Originally published February 6, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
The LEGO Batman Movie, 2017.
Directed by Chris McKay.
Featuring the voice talents of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Mariah Carey, Jenny Slate, Billy Dee Williams, Hector Elizondo, Conan O’Brien, Jason Mantzoukas, Doug Benson, Zoe Kravitz, Kate Micucci, Channing tatum, Jonah Hill and Adam DeVine.
SYNOPSIS:
There are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.
And like that, the live-action DC universe is thrown back into the phantom zone, forlorn and gloomy, and it’s on something no bigger than a couple of inches to take the baton and run. And oh how it runs. To take Batman seriously takes a certain leap of faith; he’s a narcissistic playboy with absolute sociopathic tendencies who chooses karate and a costume over therapy as a viable way of tackle grief. The LEGO Batman Movie understands this; in fact it’s the first Batman film to understand its main character as little more than a weirdo in fancy dress.
But this Batman is still recognisably a Batman. He is humourless, self-loving, his ego monolithic and bulbous, he lives alone-on this occasion with the company of 90s rom-coms-and fights alone; help is for the weak. After a celebratory parade declaring him the absolute best, he returns to his mansion, itself isolated on “Bat-Island” and jams out to heavy metal and eats lobster thermidor.
His loneliness however is disrupted by the appearance of wide-eyed orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) with whom he accidentally adopted at an auction. Grayson just wants to be “parented by his two dads,” Batman sees him more as a pest whilst police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) hopes Batman can work hand-in-hand with the police force-another unwanted relationship. All this as Gotham is thrown into total disrepair by The Joker (Zach Galifianakis), who finds himself having a crisis of sorts following Batman’s declaration that he “doesn’t do ‘ships.”
At its core, it’s a celebration of Batman in all its absolute absurdity. Those villains long forgotten-Condiment Man anyone?-the costumes bathed in glitter, the weapons surely utterly useless. Even a sly dig at Zack Snyder’s gloom and doom Batman plays as nothing more than a soft jibe. Director Chris McKay has a clear love for the source material and his film is an all-out celebration of all things bat.
Yet it never buckles under that pressure. Jokes are crammed into every nook and cranny-both visually and through buckets of punch line after punch line-to the point it demands a second, third, fourth viewing to truly consume it all. Beneath it all-it hints to topics bigger and more complex; vigilantes as criminals, the phantom zone as Guantanamo-and akin to The LEGO Movie, it’s a touching look at relationships, all be it between a grown man dressed as a bat and his sort-of son dressed in a sparkly Jamaican one piece.
Even Lorne Balfe’s score-a hysterically self-serious descent into Zimmer-lite horns and bulging bass notes-plays as funny, a charming juxtapose to the bright colours of all things LEGO.
There may be lacking the fortuitous profundity of The LEGO Movie or its sheer purity, but when a film is of such absolute joy, it can be forgiven. It’s a full-blown attack of the senses, blocks whizz by at speed, jokes are thrown-of which almost all land-and if it is to be nothing more than an advert for LEGO, it’s one hell of an advert.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Thomas Harris
