Must See Movies: April
At Reel Steel we want to make sure you’re getting the most of your cinematic enthusiasm, so each month we put together our short list of some of the best new releases, from popcorn munching explosion fests to the often weird and wonderful.
Take a look at the trailers below and see what you think to this month’s recommendations!
RAW
released Friday April 7th, 2017
Everyone in Justine’s family is a vet, and a vegetarian.
When she starts at veterinary school, she enters a decadent and dangerously seductive world.
During the first week of merciless induction rituals, and desperate to fit in whatever the cost, she strays from her family principles when she eats raw meat for the first time.
Justine will soon face the terrible and unexpected consequences of her actions as her true self begins to emerge…
Having made waves when screened at film festivals around the world, this is a fiercely original film.
The Handmaiden
released Friday April 14th, 2017
From acclaimed director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Stoker) comes The Handmaiden, an exhilarating period thriller inspired by the best-selling novel ‘Fingersmith’ by Sarah Waters.
Set during the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s, a young handmaiden named Sookee is hired by a reclusive heiress who lives in a mansion under the watchful eye of her domineering Uncle – but Sookee harbours a secret, she is there to trick those she serves into entrusting her with their fortune.
With breathtaking visuals, The Handmaiden is one of the year’s most anticipated films – a tale of deception, romance and double-crossing from one of modern cinema’s most thrilling film-makers.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
released Friday April 28th, 2017
The disparate group of unlikely heroes must save the galaxy once again, in what is sure to be another bombastic action adventure within the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
– SPECIAL EVENT –
Mulholland Drive
in cinemas Friday April 14th, 2017
Last year David Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece was voted the greatest film of the 21st Century
http://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films
and now a stunning 4k restoration will be released in cinemas this month.
Introduce yourself to one of the most revered and iconic films of all time with the opportunity to catch this feature on the big screen.
Mulholland Drive screenings in Sheffield –
http://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/mulholland-drive
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Kong: Skull Island
2017 – USA
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Toby Kebbell, John C. Reilly, Terry Notary
Words: Nathan Scatcherd
A dragonfly lands peacefully on a branch as US army helicopters descend on a lush green jungle, and promptly start dropping bombs on it. The 1973 setting is hammered home by a selection of period-appropriate ‘greatest rock hits’, from Sabbath to Creedence Clearwater Revival to The Stooges. As the lush, seemingly peaceful land is torn asunder, the flames of the destruction are reflected in the shades of a madly grinning soldier. The comments about this new King Kong movie feeling like a giant monster stepped into Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness are ubiquitous, but deserved; Tom Hiddleston’s ultra-capable and unflappable tracker/mercenary character is even called Conrad, and funnily enough, this movie also features a Colonel driven to madness by his inability to mentally leave the battlefield.
Skull Island’s trailers make the action appear perhaps more brainless than it is in the film itself. In giant monster movie tradition, the narrative is trying to Say Something about man’s violent nature – specifically the destruction of that which we don’t understand – and, of course, that the film is set in ‘73 is no accident in this regard; our story takes place just after the American army were defeated in the Vietnam war, and the spectre of that war hangs over much of the proceedings here. This is especially true of Samuel L. Jackson as Colonel Packard, a hardened soldier who carries burning resentment and frustration at America’s loss in Vietnam (at one point referring to it as a war America did not even lose, but “left”), and directs his bottled up fury at Kong.
Of course, such heavy themes are never quite allowed to blossom into anything particularly nuanced while the film is – to be fair, understandably – trying to draw attention to all the weird and horrible ways people die when trapped on a mysterious monster island; an island not home to just the titular ape king we know and love, but a whole host of gigantic insects, monstrous giant squid and pterodactyls with blades for faces. Skull Island is, as the title makes clear, almost a character here in itself, and the look at its wider ecosystem outside of Kong really sells the adventurous action movie vibe the film shoots for and occasionally nails. Skull Island isn’t trying to be a grand operatic tragedy like the original King Kong, or the admirable if overlong Peter Jackson film – it may have some obvious political, anti-war leanings, but it mostly just wants to be a rollercoaster monster movie in proud B-movie tradition (and in its best moments, it succeeds).
