish it had a slightly more consistent tone, but it’s a decent watch. I just wish I’d known to watch it around Christmas time.

Honestly, there should be more Batman-themed Christmas lights in the world.

Next time, we’ll be leaving the realm of the cartoonish and silly, and getting our first look at a fully mature, serious Batman. Who just happens to be a cartoon.

1. Batman: The Movie
2. Batman Returns
3. Batman (1989)
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???

 

Glass

Here it is: the long-awaited conclusion to the weirdest superhero trilogy of all time.

Glass
Director and Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, and Samuel L. Jackson
Music By: West Dylan Thordson
Rated PG-13 (Contains some violence and disturbing images, such as James McAvoy in drag)

Warning: Review contains spoilers for Unbreakable and Split.

Shortly after the events of Split, Kevin Wendell Crumb, aka the Horde, is still at large, preying on the “impure” teen girls of Philadelphia. But now he’s come to the attention of David Dunn, who, for about 15 years, has been operating as a vigilante under the name of Overseer. David confronts Kevin to save his latest kidnapping victims, but before the two of them can complete their showdown, they’re captured by police and sent to a shockingly understaffed psychiatric hospital–one which also happens to be the home of crippled evil genius Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass. At the hospital, they meet a psychiatrist who claims to specialise in curing people of the delusion that they have superpowers. While our three main characters try to figure out what is real and what’s in their heads, David’s son Joseph teams up with Casey, the sole survivor of the Horde’s kidnapping spree, to free them without letting their secrets out of the bag.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I enjoy M. Night Shyamalan movies, and I’m not ashamed to say it. What I like most about them is that they tend to be totally free of that stale, processed, made-by-committee feeling that so many big blockbusters have. Every M. Night movie I’ve seen feels like a movie that M. Night wanted to make, not one that some studio or focus group told him to make. His movies are messy, flawed, and almost always completely original. In my view, that makes them a rare gem in the media landscape nowadays.

They also tend not to follow current media trends, which has had a huge impact on the Unbreakable trilogy and how it’s been received. The first movie (which is still the best, I think) was a deconstruction/reconstruction of superhero tropes that came out before superheroes were mainstream enough for such a thing to resonate with most audiences. I expect that’s a major reason why it took 17 years for it to get a sequel. When the sequel did come out, nobody knew it was a superhero movie until they watched the final scene. So Glass is the only film in the trilogy to be met with typical audience expectations for a superhero movie. And I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s the only critical flop of the three.

Most movie superheroes have higher-budget costumes.

By no measure is Glass an awful movie. It’s full of beautiful, creatively-composed shots and set pieces, and it follows its predecessors’ example by using colour in a variety of ways to tell the story. The actors all do a fantastic job, especially James McAvoy and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s well-written, with relatively few instances of the glaringly awkward dialogue that sometimes creeps into Shyamalan’s movies. And while a few plot points might strain the suspension of disbelief at first glance, to me the story made a lot of sense considering the world in which it takes place.

The problem that I think a lot of audiences will have with this movie is that it doesn’t give us any of the things we’ve come to expect from superheroes. It is certainly the most action-packed film in the trilogy, but that’s not saying much. There are still some long stretches of dialogue and exposition in which not much happens, visually speaking. There certainly aren’t any big CGI-heavy battles or cool futuristic gadgets. Like its predecessors, it’s a fairly quiet, introspective movie that focuses more on what its characters are thinking about than what they’re doing with their fists. And without giving too much away, I think it’s safe to say it doesn’t end like any other superhero film I’ve ever seen.

They were all dead the whoooollllee tiiiiiimmmee!!

But I went into this movie as a fan of the other two, not primarily as a fan of superheroes in general. And it gave me pretty much everything I expected and wanted. We get some great insight into the main characters. Casey’s weird relationship with the Horde is developed further, as is the rivalry between Mr. Glass and David Dunn. Mr. Glass and the Horde (more specifically, the Beast) also develop a fascinating relationship. Seeing the original actor back as Joseph was a pleasant surprise, especially since he did an excellent job, and while I didn’t love everything about the psychiatrist character, her presence did add a lot of depth to the world of Unbreakable.

Not much depth in her facial expressions, though, sadly.

I also thought the movie did a good job wrapping up the themes of the entire trilogy. At their core, all three of these movies are about odd people trying to find their place in the world. The finale provides a fairly satisfying conclusion to their search, while also opening up the possibility for more people in their universe to find the same thing. It’s not the ending I was expecting, but I like it.

My only complaint about the movie–and it is a big one–is its treatment of David Dunn. He’s the protagonist of the first movie in the trilogy, and the only actual superhero in this one (as opposed to a supervillain), so you would think he would be the protagonist, or at least a key character. But he’s really not, especially after the first twenty minutes or so of the movie. The villains (and Casey, to a certain extent) get much more attention and have vastly greater impacts on the plot. On the one hand, I think I can understand why. Jackson and especially MacAvoy are ridiculously talented actors, and their characters are much more entertaining than Bruce Willis’s stoic performance as David. But at the same time, I don’t like cheering for villains, and the fact that the only super-person in this movie who seemed heroic at all got pushed to the sidelines didn’t sit well with me. For all this trilogy’s success so far in avoiding typical superhero movie problems, it ultimately fell to one of the most common: making the villains more interesting than the hero.

“First name: Mister. Last name: Glass.”

Still, if you’re a fan of the previous two movies, I’d still say this one is a must-see. It’s arguably the weakest of the trilogy (although I’d have to see Split again to decide exactly how I rank them), but it’s still a well-made, heartfelt, and highly original superhero movie that is refreshingly different from anything else in theatres right now.

Grade: B+

A Dark and Stormy Cinema, Part 2: Batman (1989)

“You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

Batman
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren
Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson
Music By: Danny Elfman
Rated PG-13 (Contains superhero violence, some implied sex, and mild language)

In crime-ridden Gotham City, petty crooks and mob bosses alike are being terrorised by a mysterious figure known as Batman. Intrepid photojournalist Vicki Vale comes to town to get the scoop on Batman, but finds herself even more intrigued by the eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, a run-in with Batman at a chemical plant turns two-bit gangster Jack Napier into the much more sinister (and ambitious) Joker. Batman is the only one who can stop his plan to take over the city, but both men get more than they bargained for out of the confrontation.

In a generation shaped by the ’60s TV show, this movie was Hollywood’s first attempt to convince an adult movie-going audience to take Batman seriously. And it seems to have been at least partly successful, since my generation (the one that grew up after this movie’s release) generally doesn’t think of Batman as a comedy character.

