Honorary FFF: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

‘Tis the season, the one where Robin laid an egg and the Batmobile lost its wheels. With The Dark Knight preparing to make gangbuster boffo box office (industry insiders are predicting anywhere from 100-150+ million dollar debuts for the film) the blogosphere is buzzing with anticipation. And not just if Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar nod (it’s hard for me to say from what I’ve seen, but I’m preemptively agreeing since he’s electrifying on screen.) Before I do my “Top 5 Jokers“ (to decide where Mr. Ledger places,) I want to talk about one of my favorite Batman movies of all time.



No.



Nice, but no.



Sheesh, no way.



Not to be confused with the NES game of the similar name:



I expressed my adoration of the Dini-Timm Batman Animated Series before, but it bears repeating: in my opinion, it’s one of the best cartoons pretty much ever. Batman Beyond, also called “Batman of the Future,” like the unfortunate “The Batman” which followed, was designed primarily to sell toys. It chronicles Bruce Wayne’s replacement, Terry McGinnis, who’s groomed in the place of the new Dark Knight in a futuristic Gotham.

The show was kind of blah, most of the villains were too, but this is movie almost redeemed the show (as did a subsequent episode of the much better Justice League Unlimited around this timeline, called “Epilogue,” which tied it in to the rest of what fans have dubbed the DCAU.)

Mark Hamill is one of my favorite actors to portray the Joker because, like I get the sense Ledger does, he really understands the character. Jack Nicholson made the Joker a little too friendly, with his grin and just a hint of psychopathy, more charm and less terror, than is really necessary to capture the evil of the character. He is still governed by some semblance of sanity, and doesn’t seem to be in it just for the fun.

Return of the Joker was eventually cut into a PG version, but it was originally made and later released in an “unrated” (but more PG-13 version, which is where the clips I’m going to show are from,) and, for his return to the role here, we get a Joker who delves into darker territory than Broadcast Standards and Practices would rarely permit.

But I’ll avoid going too far into “The Joker’s a stone cold badass,” although it is my primary praise for the film. So, to get it all out of my system:

The Joker doesn’t get to kill anyone on TV, whereas in the comics he’s the villain other villains tell horror stories about, infamous for killing a Robin, crippling a Batgirl, and gassing a class full of kindergartners. Although other actors have captured the humor of the character, or the laugh, few but Hamill (and I’m reserving judgment for Ledger until I see the film in full) really capture the menace throbbing underneath the surface.

The film starts with Batman foiling a robbery of Jokerz (a gang of criminals modeled after the Clown Prince of Crime, who he routinely struggles with on the show,) until we learn just who they’re working for.



As the Joker menaces Bruce Wayne and Terry, we learn why Bruce refuses to believe the Joker has returned.



I don’t want to spoil the twist, although it’s fairly obvious who the Joker is (even with the red herrings thrown about.) But, a large part of the plot features Terry figuring this out for himself.

Other than this primary feature (Mark Hamill,) there are some other things I can say in praise of the film: the production design is pretty cool, creating a bleak neon-colored Gotham that feels like it could be in the future, and all the other voice actors hold their weight (some other recognizable talent would be Melissa John Hart and Henry “The Man” Rollins.) The script isn’t the best, but it’s good, and the pacing is great. It’s a fun movie and the crew clearly holds the source material in proper regard (which is important in my opinion with doing any adaptation.) All in all pretty solid in terms of technical craftsmanship, nothing.

The final set piece of the film worth mentioning is the fight between Terry and the Joker, who holds his new opponent in disdain to the “genuine article.” Which is a great fight scene (barring the second, the second best in the movie.)


”Don’t play psychoanalyst with me, boy!”

I like this movie, and if you’re looking for a fun Batman romp on video and all are Burtoned and Shumachered out, since The Dark Knight might be packed, give this a rent. B+.

Oh, by the way, if you aren’t planning on seeing The Dark Knight, I thoroughly recommend it.