Kong himself is pretty cool, of course, acting not as an antagonistic force so much as a lonely king ruling over his island home, protecting the human natives from the creepily-designed Skull Crawlers, our flesh-eating ‘bad’ monsters. The film walks a tricky line between pathos and comedy – several of the soldiers have an ongoing joke about a letter one of them is writing to his son, and later the same device is used in a way that’s supposed to be sobering and mournful, but comes off as corny. That said, the film’s best moments go to John C. Reilly as an ex-WWII pilot who crashed on the island in 1944, and has ingratiated himself among the natives. While Reilly’s knack for goofy comedy is certainly played on at points, the humour remains nicely understated when frequently offset with the more bombastic, and sometimes surprisingly gruesome, action.
And as we all know, shared universes are the big trend at the moment, with Skull Island offering some connections to a certain other popular giant monster franchise, gently setting the two up for the inevitable grudge match to come (also… stay after the credits).
Evil Dead II
1987 – USA
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
Words: Oliver Innocent
Sam Raimi’s follow-up to his breakout horror hit The Evil Dead is something of an anomaly in the horror genre; a sequel widely regarded as better than the original. Even those who prefer the more visceral sucker punch of the previous film mostly concede that Evil Dead II is still a standout of the genre in its own right. In fact, it’s debatable as to whether the film is actually a sequel at all; it’s first half functioning as a kind of recap/remake due to Raimi being unable to secure the rights to use footage from its predecessor. This has actually worked in Evil Dead II’s favour as it performs just as well as a standalone entity as it does part of the ever-growing Evil Dead franchise.
Despite its familiar plot and set-pieces (protagonist Ash unwittingly summoning and then having to do bloody battle with the evil Deadites in a cabin in the woods), Evil Dead II is a very different beast indeed. Sure, there are minor cosmetic differences such as more refined effects, improved acting, and a wider variety of monsters, but the main difference is quite obviously in tone. Where The Evil Dead was an intensely gruesome and visceral experience shot through with an undercurrent of black humour, its sequel brings this humour to the fore. As much a symptom of a general shift in ‘80s horror towards a lighter, more playful tone as it is Raimi’s love of The Three Stooges’ good old-fashioned slapstick antics, Evil Dead II embraces comedy like few films in the genre had before.
Evil Dead II’s comedy is of the wonderfully silly variety, many of the laughs coming at hero Ash’s expense as he smashes through plates, walls and chairs, has a Tom and Jerry style battle with his own severed hand, and gets drenched by fountains of multi-coloured blood and bodily fluids. There are also ridiculous gags like Ash weighing down a bucket on top of his severed hand with a copy of A Farewell to Arms, an eyeball popping out of a monster’s head and shooting straight into someone’s mouth, and laughing furniture (including a lamp shade and deer’s head), not to mention iconic one-liners like “swallow this” and “groovy!”.
However, this is not to say the film is a slouch in the horror department. On the contrary, it’s incredibly tense, atmospheric, violent and bloody. Evil Dead II boasts unnerving sound design with constantly howling eerie wind, multi-tracked demon voices, and the low, inhuman groaning of the force that emerges from the woods all contributing to an exceedingly creepy atmosphere. There are also scenes which take place in near-silence, ratcheting the tension up so that the viewer’s nerves are already in shreds by the time Raimi delivers some of the biggest chair-jolters in jump scare history.
Further cementing the film’s cult classic status is its delightfully handmade feel. Despite its bigger budget and more refined effects work, it never comes across as overtly slick or mass-produced. From the minutely detailed production design grime of the cabin to the charming DIY aesthetic of the stop-motion effects, it always seems like a labour of love rather than a cash-in product. It also possesses a very dreamlike and surreal quality, especially in its first half where it’s impossible to tell what is actually happening to Ash in reality and what is merely a product of his cabin fever. Then there’s Raimi’s incredible signature bravura camerawork which charges, prowls and attacks the characters as the force in the wood’s POV.
Of course, a discussion of Evil Dead II wouldn’t be complete without mentioning cult B-movie legend Bruce Campbell. As the series’ extremely unfortunate protagonist Ash, Campbell is on fine form here, displaying great range from screaming coward to pratfalling fool, all the way to macho, one-liner spouting action hero. He also impresses with his stunt work, literally going through hell as he gets beaten up by muppet-like monsters and sprayed with gallons of green gloop. The film also proves just how compelling an actor Campbell really is, carrying the first half of the movie almost single-handedly, many scenes comprising of Ash entirely alone in the cabin battling nothing but his own swiftly dwindling sanity.
A true standout of the horror genre then, Evil Dead II remains one of the best horror sequels ever, a film that is at once utterly unforgettably and endlessly re-watchable.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of this iconic film, we’re holding a one-off film screening at the Abbeydale Picture House in Sheffield.