In order to accomplish this, the movie really plays up the terror that the Dark Knight strikes into his enemies. The opening scene follows a couple of criminals who are scared out of their minds of meeting “the Bat” on a dark rooftop. When they do, he’s presented almost like a monster in a horror movie, emerging from the shadows just like a giant version of his namesake, and dealing a ton of damage to the hapless criminals in less than a minute. Even normal citizens are scared of Batman in this movie, spreading rumours that he’s a vampire or some other supernatural being. Gotham itself is also presented as a sort of dirty, gargoyle-infested city with Gothic-influenced architecture and dark alleys galore. A good 70 percent of the movie takes place at night, much of it in dark caves (including the Bat-one, of course), abandoned warehouses, and other such places. And that’s all before the Joker starts perpetuating his (sometimes genuinely disturbing) crimes. In other words, the whole thing feels much more like the Batman I know and love.

Da-da-da-DAAAHHH-dumm…

That being said, the movie is by no means devoid of camp, as you might be able to tell from the fact that “Songs by Prince” is a thing that appears in the credits. The Joker and his minions dance to the aforementioned songs while carrying a giant boombox. Bruce Wayne literally sleeps upside down like a bat. The Joker kills people with joy buzzers and big feather pens. The 1989 version of Batman takes place in a much more grounded reality than its predecessor, but it’s still a long way from, you know, actual reality.

And even the parts of the movie that were meant to be taken seriously haven’t always aged well. Batman’s whole “terror in the night” shtick doesn’t work on the audience too well once you realise that the actor can barely move in his rubber suit. That suit also severely limited the number of moves available to Batman in his fight scenes, so those don’t look great for the most part. I don’t think the Prince songs have aged particularly well either, but that could just be my personal distaste for pop.

Eh, Megamind had better museum-destroying music.

Campy elements aside, this movie does have a lot going for it. The acting is fantastic across the board, the cinematography is often lovely, and the Batmobile is even cooler than the ’60s one. Also, meaning no disrespect to Hans Zimmer, this movie gave us the best Batman theme of all time. I tend to prefer the arrangement used in the Animated Series, but even in this movie, it’s a beautiful theme that perfectly encapsulates the dark, gothic nature of Batman while also promising exciting adventures to come. It’s probably my favourite thing about the movie.

The way the central comic characters are adapted here is a little odd, though. For one thing, Jack Nicholson portrays possibly the sanest Joker I’ve seen in any medium. Sure, his methods are off the wall and his clown motif is unusual, but he’s motivated by very common, natural desires: power, money, sex, revenge. He starts the movie as a despicable gangster, and he ends it as a more confident and successful despicable gangster. There’s no mystery to him, nothing unexplained…not even anything particularly special.

“As you can see, I’m a lot happier.”

By contrast, this is possibly the most mentally unstable Batman I’ve seen in film so far (which is saying something). Michael Keaton plays the famous playboy Bruce Wayne like a socially awkward, absent-minded dork who is totally dependent on Alfred for survival. When he’s Batman, he’s good at scaring criminals (despite the rubber suit situation) but he never seems to do any detective work or strategic planning. He just finds out about a problem and throws himself head-first at it. He can’t even explain to his closest allies why he runs around at night scaring criminals–it’s just “something that (he has) to do.” Also–and here’s where the movie really threw me the first time I watched it–he is 100 percent okay with murder. Batman kills at least four or five criminals in this movie via explosions and weaponised grappling hooks, and no one ever so much as comments on it.

This was a problem for me when I first watched this movie. I had always heard that it was one of the best Batman movies ever made–possibly even the best, according to some people. But I didn’t see it until well into my 20s, after I’d become familiar with the Nolan trilogy, the DC Animated Universe, and a fairly large selection of comics. So I was a little shocked and disappointed to find that the Batman in this movie was so very different from any of those portrayals.

Like I said in my last review, Batman has been portrayed in a wide variety of ways in many different media, so I don’t think it’s my place to say any particular portrayal is “wrong.” But speaking personally, my least favourite type of Joker is one without any mystery to him. As the man himself once said, “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!” And my least favourite version of Batman is the homicidal maniac type. To me, Batman’s no-killing code is one of the central aspects of his character. It’s what sets him apart from other edgy street “heroes,” like the Punisher. It’s what enables him to live with his demons without allowing them to turn him into a monster like the Joker. Sure, he runs into grey areas and loopholes all the time, but any Batman who doesn’t at least try to be a technical pacifist is a lesser Batman in my book.

I guess it’s not a gun in the strictest sense, but…yeesh, Batsy.

So for my second viewing, I tried my best to forget all my favourite Batmen and just enjoy the movie with the same context an average ’80s moviegoer would have brought to the theatre. And it improved the experience greatly. Keaton’s performance may not be what I expected, but it is a convincing picture of an unstable, slightly sheltered billionaire who never got over his parents’ deaths and eventually snapped. Likewise, Nicholson is genuinely terrifying (when he’s not dancing to Prince), and also genuinely funny, which covers the two qualities essential to any great Joker performance. It must have been a shock for the original audience to see Batman being portrayed so seriously after the expectations set by the ’60s show, but I bet it was a good kind of shock. It paved the way for much better portrayals of the character later on. The Animated Series alone is enough to justify this movie’s existence ten times over.

I think the movie’s biggest flaw–as a movie, not a Batman adaptation–is its lack of a strong protagonist. The audience views Bruce Wayne/Batman from the outside, not getting a real glimpse into his head until near the end of the film. We see a lot more of the Joker’s thought processes and motivations, oddly enough, but if you can find any sympathy for him, there’s probably something wrong with you. The closest thing we have to a point of view character is Vicki Vale, who is in charge of discovering Batman’s secrets so they can be revealed to the audience. But she’s an attractive woman, and this is the ’80s, so she’s not allowed to have much of a personality or to do much other than love Batman and scream a lot. The camera angles, the script, and the costumes she wears frame her as an object for the audience to ogle rather than a person for us to identify with.

When the first thing we see of a female character is her legs, you know there’s a problem.

As a result, we’re left without a relatable protagonist or point of view character, which made it hard for me to care a whole lot about what happened to the characters we did have. In the end, it just feels like a simple revenge story, not an inspiring tale about getting justice for the innocent or anything fun like that.

Everything looks cool, though, and the dialogue contains some truly unforgettable lines. It also inspired the title of one of the greatest Star Trek episodes ever, so that’s cool as well. I enjoyed it, and I’ll probably watch it again when I need my semiannual Batman fix. But ultimately, I appreciate it more because of what it did for Batman’s popular image than for itself. I still consider Batman: The Movie to be the better film, because it accomplished more of what it set out to do, and because it’s just more fun.

Not that Batman/Joker fights aren’t always fun.