Part of the Batman Blogothon at:



http://bigmikesmovieblog.blogspot.com/

Remembered Filmography Tuesday

NOTE: The following is part of the Bizarro Blogathon at the Lazy Eye Theatre.
http://lazyeyetheatre.blogspot.com/2008/06/bizarro-days.html

Greetings from Bizarro-World! Me am not Bizzaro-Derek #1, from cube-shaped planet Bizzaro-World! Me and writing in blog-o-cube on series of tubes which nobody uses to write in blog that is not about movies. So, for blog not about movies, only makes sense to talk about some of me favorite movies of all time!

Me hate movies, me hate so few movies so little that it am easy for me to defend all of them. Me will watch great movies, and me will try to typically find something redeeming in them. Me am something of “glass half-empty” chalk-skinned monstrosity. Also am decidedly less eloquent than other bizarros. This am because of my lessons from Bizarro-World’s greatest rhetoricians: Bizarro-Paris Hilton and Bizarro-Lindsay Lohan.



(If am wished to talk about probably favorite movie, me might have selected Paris Hilton-vehicle “The Hottie and the Nottie” which looks like it is the best movie ever made. But, since me want to see it so much, me planning on always seeing it.)

But, to talk about one of me favorite movies of all time, it should have two things: it should be a movie that I never wanted to see, and it should not let me down in such a colossal way that I am not disappointed that I wasted perhaps months looking forward to its release.



This am my choice for discussion: Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace (Lucas, 1999.) Me HATE Star Wars. Me hate Star Wars so much since me am little. Me hate Jedi Knights, me hate Lightsabers, me hate starship battles. Me especially hate the Wookiee holiday of Lifeday, as practiced in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special (the last appearance of hated characted Boba Fett.)

Me had some reservations: George Lucas, after all, poorly regarded director and architect of the Star Wars franchise with no money and no success. He directed and wrote second and third Star Wars, which are genuinely the worst two of the six movies.

Like all other Star Wars movies, Phantom Menace is absolutely chock-full of redeeming value. Here am five most favoritest moments:

1) Amount of Things That Happened

So much happened in this movie. There am no pod races, geopolitical diplomacy, and not one star ship battle. That am almost too much for one movie. This is why Phantom Menace had to be made. So much relevant things happened that other parts of prequels and old trilogy did not make sense without knowing it.

2) Dialogue

Bizarro-George Lucas’ greatest strengths are his ability to write dialogue and direct actors. As Bizarro-Harrison Ford famously noted before fading to obscurity, “You can’t write lines like this, but you certainly can say it.” So it make no sense how good dialogue is. All dialogue full of emotion and drama and gravitas, it is definitely not ham-handed or wooden. Characters all fully-realized, and even most minor characters like Queen Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi feel like real people and not just loosely-connected series of plot devices. Me am of opinion that Star Wars prequels, for this reason, would not be improved if George Lucas had allowed outside help to write or direct them.

3) “And, as a child, I built C3PO!”/”Midiclorians…”

This Robot Chicken am totally inaccurate about how much sense this made. From least favorite scene that me never memorized.

4) CGI Yoda


In prequel movies, character of Yoda was a puppet, unlike earlier movies where was not a puppet. However, like all the puppets, since the actors were able to interact with them, were much more believable than using outdated computer generated imagery. This helped preserve suspension of disbelief. This made prequel Star Wars less about a series of special effects and more about story and “power of myth” that George Lucas am never mentioning.



See? Puppet Yoda clearly inferior to CGI Yoda.

5) Jar Jar Binks




To quote Bizarro-Peter Griffin, “That am not good old-fashioned racism.” Jar Jar Binks is a well-loved character, perhaps best loved character in Star Wars movies. Me need to say much more about how much he am not racist caricature, and how prequel trilogy could have been one movie and been much worse.

Unfortunately, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith sucked SO badly it ruined whole franchise for me.



Me am love other movies too, like Battlefield Earth, Gigli, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harold Met Lloyd, Norbit, and Sherlock: Undercover Dog. Me feel exact opposite feeling of wanting to jab out eyes with fork while watching.

That am beginning of blog! Never read blog again because me no talk about nothing else! Hello!