Details here – http://bit.ly/2mJ1oYl
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Phase IV
1974
Director: Saul Bass
Starring: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick
Words: Nathan Scatcherd
The sole feature-length directorial credit of Saul Bass – the legendary visual artist who provided the opening credit sequences to Hitchcock classics Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho – Phase IV is a singularly strange and interesting film.
Its premise of super-intelligent ants terrorising a couple of scientists (Nigel Davenport and Michael Murphy), and a young woman (Lynne Frederick) whose family become casualties in the inter-species crossfire, makes it sound like a schlocky B-movie affair; indeed, it’s tempting to compare it to Them! from twenty years earlier. However, it’s a much more cerebral and patiently paced film than one might imagine.
An unexplained cosmic event, denoted in ‘phases’, appears to have strange effects on the worldwide ant population. They communicate with one another, teaming up to destroy their natural predators, and appear to be working as an interconnected hive mind towards… something.
Our scientist protagonists are holed up in a sealed laboratory dome, studying the strange activity, although the ants themselves are also treated as protagonists in their own right, with dreamlike, elliptical sequences showing them working as a unit within their colony. Davenport is particularly entertaining as the cold, analytical Doctor Ernest Hubbs, whose dispassionate ‘man of science’ routine steadily becomes more unhinged after he is bitten by one of our insect aggressors.
The scientific research feels believable and well-studied, and as tensions rise within the dome – our two scientists coming to differing opinions as to how to deal with the ant menace – the film reveals itself to be as interested in the principles behind language and mathematics, and the moral imperatives of detached, objective research, as it is in any ‘killer ants’ sci-fi elements.
As one would probably expect from a film directed by Bass, it also has some very memorable visual flourishes (such as a nightmarish image of ants emerging from a hole in a man’s hand, and an extended sequence towards the end of the film which relies solely on the throbbing hum of the soundtrack and a series of extraordinary, hallucinatory images, as though something from a vivid dream laced with symbolism).
Intelligent, visually arresting and ultimately ambiguous, Phase IV is the thinking man’s sci-fi movie, and well worth checking out.
Logan
2017 – USA
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Richard E. Grant, Stephen Merchant
Words: Nathan Scatcherd
It’s been seventeen years since X-Men was released, and Hugh Jackman’s performance as everyone’s favourite adamantium-clawed mutant Wolverine catapulted the character into the stratosphere of mainstream cultural recognition and fandom. Since then the X-Men franchise has had its ups and downs, from the excellent (X-Men 2; First Class) to the dire (X-Men 3; Origins: Wolverine), finding time in-between to be vaguely listless and uninspiring, but not exactly ‘bad’ (the rest of the franchise).
There’s definitely a sense – at least for me, although almost certainly for a lot of others specifically of my generation – that we have grown up with the franchise as something ever-present and almost comfortably ubiquitous. Wolverine/Logan is of course a fan favourite, and even when Jackman has had to work with sub-par direction and poor scripts, he’s always found a way to make his interpretation of the character interesting; noble, weary, outwardly gruff but with a good heart and the grit of a warrior. For seventeen years I’ve been waiting for a Wolverine movie deserving of him.
Logan is that movie.
We find our blade-fisted protagonist down on his luck in the year 2029, driving a limo around the Mexican border to make ends meet and tending to a senile Charles Xavier (Stewart, on heartbreaking form here), whose occasional psychic seizures need keeping in check with constant medication; something which appears to be in dwindling supply. Mutantkind is all but extinct, and Logan is an old man now. His healing factor is failing him; he coughs and wheezes and seems to struggle with walking at points, let alone fighting with the berserker rage he has struggled to control all of his long life. Formerly, he could withstand bullets and knives and beatings with minimal effort – now he is slow, scarred physically as much as psychologically, approaching the end and apparently more than willing for it to claim him.
When a mysterious young girl (Dafne Keen) appears on the scene and Logan finds himself having to transport her across the desert to North Dakota, the quiet life he has tried to maintain quickly implodes, as he faces up to mortality, the toll of his violent past, and the small spark of hope that comes from this young girl, and the choices she may or may not yet make regarding her own special abilities.