But before it spawned the greatest animated shows of all time, or paved the way for the greatest live-action superhero trilogy of all time, Batman spawned its own little franchise. I’ll be watching all of its sequels for the first time, so my reviews will be my raw, unadulterated first thoughts. Stay tuned!

1. Batman: The Movie
2. Batman (1989)
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???

Young Justice: Outsiders, Part 1

It’s been six years of uncertainty and streaming service drama…but at last, my cartoon children are back!

Of course, now they’re more like cartoon young adults.

Young Justice: Outsiders
Creators: Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti
Starring: Nolan North, Jesse McCartney, Danica McKellar, Khary Payton, etc., etc…
Music By: Kristopher Carter, mostly
Not sure how ratings work on the DC Universe app, but: Contains superhero violence, some rather gruesome injuries/deaths, and a few suggestive scenes

Review contains mild spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2. 

It’s been two years since the finale of Young Justice: Invasion. The hostile aliens the Team defeated last season are long gone, but they left behind their methods for activating the meta-gene (the thing that gives humans the potential to develop superpowers). Naturally, the world’s shadier governments, corporations, and supervillain organisations have been abusing it to no end, leading to the worldwide spread of meta-human trafficking. When Nightwing discovers a particularly nasty meta lab in the country of Markovia, he recruits a disillusioned former Justice Leaguer (Black Lightning) and a couple old teammates (Superboy and Artemis, now going by Tigress) to help shut it down. But what was supposed to be a one-off mission turns into something bigger when the group discovers a connection between the lab and the planet Apokalips, and gets unexpected help from two brand-new teenage meta-humans. Soon Nightwing finds himself leading another team of misfit teen superheroes, while in the background, the re-formed Light and its Apokaliptan allies prepare to give them the fight of their lives.

Outsiders is being distributed…interestingly. The first 13 episodes aired throughout January and are still available on the DC Universe streaming app (and nowhere else, at least in the U.S.), but the second half of the season won’t air until June for reasons that are somewhat unclear to me. Anyway, I just couldn’t wait that long to share my thoughts about the show’s revival, so I’m reviewing the season in two parts.

First of all, I’m just really thrilled to have the show back with all the original creators and cast members (well, almost all–Beast Boy, Vandal Savage, and Gordon Godfrey had to get new voices due to things like death and retirement). I binged the first two seasons before watching the new one, and it really felt like a seamless transition, almost like the long break didn’t happen at all.

I said “almost.”

That being said, the switch from Cartoon Network to DC’s own streaming service has led to some changes in storytelling. This season feels very much like it was made for the show’s original fans–people who watched it on TV as young teens, and are now in their early-to-mid-20s. For one thing, the creators are taking full advantage of the absence of Cartoon Network censorship. Injuries that would have previously taken place offscreen or been represented by a small bloody nose are now shown in all their gory glory. There’s quite a bit more innuendo, too, and the audience is no longer given any room for doubt as to which characters are sleeping together.

More importantly, though, the show’s characters have clearly aged with their audience. None of our original heroes are teenagers anymore, and they’ve all got adult problems and responsibilities to deal with. Superboy and Miss Martian are engaged, Tigress is mentoring a new meta-teen, Red Arrow has embraced the dad life, and Nightwing has to train an inexperienced team that bears a striking resemblance to his own back in Season 1. For some characters, adulting is as big a challenge as fighting the Light. And I, for one, can relate.

“Augh! My insurance premiums!”

The show’s more adult tone does feel a little over-the-top at times (honestly, just because a character has healing powers doesn’t mean you need to kill her every three episodes), but for the most part, I think it’s a positive change. Young Justice has never shied away from death, violence, or other “mature” themes, but in the past, censorship often forced it to portray them unrealistically or dance around them to the point of awkwardness (e.g., the obvious-but-never-named drug addiction in Invasion). This season feels more like the show the creators always wanted to make. And the absence of typical kid’s cartoon standards has also allowed for some creative stylistic experiments that probably wouldn’t have gotten the green light six years ago.

It gets REAL weird.

My least favourite thing about Young Justice has always been the time skip in between Seasons 1 and 2. Instead of resolving the previous season’s cliffhanger, it threw me into a whole new complicated plot full of characters I didn’t care about, all of whom took time away from the original Team. Outsiders handles its time skip much more effectively, in my opinion. The characters haven’t gone through as many drastic changes between seasons, and the first few episodes of the new season focus mainly on familiar faces, while slowly introducing new characters in a way that doesn’t leave me guessing for too long about their backstories and motivations.

It also helps that the new characters are so likable. Halo is sweet and funny, and has both an intriguingly mysterious past and a broad spectrum of amazing powers. Geoforce is a hothead, but his heart is always in the right place, and the parallels between him and the greatly-matured Superboy are fascinating to watch. And Forager is Forager. They’re a fun group when they’re by themselves, and even more so when they’re interacting with the original Team.

Every good superhero training session should end in s’mores.

Of course, with a cast this huge and episodes this short, some characters were always going to get sidelined. Personally, I was hoping for a lot more Impulse and Blue Beetle than we ended up getting so far, and I was disappointed when Cassandra Cain (the BEST Batgirl) showed up in one episode only to disappear without a single line. And my hopes that a certain Team member might turn out not to be dead this season have, sadly, not been fulfilled. But there’s still a lot of season to go, so I’m not going to complain too much about that yet.

My only real complaint about this season, in comparison to the rest of the show, is that its animation quality seems to have taken a hit. It tends to be much less…well, animated than it was in the past, especially during dialogue scenes. It’s sometimes painfully obvious that nothing on screen is moving except the characters’ mouths–and sometimes not even that, since several characters can speak telepathically. The action scenes still look great for the most part, but the animation can be distracting the rest of the time.

Still, overall, Outsiders continues to do what Young Justice does best: create exciting stories about smart characters outsmarting each other for the good of planet Earth and the whole galaxy. After the way DC properties have been treated in live-action movies and television over the past decade (and even animation in recent years), it’s so refreshing to watch a show whose creators actually seem to care about their characters and trust the intelligence of their fans. On this show, nobody makes stupid decisions or acts out of character just for the sake of manufactured drama. The villains come up with clever plans that don’t involve threatening the heroes’ loved ones. The heroes come up with clever counter-plans that involve more than punching the villains in the face. And no heroes fight each other over silly misunderstandings. It’s such a breath of fresh air.

Superboy only punches supervillains. And monkeys.

The first half of the season left a lot of possibilities open for the second half, and I can’t wait to see where they go. But even the first 13 episodes are well worth the price of a one-month DC Universe subscription. If you’re a fan who hasn’t had a chance to see this season yet, or if you haven’t been exposed to the magic of Young Justice at all yet, I’d highly recommend getting one. I’m hoping DC can be convinced to make many more seasons of this show.

