Hello, everyone and welcome
to another entry of Coffee With The Cynic’s movie reviews! Originally this was going to be a video but Windows
8.1 isn’t cooperating and won’t let me open Movie Maker to edit the raw footage
so I will provide you with a transcript here.
Sadly, this will probably be the case until we get upgraded to Windows
10 but we hope to get that done as soon as humanly possible. Now, on with the show…article…whatever.
Tonight we’re going to be doing
a double bill review, starting off with the Batman v Superman: Dawn Of
Justice Ultimate Edition, or as I like to call it, Batman vs Superman: Bat-Ass
Edition as well as the animated film Batman: The Killing Joke.
Batman vs Superman:
Bat-Ass Edition
Okay, so if you’ve been
watching my videos, you’ll know that I really did not care for the theatrical
cut of BvS and up until I watched Gods Of Egypt, BvS was
actually the worst movie I had seen all year (so far). When I heard that the Blu-Ray was going to
feature an extended, “R” rated cut, I figured, “Alright, we never got to see
the complete picture. I’ll give the
director’s cut a chance, maybe those extra thirty minutes will add something
and who knows, maybe even knock it down a few spots on my ‘Worst Of 2016’ list.” So I got around to watching it and I gotta
say, “My eyes! Ze thirty minutes, they
do nothing!”
The only thing I really noticed
that the director’s cut “improved” the theatrical version was how it made it
more coherent, dare say obvious, that someone was framing Superman. Sadly, that was about it. What was good about was still really good
(Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jeremy Irons) and what was bad about the movie was
still really bad (still way too many plots that would’ve been better as
their own films, Jessie Eisenberg, the title fight comes in too late and ends
too quickly).
As for the “R” rating? This movie didn’t need it. Oh, you drop two “fucks” throughout the film? Fuck-a-doodle-doo. Extra CGI blood thrown in? Wasn’t that intense, even when the thug’s
head leaves a streak of blood on the way down after getting smacked by a
crate. This was a waste of an “R”
rating.
I was hoping that the extra
thirty minutes would clear a few things up, that it would make the movie better
and I would sit there like, “Okay, yeah, that’s a step in the right direction,
guys!” Sadly, my opinion of BvS still
has not changed. How can a movie add so
much to the runtime without adding anything to the story? It’s still a jumbled clusterfuck of a mess,
focusing too much on catching up with other and more successful competitors
rather than on being a good movie in its own right. It’s still the second worst movie I’ve seen
this year and it’s still a Throwaway.
Get the fuck outta here!
GOD, this is disappointing.
Like I said, I liked things about this movie but the things I didn’t
like did so much damage that this just leaves me frustrated and hurt! This hurts!
These characters deserved better.
Batman: The Killing Joke
The Killing Joke is the long-awaited animated adaptation of the
famous comic written by Watchmen scribe, Alan Moore. Prior to watching this film, I had only read
the comic once and thought, “Yeah, it was alright.” I didn’t get really attached to it or fall in
love with it the way that it seems almost everyone else did but I was up for
reading it again.
What got me interested in this one was the casting with Kevin Conroy and
Mark Hamill returning to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker, respectively. In our household, Kevin Conroy is Batman
and Mark Hamill is the best Joker.
Period. I gotta say that these
guys still got it as they are both amazing in their roles, be it Conroy’s
powerful yet stoic voice or Hamill’s ability to sound both amusing and chilling
at the same time (a couple of parts actually did make me shudder a
little). It never fails to amaze me how
these two have been playing these roles for over twenty years and they still
truly love being in these characters’ shoes.
A lot of people seem to have issue with the first half an hour of this
movie involving Barbara Gordon/Batgirl (voiced by Tara Strong), whether it be
they found her annoying or just because it wasn’t in the original Killing Joke
comic. I can understand why they
feel this way but it didn’t bother me so much because, like I said before, I’m
not strongly attached to the original comic and the film did need to flesh her
out before the events of The Killing Joke so that she can be a
full-fledged character instead of just a plot device. That being said, I would be outright lying if
I said I didn’t think it went on a little too long or if I didn’t say it felt
like another movie added to the beginning of The Killing Joke but good
things come to those who wait.
As far as adapting the comic goes, once it actually starts into The
Killing Joke, it is pretty much the comic word for word and somewhat frame
for frame. It was like the executives
were wondering, “Okay, how do we adapt this comic to animation,” and one of
them flipped open the book, showed it to them and said, “Do this.” Granted, the color scheme of the film is
closer to the rerelease of the comic where the color palette was more modern as
opposed to the flashy, carnival color palette of the original comic.
As for the rating? This is DC’s
first animated “R” rated feature so that was exciting in its own right and I
will say this: this film earned its “R” rating more than BvS: Bat-Ass
Edition did. That being said, it isn’t
a hard “R” like Heavy Metal or anything like that. Probably closer to a 14A, if we’re being
entirely honest.
I really like the DC Animated Universe and the movies and series released
therein so I was interested to see how the animation in this one fared against
the animation from previous entries. The
animation by no means is terrible but I did find it a bit stiff in some areas
when a character would turn their head or one shot in particular when the CGI
animation blended poorly with the 2D stuff.
It’s not a deal breaker but don’t expect animation as smooth as Batman:
The Animated Series here.
Final Verdict: Basically, if you like the comic, you’ll probably
like the movie or at least once the movie gets to the comic’s story. I personally didn’t mind the extra stuff at
the beginning but I can get why others might.
My feelings for the movie mirror my feelings for its source material: I
liked it, I’m not head-over-heels in love with it the way many others are but
after watching this movie, I read the comic again and watched the movie again,
putting them both at two views and I wouldn’t turn my nose up at the idea of
revisiting either in the future. I love watching
Conroy and Hamill reprise these roles and I had fun and felt good watching The
Killing Joke (which is kind of morbid, I know) and in the end, I will say
that Batman: The Killing Joke is A Fun Ride and I would recommend
checking it out.
Wheeeee!
So folks, let me know in the comments: what did you think of either of
these movies, for better or worse? Also,
keep your ears to the ground on this blog as we are seeing Suicide Squad
tomorrow and will be doing a review of that, as well as a review of a film I
never got to see as a kid, Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm.
Thanks for your time and if you like what you see on this blog, you be
sure to nudge that “Follow” button and stay cynical!
-The Cynic
-The Cynic
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