It is this central relationship that provides Logan with much of its heart (and it’s a film with moments of genuine warmth alongside the otherwise relentless intensity of the violence and bleakness of the narrative). Events play out in the style of a Western road movie rather than what one may expect of, by now, sadly codified and strictly-enforced ‘superhero movie’ conventionality. It can be very on the nose with its influences – at one point the classic Western Shane is actually playing on a TV screen, and some of its dialogue is explicitly lifted later on – but it retains a genuinely dark, sombre tone setting it apart from other comic book movies and letting it stand apart even from the rest of the X-Men franchise. The action sequences are frenetic, gory affairs, and it’s grotesquely gratifying to finally see Logan let loose with those claws without the constraints of a 12A rating (it always bothered me that a dude with unbreakable, razor-sharp bits of metal sticking out of his hands never seemed to draw any blood when he used them onscreen). However, the violence is so effective because it seems to really have weight, and consequence. That line from Shane about killing being “a brand that sticks” basically sums up this whole film’s perspective on Logan’s long, bloody history; he’s a tragic figure who feels the heft of every kill, every time he’s had to pop those claws, and it haunts him.
Logan is the send-off he deserves; viscerally exciting and emotionally satisfying.
Must See Movies: March
At Reel Steel we want to make sure you’re getting the most of your cinematic enthusiasm, so each month we put together our short list of some of the best new releases, from popcorn munching explosion fests to the often weird and wonderful.
Take a look at the trailers below and see what you think to this month’s recommendations!
Logan
released Friday March 3rd, 2017
In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) at a remote outpost on the Mexican border.
His plan to hide from the outside world gets disrupted when he meets a mutant who is very much like him, and now he must protect this young girl and battle the forces that want to capture her.
A more character driven story than the typical Marvel superhero blockbusters, and the last time we’ll see Hugh Jackman play the part of Wolverine.
Life
released Friday March 24th, 2017
Life follows the story of a crew on the International Space Station that uncovers one of the most important discoveries in scientific and human history – evidence of life on Mars.
As the crew begins to conduct tests their methods end up having unintended consequences, and the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected.
This is a tense sci-fi thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds.
Free Fire
released Friday March 31st, 2017
It’s 1978 – Boston, USA.
Justine (Brie Larson) has arranged a meeting between two gangs for the buying and selling of guns, but when things don’t go to plan, shots are fired and a game of survival ensues.
Acclaimed director Ben Wheatley (High Rise, Sightseers, Kill List) brings us this feature-length shoot-out action comedy.
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Manchester By The Sea
2016 – USA
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges
Words: Josh Senior
By now you’ll probably already know that Casey Affleck won the award for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards as well as sweeping up at The Golden Globes, The SAG Awards and The BAFTAS. Like The Revenant last year, Manchester By The Sea has acted as an awards behemoth and carried its leading man to storied heights. Casey Affleck has long been an accomplished actor, able of conveying a performance of subtle brilliance think; The Assassination of Jesse James, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints or Gone Baby Gone. Finally he is reaping the rewards for his years of hard work and dedication.
Manchester By The Sea is a poignant and focused study of the intensities of the grieving process. Affleck plays Lee, who has to return to the Manchester of the title, to care for his adolescent Nephew when his Brother dies of a rare heart condition. However Lee is weighed down by a dark and traumatic past which resurfaces when he is drawn for his solitary life and has to return home to face his demons. This is largely in part by him becoming legal guardian for his Nephew Patrick (an outstanding performance from Lucas Hedges), this duty pushes him back into a life he has tried to escape for so long. What initially seems like merely a sad tale about the harshness of life becomes an overwhelming onslaught of emotions, as we see in cleverly paced and timed flashbacks, the reasons behind Lee’s almost numb lack of awareness to the world around him.
It’s a hyper-real experience, and Manchester By The Sea is just that, an experience. This character’s story grips you emotionally from the offset, and engulfs you. Casey Affleck deserves all the credit for this in expressing this state of utter despair. We can all in some way relate to loss and grief, but to really make you feel something this intense is incredibly impressive, if uncomfortable viewing. In someone else’s hands this could have been distasteful almost, as it feels so painful and genuine. Thankfully Kenneth Lonergan manages to hit all the right beats in the narrative, it’s a truly astonishingly well written piece of cinema.
Similarly to last year’s Room, the film looks at the fall out of tragedy and trauma, and rather than focusing on the event itself for too long. It deals with the normality of life continuing in the face of darkness. Films usually end happy or sad, that’s a fact, we go to be entertained at the movies and we seek closure, but what Lonergan gives us here is a very condensed and accurate snapshot of a brief period in a man’s life as he has to deal with wave upon wave of personal loss. After all of the downs though the film does briefly glimmer (very briefly might I add) with a slight aura of hope just as the credits role. The overarching message being, that by focusing on what positives we do have in life we can find a way to persevere. It’s harrowing yes, but also an uplifting experience, a true marvel of modern film-making.