Best Character: It’s a tough decision, but I’ve got to go with Dick Grayson/Nightwing. He’s my second favourite superhero of all time, and this is his best portrayal outside the comics. I’m also super happy to see him without his mask more often this season.

Worst Character: Well, Lagoon Boy hasn’t shown up yet, so it’s Dr. Helga Jace. I’m hoping she turns evil later in the season, because so far I just don’t care about her, and she’s getting way too much screen time.

Favourite Fight Scene: The Outsiders vs. Lobo. It’s always fun when the Main Man shows up.

Favourite Episode: #4, “Private Security.” An entire episode of Dick Grayson and the Harper clones palling around as normal security guards? With a side of heartbreaking Zatanna/Zatara feels? Yes please. “Nightmare Monkeys” is a very close second, just because of how delightfully weird it is.

Overall Grade: A

 

The Punisher, Season 2

The beginning of a new year is a great time for a little memento mori.

The Punisher, Season 2
Creator: Steve Lightfoot
Starring: Jon Bernthal, Giorgia Whigham, Ben Barnes, Amber Rose Revah, etc.
Music By: Tyler Bates
Rated TV-MA (Contains lots of bloody murder, a few brief sex scenes, and one instance of very non-sexy nudity)

Review contains spoilers for Season 1.

Frank Castle has cleaned up his act a bit since the last time we saw him. Having avenged his family’s deaths, he’s on a murder-free road trip across the country, and is even considering a relationship with a woman he meets at a bar. But when he notices a teenage girl being stalked by some unsavory characters, his trigger finger just won’t stay quiet. Soon he’s killing his way through another government-backed criminal conspiracy, all while trying to protect his new sidekick and his last remaining friends, Curtis Hoyle and Agent Madani, from an assassin as relentless as himself. Meanwhile, Billy Russo is starting to piece his memories back together after the amateur lobotomy Frank gave him last season, and he’s not pleased with what he’s learning.

Even though I consider it the second best Marvel/Netflix show (even after Daredevil‘s incredible third season), my feelings about The Punisher have always been a bit mixed. This season…did not help with that. Granted, some parts of it are undeniably good. Jon Bernthal’s performance as Frank continues to be flawless, and most of his supporting cast is equally great, especially Ben Barnes as Russo. The action scenes are almost as well choreographed as the ones on Daredevil, and there are more of them this season, which is very welcome. I enjoyed the father-daughter dynamic between Frank and the teenage girl, Rachel. It’s completely different from his relationship with Micro last season, of course, but it adds a similar element of humanity to his story, and it’s fun to see how the two of them learn from each other over the course of the season.

Turns out the Punisher is a pretty good babysitter.

This season tries even harder than the last one to humanise Frank. He sticks to his “code” no matter what, and, thanks to the influence of the new daughter figure in his life, sometimes even shows mercy to criminals he would have killed without hesitation when he was first introduced. He spends almost as much time protecting innocent lives as he does ending guilty ones, and most of his kills this season could technically count as self-defense (although he does seem to subscribe to the idea that the best defense is a good offense). There are many moments that showcase his desire to leave the Punisher behind and become Frank again…even though he and the audience know that’s no longer possible.

Honestly, that humanisation is behind most of my mixed feelings about the show. On the one hand, it’s largely what makes The Punisher enjoyable. It would be a real chore for me to watch a whole show about an emotionless killing machine with no morals. But on the other hand, no matter how much he holds back this season, Castle still kills, tortures, and maims an awful lot of people. He starts gunfights on crowded streets and in occupied hotels. And he’s completely unrepentant because, in his mind, everyone he kills deserved to die. Most of the time the villains’ portrayal makes it hard to disagree with him, but in the back of my mind, I’m always painfully aware that real justice doesn’t work that way. And because this show is a little more grounded than most Marvel properties, I was kinda hoping this season would show some more realistic consequences to Frank’s violence–maybe an incident where he kills the wrong person, or some innocents get caught in his crossfire. There’s one episode that comes really close to portraying such consequences, but Frank is ultimately absolved of guilt, so it fell flat for me.

Good guys don’t usually wear skulls.

By giving its ultraviolent protagonist as many morals and human emotions as possible, this season gives me the impression that I’m supposed to root for him. But I can’t do that, knowing that he’s never going to learn his lesson and give up killing. So I end up in this weird emotional limbo where I kind of want the Punisher to win (because the people he’s fighting are worse than he is), but I also can’t sympathise with him or his allies to any great degree.

I think that’s partly why this season left me feeling a bit cold. Another possible reason is its structure. It doesn’t have the same pacing problems as the first season, which had a few episodes in which practically nothing happened, but it still feels a bit too long. There are two unconnected storylines running throughout the season: Russo’s revenge plot (with a little Harley Quinn-esque romance on the side), and a story about a troubled Christian assassin working for the heads of a right-wing political dynasty who are getting blackmailed by the Russian mob (yeah, the politics this season are less than subtle). Both plots have their merits, but neither is interesting enough to last the whole season, and they don’t always get equal development–I didn’t get invested in the Christian assassin’s story until near the end of the season, whereas Billy’s story started out strong and fizzled a bit by the finale. I wish the show had focused on one storyline for the first half of the season, and switched to the other for the second half, just to streamline things a bit and make sure each story had the proper impact. And as always with non-Daredevil Netflix shows, I wish it was two or three episodes shorter.

About the Christian assassin plot–I was a little worried when I first learned about that character in the pre-season hype, but I was pleasantly surprised by how complex his portrayal turned out to be. He’s portrayed as a deeply broken man in search of redemption, whose fatal error is a tendency to put his faith in manipulative people (not necessarily in God). Even in a season with more heavy-handed political commentary, The Punisher is no CW show. Its writers know a little bit about nuance.

“He that sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind.”

Among my other complaints about the season: Billy Russo’s face should really look a lot worse than it does, especially since most of the characters react to him as if he’s horribly deformed, and I think a better actress could have been cast as his therapist/accomplice. Also, I wish Karen Page appeared in more than one episode, and not just because this was probably my last chance to see her following Daredevil‘s untimely cancellation. She just has such excellent chemistry with Frank (and this season confirms that they’re in love!). Among other things I enjoyed: the music choices are all on point, and I really like that the Punisher finally gets some chances to show female goons the same treatment he gives male ones. If we must have murder in our TV shows, let it be equal opportunity murder, I say. Also, I will probably never get tired of hearing Frank’s battle roar.

Considering the way Netflix has been treating its Marvel shows lately, this will probably be The Punisher‘s last season. So I wish I liked it a little better than I did. Still, it’s not a bad show by any stretch of the imagination, and it didn’t leave any blatant loose threads dangling. The Punisher is a difficult character to bring to life, and I think this show did as well as any live-action medium ever could.

It deserves a hearty “HUAAAGGHH!!!”

Best Character: Frank, as usual.

Worst Character: Krista Dumont, Billy’s therapist. What is it with Marvel/Netflix shows and horrible therapists?

My Favourite Fight Scene: The bar fight in “Roadhouse Blues.”

My Favourite Episode: #10, “The Dark Hearts of Men.” It’s just a nicely-structured episode in which every character gets to show what they’re made of, and it ends with the season’s biggest gut punch.

Overall Grade: B

A Dark and Stormy Cinema, Part 1: Batman The Movie

He is vengeance. He is the night. And he’s appeared in more movies than any other superhero in existence.

I had so much fun with my MCU re-watch last year that I decided to do another superhero-themed series in 2019, this time focusing on my favourite hero of all time. Starting with this post, I will be reviewing and ranking ALL THE BATMAN MOVIES. With certain limits, of course. I’ll be restricting this series to feature films that received a wide theatrical release (because if I did all the straight-to-DVD animated movies, we’d be here all decade), and movies in which Batman is the main protagonist, not just a cameo like in Suicide Squad, or a member of a big team-up, like in Justice League. I will also be starting in the ’60s, not the ’40s, because the black-and-white serials are more akin to a TV show than what we now think of as a movie (and they’re also, um, kinda racist). That still leaves me with, by my count, about 11 movies to watch. A little less than half of them will be completely new to me, since my love for Batman started with the Nolan trilogy.

This series will be a little more laid-back than the MCU one, since I (*deep sigh*) don’t have any upcoming Batman films to provide me with a deadline. Still, I plan to get through them all by spring, with time for reviews of some new movies and shows in between.

So, to start at the very beginning…

Batman: The Movie
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward
Music By: Nelson Riddle
Rated PG (Contains very unrealistic violence and some catty double entendres)

While investigating the disappearance of a yacht with a new high-tech invention on board, Batman and Robin discover that four of their archnemeses (the Penguin, the Joker, the Riddler, and Catwoman) have teamed up. This can only mean that the foursome plan to (*gasp*) take over the world! It’s up to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder to save the day with their deduction skills, cave full of gadgets, and overenthusiastic label-making.

Batman has a well-earned reputation as the poster child for the dark ‘n’ gritty type of superhero. It’s in his earliest comic appearances (inspired by pulp fiction anti-heroes), in his tragic backstory, in his Halloween-style costume, and even in the architecture of most depictions of his home city. So it’s kind of hilarious to me that his first feature film appearance, and the one that defined him in the minds of non-comic-readers for decades, was a goofy comedy based on an equally goofy show.

Holy irony!

Granted, this movie (and the TV show that spawned it) did come out during the Silver Age of comic books, when the Comics Code Authority had forced most mainstream books to ditch the guns and violence in favour of complete absurdity, so it sort of makes sense that its creators chose to make fun of their source material instead of playing it straight. Everything in this movie is intentionally ridiculous, from the gratuitous labels on every semi-flat surface (INSTANT COSTUME CHANGE LEVER! BAT-LADDER! SHARK-REPELLENT BAT-SPRAY!) to the fakest-looking rubber shark in the history of film. The villains are all as hammy as can be, but my personal favourite was Burgess Meredith doing his best impression of an actual penguin throughout the movie. (Joker’s laugh, on the other hand, is actually a little unsettling when you realise Heath Ledger pretty closely copied it for his own version of the role.)

Just a bunch of fun-loving friends.

But the heroes are what really make this movie fun. This movie’s approach to superhero humour is kind of the opposite of what I’m used to seeing from the MCU and its imitators. Whereas modern superhero films tend to throw self-aware, wise-cracking heroes into life-or-death conflicts, this movie shows us a pair of deadly serious heroes living in an absurd world. Adam West’s Batman really is the world’s greatest detective; it’s just that he lives in a world where “A ballpoint banana” is the only logical answer to the question “What has yellow skin and writes?” He and Robin are also completely sincere in their hatred of criminals and love for justice. It’s just that the criminals they’re dealing with couldn’t hurt a fly unless it was standing on a henchman’s nose. I’m not saying West should be in the running for “best Batman ever” or anything, but it takes real talent to deliver most of the Dynamic Duo’s lines with a straight face, and both the lead actors do it brilliantly. The movie wouldn’t be half as funny if they didn’t.

“Some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb!”

This version of Batman is a bigger boy scout than Superman has ever been (he won’t even fire up the Batmobile without making sure everyone has their seatbelts on), and he never misses an opportunity to deliver a heavy-handed moral about such things as alcoholism and driving without a license. But while he comes across as self-righteous at times, he still goes out of his way to try and save everyone in danger, even the occupants of a rowdy villain bar. I guess that’s one nice thing about a superhero movie like this: the kids who watch it because they think superheroes are cool will come away with a genuinely decent role model, even as the adults get to laugh at the goofiness of it all.

I didn’t see this movie until well into adulthood, so I can’t be sure whether I would have thought it was cool as a kid. Given that there was a brief time in my life when I thought Bibleman was cool…yeah, I probably would have. Even now, I kind of dig the Batmobile design.

It’s just so sleek and sporty.

But I think it’s more fun to watch it now as a genuinely hilarious parody of superheroes and their adventures. My only real complaint is that it’s a little on the long side. With a solid two hours to fill, the filmmakers allowed a few of the gags to wear out their welcome (including, in my opinion, the bomb scene). But I was laughing for most of the runtime, and that’s all I can really ask of a comedy.

One of the many things I love about Batman is his adaptability as a character. He’s appeared in all kinds of stories throughout his 80 years of existence, covering every genre from horror to romantic comedy, and with the right storytellers at the helm, he can shine in all of them. The ’66 version of Batman couldn’t be more different from the one I grew up with, but I still enjoy it for what it is.

I mean, it is the only Batman movie I can think of that features an exploding shark.

For now, it’s at the top of my list. But will the next uncreatively-titled Batman movie be able to unseat it? Find out next week! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

1. Batman (1966)
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Aquaman

A lot of people like to joke about Aquaman–his stupid name, his ability to talk to fish, his goofy-even-by-their-standards look in the old Superfriends show, etc. Everything I know about him, though, comes from the Justice League cartoon, where he was a big, bearded, morally grey King of the Seas who cut off his own hand to save his son, then replaced it with a sweet harpoon. So I didn’t think it was a totally insane idea to use his first solo movie as the latest attempt to salvage the DC movie universe.