Cult Corner: Bubba Ho-Tep
2002 – USA
Director: Don Coscarelli
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce
Words: Oliver Innocent
After seemingly concluding the brilliantly bizarre Phantasm franchise with 1998’s surprisingly effective Phantasm IV: Oblivion, director Don Coscarelli’s follow-up project had some rather large shoes to fill. Following up something as iconic and beloved as the Phantasm franchise definitely wasn’t going to be an easy task. What Coscarelli needed was something fresh and unique, something the likes of which had never been seen before, but would still coalesce with his own maverick style and sensibilities.
That something turned out to be a novella by writer Joe R. Lansdale about an elderly Elvis Presley (he swapped places with a tribute act who died shortly after) and JFK (they patched him up, dyed him black and abandoned him) battling an ancient soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in a retirement home. This offbeat concept seemed tailor-made for Coscarelli, a project which would indulge both his passion for horror and absurdist humour. There was, however, the small matter of deciding on an actor who could embody the aura of the King in the body of a cantankerous old man. There was only one man for the job, a man whose famous line “Hail to the King, baby” from a certain comedy-horror classic was to prove highly prophetic when he teamed up with Coscarelli. That man, of course, was Bruce Campbell, a veritable cult legend of an actor with some of the most enviable credentials in horror cinema. With Campbell on board, the scene was set for something truly special.
And special Bubba Ho-Tep most undoubtedly is. Combining the surreal, offbeat nature of Phantasm with the laugh out loud humour and signature Campbell one-liners of The Evil Dead trilogy, Bubba Ho-Tep became an instant cult classic. In many ways though, the film was something of a departure from Coscarelli and Campbell’s previous work. This is expressed most vividly in the film’s tone, which is much more akin to a bittersweet comedy drama peppered with sprinklings of horror than a straightforward fright-fest or bloodbath. Dealing with the ageing process, the film carries an inherent emotional weight tinged with a great sadness that these characters are reaching the ends of their lives. Indeed, because the film is concerned with those closest to death – the elderly – instead of the usual vivacious teens of mainstream studio efforts, their struggle against impending doom becomes all the more poignant. Espousing the positive message that just because you’re old doesn’t mean you have to give up on living, the film posits that the elderly have even more reason to fight for survival than the slasher film teens because they’ve gone through so much more beforehand. Bubba Ho-Tep never gets too maudlin though, Coscarelli and Campbell working hard to strike a nice balance between the comedy and emotion. Case in point; the scene where a nurse is applying cream to a growth on Elvis’s private parts which is both funny (it’s basically a cheap sex joke) and sad (he’s lost his independence and ability to do anything for himself anymore) at the same time.
In lesser hands Bubba Ho-Tep could have easily been depressing or just plain offensive, but with genre stalwarts Coscarelli and Campbell overseeing the proceedings it manages to simultaneously pull off horror, humour and pathos with aplomb.
It has a great monster in the form of the titular Bubba Ho-Tep, a decomposing cowboy boot-wearing, toilet graffiti-writing mummy, and a standout supporting performance from Ossie Davis as a man who believes (and who are we to say otherwise) that he’s JFK even though he’s black.
The film has proved to be a real cult favourite, its influence still being felt even today in genre efforts like the retirement community-set werewolf movie Late Phases. Part monster movie, part buddy movie, part comedy and part drama, Bubba Ho-Tep is the best Elvis vs. evil mummy movie you’ll ever see, and a damn entertaining ride to boot.
John Wick Chapter 2
2016 – USA
Director: Chad Stahelski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne, Ruby Rose, Common
Words: Saul Nix
The sleeper-hit action film John Wick has a sequel and the burning question on the minds of its many fans is whether or not it’ll take the Hindenburg-esque plunge other action franchises have in recent years *cough* Taken *cough*.
Well, John’s back with his own patented brand of kick-assery that we all know and love but this time we’re taken deeper into the assassin underworld we glimpsed in the first film. The gothic aesthetic and idiosyncrasies have been amplified to send Chapter 2 further down the path it was set on at the end of its predecessor, coming into its own instead of just standing out from its contemporaries as a superior of its genre.
Wick’s out for revenge again but this time it’s not for his car or dog (which is unharmed this time, relax) but for his house and the peace that is shattered when a favour owed a long time ago is called in.