Aquaman
Director: James Wan
Writers: David Leslie Johnson McGoldrick and Will Beall
Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, etc.
Music By: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Rated PG-13 (Contains typical superhero violence and some scary fish monsters)

Arthur Curry was raised by a lighthouse keeper in Maine, but his mother is the queen of Atlantis. This means he has super-strength, invulnerability, lungs that can breathe water, and, yes, the ability to talk to fish. It also makes him the rightful heir to the underwater throne, but he’s too busy beating up submarine pirates and drinking beer to care. That is, until a cute redhead princess convinces him he’s needed to stop his half-brother, King Orm, from conquering the surface world. To do so, Aquaman will need to find a lost magical trident, which is rumoured to give the wielder power over everything in the sea.

Beginning on a positive note: this is a very, very pretty movie. Flocks of giant sea-turtles swim through 360-degree neon underwater cityscapes. Colourful glowing ships shaped like sea creatures navigate twirl through sunken ruins. Lava flows illuminate deep, dark ocean trenches, and Atlanteans riding on dinosaurs do battle with giant crab-people. About 80 percent of the action occurs underwater, and it actually looks and sounds like it (which, admittedly, was a bit of a problem for me in some dialogue-heavy scenes). The CGI is spectacular, especially compared to other recent DC offerings. No rubber-faced Steppenwolfs here!

Where were these visuals when Justice League needed them??

It also has some gorgeous action scenes, both on land and sea. It’s a lot of fun to see each Atlantean character’s unique abilities in action, especially Mera’s water-bending. And everything is filmed in beautiful, well-lit long shots that put a lot of 2018’s other action movies to shame. If pure visual spectacle is what you’re after, Aquaman is the movie for you.

But in case you couldn’t tell from the plot description, this is also an incredibly silly movie. Its plot runs on every fantasy cliche in the book, and its villains chew so much scenery it’s a wonder there’s anything left of Atlantis by the end. Aquaman frequently strikes superhero poses for no real reason. So many quiet conversations are interrupted by sudden explosions that it becomes predictable, and Willem Dafoe rides a seahorse. It’s sometimes hard to tell how much of this movie’s goofiness was intentional and how much was intended to be taken seriously. I’m inclined to think the filmmakers were pretty self-aware about what kind of movie they were making, based on tongue-in-cheek moments like the gladiatorial battle that includes MMA-style stats for each combatant.

Atlanteans really love their man-buns.

A bigger problem than the movie’s silliness is the lack of talent displayed by its two leads. Jason Momoa looks the part of Aquaman, certainly, and he’s serviceable in all the action scenes, but he doesn’t do well at conveying any emotion other than stereotypical dudebro enthusiasm. Amber Heard as Mera is even worse. I couldn’t take a single line of hers seriously…although her ridiculous wig is partly to blame for that. It also doesn’t help that the two characters’ relationship is strictly limited to the “bicker, bicker, slap, kiss” routine that, in my opinion, should have died sometime around when colour television was invented. They have so little chemistry, and their lines are so bad, that I usually welcomed the interrupting explosions. A movie as goofy as this needs likable, charismatic characters at the helm, and unfortunately, Aquaman’s leads just don’t fit the bill.

That being said, Aquaman does have a real character arc, which is a bit more than I was expecting from this film. At the beginning, he’s neglecting his responsibilities, showing a lot of overconfidence in his own powers, and paying no respect to the lives of his enemies. The events of the movie knock him down a peg and teach him the importance of leadership and the value of mercy. He also has to overcome his distrust of the Atlanteans and embrace both sides of his identity in order to save the day. It’s a decent hero’s journey, even if the hero in question lacks personality.

When people make fun of Aquaman for talking to fish, they always seem to forget about sharks. Not to mention kaiju.

Another flaw is the movie’s length. Aquaman is fast-paced, with plenty of action and subplots to fill its lengthy runtime, but I think a few awkwardly-placed flashbacks and, erm, “comedy” scenes could have easily been cut. It’s hard for me to recommend spending more than two hours in a theatre for a movie where I didn’t even care about any of the characters. Still, if you have the time and money, and you’re a fan of CGI spectacle, your time won’t be entirely wasted.

Whether this movie will save the DC universe is another question entirely. I think the biggest thing it has going for it on that front is fun. The great minds at DC seem to have learned at least some of the right lessons from their Zack Snyder-helmed movies. Whatever else you may say about Aquaman, it can’t be accused of being joyless or taking itself too seriously. It has a bright, colourful aesthetic and plenty of comic-accurate character designs. Its hero, despite some personal flaws, consistently acts like a hero and enjoys being one. And nobody pees in any jars.

They’re too busy designing bobble-head suits.

Aquaman successfully expands the DC universe beyond Gotham and Metropolis, and makes it seem like kind of a fun place to visit for the first time. But without the likable characters and sense of real-world stakes that Wonder Woman had, it still feels lacking as a superhero film. And as a DC comic fan, I still get disappointed every time a live-action movie fails to live up to its source material’s huge potential.

Still keeping my fingers crossed for Shazam!

Grade: B-

 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

It’s a Christmas miracle! Sony has made another Spider-Man movie that doesn’t suck!

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Writer: Phil Lord
Starring: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, etc.
Music By: Daniel Pemberton and various hip-hop artists
Rated PG (Contains typical superhero violence, lacking in blood but not consequences)

Peter Parker is a well-established superhero, protecting New York City as the one-and-only Spider-Man…up until teenage Miles Morales gets bitten by a radioactive spider in a subway tunnel, gaining superpowers such as the ability to climb walls, leap buildings, and think in comic book captions. And there are more spider-people on the way, thanks to a new super-collider that is connecting parallel universes in NYC, courtesy of the Kingpin. Five versions of the wall-crawler need the collider to get back to their universes, but they also need to destroy it before it causes a black hole powerful enough to change the art style of Miles’s world. Sounds like a job for the Spider-Men, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man Noir, Anime Spider-Girl, and Spider-Ham.

Saying this movie doesn’t suck is actually the understatement of the year. I had fairly high expectations, and it blew them all away before the halfway point. A Sony Spider-Man movie–an animated Marvel movie–a movie with this many directors, this many characters, and this much weird comic book lore packed into it–has no right to be this amazing. Someone should call the movie police.

My spider-senses are tingling with shock.

As previous Spider-Man films have shown us, it’s tough to make a movie work when it has more heroes and/or villains than you can count on one hand. This movie manages it, I think, by staying laser-focused on two things: Miles Morales as a character, and Spider-Man as an archetype. Miles is an instantly relatable kid, dealing with stuff like homework, crushes, and the pressure of deciding who he wants to be when he grows up. He’s smart enough to attend what appears to be a middle school for geniuses, but he tries to stay “cool” by failing his tests and vandalising subways. He’s best friends with his law-bending uncle, but has a strained relationship with his cop dad.

All his typical middle school struggles are just compounded when he becomes Spider-Man, because, as he soon learns the hard way, Spider-Man is the multiverse’s punching bag. More than any of his other recent big screen appearances, this one really nails what people love about Spider-Man. It’s the same reason I love Daredevil and other “street-level” heroes: they’re underdogs. And Spider-Man invented the underdog superhero. No matter the race, gender, species, or universe, the web-slinger is always a fallible hero going up against something bigger and stronger than he/she is. And no matter the odds, he/she always manages to pull out a win. That fighting spirit is what gives this movie its enormous heart, and I honestly wasn’t ready for all the feels it gave me.

“This is a pretty hardcore origin story.”

Another thing that surprised me about the movie was its sheer cleverness. The humour is often as subtle and smart as it is hilarious. There’s not a fart joke to be seen, but there is a joke about the black-and-white Spider-Man Noir trying to understand a Rubik’s Cube. Oh, and there are one or two meme references (be sure to stay for the end credits) and inside jokes for comic fans. Including the most emotional Stan Lee cameo yet (RIP). But thanks to the fantastic, tightly-written script, I followed the story effortlessly despite not being a hardcore Spidey reader. You don’t necessarily need to know a lot of background info on Spider-Man to enjoy this movie–but I imagine you’ll enjoy it even more if you do. (According to my research, every version of Spider-Man and his villains shown in this movie does indeed come from the comics. Even the anime one.)

The animation here is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I need to stop saying that superhero movies remind me of comic books come to life, because this is the only one where it’s really true. Not only is the style inspired by old-fashioned three-colour comics, but there are a ton of little touches ripped straight from the panels: sound effects and thought bubbles appearing onscreen, different art styles for characters from different universes, and a climax that bends time and space in ways that could only work in a comic or an animated film. Every shot is beautiful, and every art choice serves the story. The visuals alone easily make this one of the most creative animated movies I’ve ever seen.

“What’s Up Danger…”

Like I said, though, it’s really the characters that make this movie special. The mentor/student relationship between the inexperienced Miles and the washed-up Peter Parker is both funny and heartwarming, as is the camaraderie between all the spider-people. Miles’s relationship with his family gave me the most feels, probably because it was the most realistic conflict in the movie (and because the kid kinda reminds me of a lot of the students I work with…), but his friendship with the parallel versions of himself is what really brings the movie’s message home: No matter what you’re going through, there’s someone out there who understands. And no matter who you are, you can overcome your flaws and do the right thing, as long as you’re brave enough to take “a leap of faith.” What a perfect motivational boost for the last week before Christmas break.

Overall, this movie does what even some of the better MCU movies failed to do: nail the balance between self-awareness and sincerity. It’s very funny, and a lot of its jokes are on the meta side, but it knows when to stop winking at the camera and get serious. The stakes always feel real, and even though the PG rating means a lot of kids will be watching, the movie never talks down to its audience. Thanks to an extremely well-written script, some good voice acting, and of course the incredible animation, this movie is able to poke fun at the sillier side of Spider-Man’s history while celebrating the heroic virtues he stands for.

Every version of Spider-Man is bad at hide-and-seek.

Let’s see, what else did I love about Into the Spider-Verse? It has the best version of Aunt May EVER, it has my favourite hip-hop-based soundtrack ever (sorry, Black Panther), and it has one of the best superhero suit-up scenes in film history. I love all the side characters, especially Spider-Man Noir, and I would probably watch a whole movie about any one of them. Honestly, the only thing I didn’t love about this movie is that Kingpin wasn’t voiced by Vincent D’Onofrio. And even without his definitive actor, he was still a decent villain.

My love for the Raimi Spider-Man movies is strong, and my love for the MCU is even stronger. So I don’t mean it lightly when I say that this might be my new favourite Spider-Man movie. None of the others have had such flawless artistry, so many lovable characters, or such a rollercoaster of emotional moments. For that matter, neither have most of the movies that hit theatres this year, regardless of genre. I whole-heartedly recommend Into the Spider-Verse to all superhero fans, animation aficionados, and families (although the violence might be a little intense for more sensitive kids).

One last thing to point out: This is the first Spider-Man movie since the Raimi trilogy to use the “With great power comes great responsibility” quote. It’s also, by far, the best Spider-Man movie since the Raimi trilogy. Coincidence? I think not!

Spider-Man needs his motto, dangit!

Grade: A

 

 

Daredevil Season 3

“We’re Murdocks. We get hit a lot. But we get up…we always get up.”

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is finally back, which means it’s time for a TV review.

Daredevil, Season 3
Creator: Drew Goddard
Executive Producer: Erik Oleson
Starring: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Wilson Bethel, Jay Ali, etc.
Music By: John Paesano
Rated TV-MA for lots and lots of violence, some swearing and drug use, and general bleakness

Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the first two seasons of Daredevil and The Defenders miniseries.

Season 3 of Netflix’s first and best Marvel show starts off with Daredevil at possibly his lowest point ever. Which, for a guy like Matt Murdock, is saying a lot. His brush with death-by-exploding-building at the end of The Defenders has robbed him of his superpowers and his sense of purpose. He’s recuperating in the Catholic orphanage where he grew up, but he’s so angry at God and the world that not even the ever-persistent Father Lantom or his colleague, Sister Maggie, can lift his depression. Karen Page and Foggy Nelson are still coming to terms with their friend’s “death,” but they soon have even bigger problems when Wilson Fisk, the crime lord they helped Daredevil put away in Season 1, strikes a deal with the FBI to get out of prison. Things get much, much worse for everyone after that.

Daredevil is my favourite TV show, but even I will admit that its quality went slightly downhill in Season 2. While still excellent, that season suffered from the lack of a compelling antagonist and the introduction of an annoying love triangle between Matt, Karen, and Elektra. Then The Defenders, which tried to wrap up the Hand storyline from both Daredevil and Iron Fist, turned out to be even more disappointing, and I ended up feeling pretty nervous about the future of the show.

But it turns out I was worrying over nothing, because this is easily the best season of superhero television I’ve ever seen.

Even if the main character spends most of it looking like a hobo.

First of all, the show’s already-great production has improved. This season has more creative cinematography, better lighting, and a more memorable soundtrack. Many scenes are filmed in a way that reminded me of the show’s source material, down to shot-for-shot recreations of certain comic book panels, while others use lighting, colour, and camera angles to represent characters’ mental states in refreshingly original ways. The show’s soundtrack, apart from the lovely theme song, has never been anything to write home about, but this season it’s dramatic and orchestral enough to take a more active part in the storytelling.