It’s the general… “Wick-ness” that keeps this sequel feeling fresh: The signature fighting style; the tattooed denizens of the assassin community; the gothic overtures; the black, deadpan humour. By the time Reeves despatches his fourth batch of about thirty bad guys without breaking a sweat it starts feeling a bit tired and you wonder why the baddies don’t just give up and take their CVs to the job centre, where they’re less likely to have a pencil rammed into their cerebellums. At least try something other than shooting him because it didn’t seem to work too well for the 678 people who tried before you. Still, it’s undeniably mindless entertainment watching 52 year-old Reeves murder countless henchmen in new and innovative ways. The most impressive choreography is in the ongoing feud between Wick and Cassian (Common) who looks to avenge his boss’ death at Wick’s hand.
The character of Wick is still as charismatic as a sodden flannel and it hasn’t really mattered before. We don’t want nor expect Oscar-worthy monologues from Reeves between homicides but it’d be nice for him to become a bit more human before the action – whilst entertaining enough for two films – becomes boring and monotonous come the third, inevitable film, as it almost threatens to do here.
It’s a worthy sequel and John Wick’s seat on the action hero Olympus alongside icons such as John McClane, James Bond and Rambo is all but assured. We’re just worried that all the best parts of John Wick are what will be its undoing in the third instalment.
It’s better than every generic action film that gets churned out on a weekly basis. This is John Wick after all. So yeah, we’re thinkin’ he’s back.
The Lego Batman Movie
2016 – USA
Director: Chris McKay
Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Zach Galifianakis, Ralph Fiennes
Words: Nathan Scatcherd
OK, full disclosure: I f*cking love Batman.
Ever since I could read, I’ve spent countless hours poring over the comics, watching the movies, playing the games… my earliest memory is of five year old Nathan watching the animated movie with Mister Freeze – SubZero – while pushing around a spiffy new Batmobile toy (the gaudy, neon, still badass version from Batman Forever) I’d just got for my birthday.
And so this review comes from a certain perspective; one which has shifted over time as the character itself has changed – a perspective which is frankly a bit sick of the grim, depressive, PTSD-ridden violent fascist version of Batman which seems to have become the modern standard (The Dark Knight Returns was very much a product of its time, and while it still holds up today as an excellent Batman story, all the wrong lessons have been learned from it in the years since).
Last year’s atrocious Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a profoundly horrible experience, not only because it was a sloppily put together, nonsensical mess, but because of how it made my all-time favourite fictional character someone I did not identify with. Someone I was not proud to call my hero. This personal delving into my history with Batman probably seems ridiculous, but I feel like it explains just why I honestly feel like The Lego Batman Movie is one of the best Batman movies ever made. It is a breath of fresh air; a funny, heartfelt, wonderfully animated celebration of 78 years of the Caped Crusader in all his forms.
Our story begins with Batman (Arnett) working alone, as an omni-capable badass casually saving the day, every day, without anyone’s help. However, his lone war on crime has left him emotionally stunted, living half a life. His lack of a family, and subsequent fear of letting anyone get close to him, begins to change when he accidentally adopts plucky orphan Dick Grayson (Cera). New Gotham police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Dawson) further complicates his self-imposed loner status as he finds himself working with her against a vengeful Joker (Galifianakis), who has unleashed an army of bad guys from other Lego properties (Sauron! Daleks! King Kong!) upon Gotham in a kind of possessive, almost romantic anger (stemming from the absurdly funny ‘lovers tiff’ that occurs after Batman spurns Joker, who craves the Dark Knight’s recognition of him as his greatest foe).
Aside from the constant stream of genuinely funny gags, many of them stemming from the treasure trove of references to Batman’s history both in print and onscreen (some of them obvious and some of them real ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ affairs – seriously, this film is a gift to Bat-fans), the best thing about the film is its portrayal of Batman as a self-important ‘grimdark’ blowhard who learns to grow and accept the help and love of an extended family. There are many versions of the character which work equally well, depending on context and intent, and that The Lego Batman Movie somehow manages to call back to pretty much all of them, while tying everything together into a fun adventure narrative, and poking some affectionately sarcastic fun at the dead horse that is ‘Super Serious Darker Than The Blackest Black Batman’, is kind of a minor miracle.
And yes, the elephant in the room for all Lego movies; there’s no denying that the whole thing is basically one huge toy advert. The camera almost swoons as the Master Builder stuff kicks in and our Bat-team begin assembling multiple Awesome Bat-Vehicles™, but when the advertisement is this full of heart, humour, respect and love for the characters being portrayed, it’s difficult to get too up in arms over it.
Simply put, for fans of Batman of all ages, The Lego Batman Movie is nothing short of a delight.
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