And oh boy, the fight scenes. I didn’t think it was possible to get better fight choreography on this show than we had in the first two seasons, but this season did it. The once-a-season one-take hallway fight is an incredible feat of filmmaking this time around, lasting an epic 11 minutes, with no cuts and no mask to hide lead actor Charlie Cox’s stunt double. And I’m not even sure it’s my favourite fight of the season. Later on, Daredevil is pitted against a psychopathic sniper who isn’t a match for him in hand-to-hand combat, but can turn just about anything into a deadly projectile at range. Watching their very different skills clash in combat is a sight to behold. Every fight is intense, high-stakes, and unpredictable, and they generally leave those of previous seasons in the dust.

Fun fact: the soundtrack for this scene is called “Not Another Hallway.” 

The season also avoids the pacing problems that have plagued most of the Marvel/Netflix shows. It starts out a little on the slow side, as new characters are introduced and Matt gradually gets himself back into fighting shape, but as Fisk sets trap after trap for our heroes, and as they uncover more and more layers of his villainy, the tension steadily builds up to a fever pitch. As always, the show takes its time with character development, and sometimes it allows a rather long stretch of screentime to pass with no action, but even the quieter moments serve to move the plot forward. There’s very little of anything that could be considered “filler,” especially in the back half of the season. I don’t think it’s possible not to binge-watch the last four episodes.

All production values aside, though, Daredevil‘s major appeal, to me, has always been its main character’s vulnerability. Sure, he’s got some mild superpowers, but nothing like Thor’s lightning bolts or Iron Man’s super-tech or Captain America’s strength. He’s capable of being hurt, both physically and spiritually. He struggles with very relatable flaws, like pride and anger and bitterness. He makes really bad choices sometimes, and even when he makes the right ones, the bad guys often find a way to screw them up. But no matter what, he never stops fighting to protect Hell’s Kitchen. No matter how hard he hits the mat, he’ll always, always get up again to go another round.

You might even say he’s…born again.

This season takes that aspect of the character to its logical extreme. Matt starts at rock bottom and still finds a way to dig deeper, as he faces a foe who seems capable of twisting all the good he’s ever done against him. Appropriately enough for an October release, one of the story’s major themes is fear. Wilson Fisk’s menace this season comes mainly from his ability to exploit the fears of the people around him: Ray Nadeem, an FBI agent trying to provide for his family in the face of financial difficulties; fellow agent Ben Pointdexter, who’s hiding a veritable hornet’s nest of mental issues under the facade of a competent lawman; Karen Page, whose troubled past, often hinted at before, finally comes back to haunt her this season; Foggy Nelson, who has achieved the successful life he always dreamed of, but without his best friend; and, of course, Matt himself, whose fears about hurting the people he loves have always clashed with his pursuit of vigilante justice. The Kingpin uses fear to try and manipulate all of them, and as Daredevil and his allies quickly learn, the only way to avoid being manipulated is to conquer one’s fear.

One of the best ways to conquer fear has to be through faith in something stronger than the thing feared, so it’s no surprise that Matt’s Catholicism takes center stage this season. And I’d be lying if I said it’s not gratifying to see a TV show attempt to portray at least one flavour of my own faith in a mostly positive, mostly accurate way. Doesn’t happen very often, especially in superhero media, so it makes me happy whenever I see it. But I don’t think you have to be Catholic, or even Christian, to relate to Matt’s struggles with self-doubt or his ongoing boxing match with the ol’ problem of evil. No matter who you are, it can be hard to believe that “all things work together for good” when your life is falling apart. And I find it incredibly satisfying to watch someone hang onto their convictions even in the face of those doubts.

Another good way to conquer fear is by surrounding oneself with good friends, which is why it’s fortunate that everyone in Daredevil’s supporting cast is at the top of their game this season. I’m not sure whether to give the acting or the writing more credit, but Foggy and Karen have never been more likable, or felt more like heroes in their own right. The new characters are just as good, if not better: Sister Maggie gives Father Lantom a run for his money in the no-nonsense wisdom category, and Nadeem’s personal struggle to do right in the face of overpowering evil beautifully parallels that of Daredevil himself. And Wilson Bethel as Agent Pointdexter, or “Dex”….well, let’s just say he’s good at being creepy. Really, really creepy.

“Look at you! You even threw a ‘really’ in there! I like a fast learner.”

One of the many great things about Daredevil, especially this season, is that it manages to be a true ensemble show without diminishing its main character. Each member of the supporting cast has a story arc all their own, but Matt Murdock is always at the centre, tying everything together. Charlie Cox has always brought a ton of nuance and passion to the role, but this season he shines more than ever before. Whether he’s doing his own stunts in a fight scene, mastering the art of playing a sort-of blind guy pretending to be a normal seeing guy, or just expressing the emotional turmoil of a man going through a crisis of faith, he consistently makes some of the toughest acting challenges on TV look effortless. The fact that he’ll never get an Emmy nod for this role just shows how irrelevant the Emmys are, in my opinion.

There are nitpicks that could be made, but I honestly don’t have anything bad to say about this season. It is worth mentioning that it feels far less connected to the rest of the Marvel universe, or even the rest of the Netflix-verse, than previous seasons. Neither Turk Barrett nor Claire Temple, the two staple characters of the Defenders shows, makes an appearance. Apart from the “Battle of New York” newspaper clippings on the walls of the Daily Bulletin and a passing reference to Jessica Jones, this season might as well be taking place in its own separate universe. Those poor souls still holding out hope that the movies might acknowledge Marvel TV won’t be pleased by this, and I have to admit, I miss Claire and Turk. But on the other hand, this season feels like it should be playing in a league of its own. In terms of production value and sheer storytelling power, it’s so much better than every other Marvel show, and arguably most of the movies, that it doesn’t even seem fair to compare them. The movie universe can ignore it all it wants—Daredevil can stand on its own.

After the sudden cancellation of two other Marvel Netflix shows, and with the spectre of Disney’s own streaming service starting to rear its ugly head, it’s hard to say at the moment whether we’ll ever get a Daredevil Season 4. But I’m not too worried. If this was the show’s last season, it was a spectacular grand finale. If not, then I’m excited to see where it goes next. Maybe next season will have an episode that’s just one long hallway fight. Who knows? Anything’s possible!

For now, I’ll just applaud Season 3 for being a tense, well-executed, and ultimately downright inspiring tale of redemption, with just enough comic-book flavor to keep it fun. It’s everything I want in a superhero story and more. Bravo to everyone who helped to put it on the screen.

Cheers to my favourite Avocados at Law!

Grade: A+