10 @ a Time - Batman v Superman, Part 11

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Part Eleven: Transfigurations, Part II

Welcome to the eleventh installment of “10 @ a Time: Batman v Superman.” Last week we talked about how the major players are readying their positions for the final act. Today, fathers take the floor before the sons duke it out.

[For those playing the home game, we’re looking at the “Ultimate Edition” home video release; for today’s 10@T installment, we’re looking from 1:44:51 to 1:57:46. We’re running a little long because some really fascinating symmetry shows up if we think of this batch all together.]

The blood on whose hands, Lex?

Batman: The Animated Series - "Day of the Samurai"

“Batman is the essence of samurai, Wayne-san. You would do well to remember that.”

Smarting from his defeat in “Night of the Ninja,” Kyodai Ken (Robert Ito) retreats to Japan to seek out a deadly martial arts technique guarded by Bruce Wayne’s sensei. Sensei Yoru summons Bruce to Japan with the winking hope that Bruce might enlist the help of Batman in safeguarding the secret of kiba no hoko and saving Yoru’s star pupil from Kyodai Ken.

I had a lukewarm reaction to “Night of the Ninja,” which introduced Kyodai Ken to The Animated Series, and so I had been putting off “Day of the Samurai” for some time. Indeed, I had at one point considered combining “Night” and “Day” into one post to get them out of the way. I’m glad I didn’t, however, because it turns out I have a lot of thoughts about “Day of the Samurai,” which isn’t quite a new favorite episode, but it’s certainly gone up in my estimation and is a marked improvement over its predecessor – largely on the beauty of its visual style.

The real star of this episode is director Bruce Timm, who guides this episode into a riveting ocular spectacle. Timm gets a lot of credit – and rightly so – for his hand in designing the look of the show and most of its characters (hat-tip, though, to Mike Mignola’s Mr. Freeze and Kevin Nowlan’s Killer Croc), but Timm also does yeoman’s work directing individual episodes. “Day of the Samurai” is the only Timm-directed episode not also written by Paul Dini, but it displays all the virtuosic artistry you might expect from the show’s co-creator. Timm imagines Japan as something out of Blade Runner, all swooping angles and towering advertisements, but he juxtaposes the city with the pacific dojo and its idyllic landscaping. Ever the master of a visual metaphor, though, Timm sets all this with the looming backdrop of the rumbling Mount Kajiiki; it’s essentially Chekhov’s caldera, as we expect the volcano will erupt before the episode ends, and setting the climactic duel in the heart of the volcano is damned inspired. (Sidebar: “Day of the Samurai” was animated by animation studio Blue Pencil, who only animated one other episode – Riddler’s “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?”)

Steve Perry returns to writing duties for another pass at Kyodai Ken, and while I had lamented that “Night of the Ninja” was overfull of good ideas with not enough development, “Day” is the exact opposite, an exercise in streamlining that lasers in on Batman as samurai. There are only five speaking characters in this episode, so the plotting is necessarily sleek, and everything flows logically without needing to hit the pause button and inquire, “Hang on a minute?” Moreover, it’s like Perry read my mind twenty-some years ago and foregrounded the notion of Batman as samurai in a compelling contrast to Kyodai Ken as the codeless ninja. The samurai subtext becomes metatext as Bruce Wayne wonders about whether his nocturnal vigilantism is another iteration of the ninja way, and the slick manner in which the script handles this question is a testament to Perry’s prowess. It also demonstrates once more the seamless way Batman can fit into any story; you can’t put Superman or Spider-Man into this tale (though I’d have liked to see Wonder Woman as a different kind of warrior for Kyodai Ken to face).

As polished as the episode is and artfully constructed though it may be, Kyodai Ken still hasn’t landed for me. In a sense, he’s a less successful version of Ra’s al Ghul, an Eastern figure of mystery and martial proficiency, but he’s demonstrably not as strong or intelligent as Batman. He never quite poses a challenge to the quick-thinking and fleet-footed Dark Knight, and his greatest skill seems to be that he’s occasionally difficult to find. He’s petulant and fairly easy to outthink, so I’m not terribly bothered by this being his last episode. One wonders, though, at the lost potential had his character gotten a stronger introduction that positioned him as a proper menace; conversely, one could also imagine an episode that plays up his clear disadvantage and how that rage at his own impotence makes him dangerous. Instead, he’s just sort of there.

Though its villain is far from the best of the bunch (check back in two weeks for said bunch), “Day of the Samurai” is a treat to behold, some of Timm’s finest work and with an insular script that hits all the right beats in a tight twenty minutes. We all know how great Batman: The Animated Series can be as a superhero cartoon, but “Day of the Samurai” is a good case study into how good the show can be at being something else, at trying on a new hat for the day.

Postscript – this episode makes me wish I’d been keeping track of Kevin Conroy’s greatest hits in each episode. From changing voices mid-sentence in “If You’re So Smart” to his heartbreaking gravitas in “Beware the Gray Ghost,” Conroy has earned every accolade he’s garnered for his definitive take on Batman. Here, though, it’s his pronunciation of “samurai,” which elongates into four feudal syllables and demands instant replay. It’s that compelling.

Original Air Date: February 23, 1993

Writer: Steve Perry

Director: Bruce Timm

Villain: Kyodai Ken (Robert Ito)

Next episode: “Terror in the Sky,” in which our creature features continue, and we return and begin again with Man-Bat.

🦇For the full list of Batman: The Animated Series reviews, click here.🦇

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

Though my original review was perhaps a little more even-tempered than I initially recalled, I look back on Kingsman: The Secret Service with great fondness, cringing at some of the bawdier moments but overall greatly sympathizing with director Matthew Vaughn’s appreciation for the 1960s era of spy films (particularly James Bond, though – as the characters are fond of reminding you – “dis ain’t dat kinda film, bruv”). While its sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, is an enthusiastic action film with more than a few decent thrills, I was not transported in the way I was with the first film; that is, if the original were Skyfall, The Golden Circle is more Spectre, a sequel that doesn’t misstep but doesn’t transcend like its predecessor did.

After a coordinated attack on Kingsman, secret agent Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and gadget guy Merlin (Mark Strong) link up with their “American cousins” (Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, and Pedro Pascal) at Statesman to avenge their fallen comrades. As the trailers have revealed, however, a comrade also rises – Harry Hart (Colin Firth) returns to the service for the fight against the cartel leader Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), who controls the worldwide drug trade from her 1950s-infused lair.

As I was watching The Golden Circle, I couldn’t help but think of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, a sequel to a similarly inventive and strong first outing. Though the two sequels do have a similar “more of the same” quality to them, never triumphing as their predecessors might have led one to expect, I can safely say that Golden Circle is unlike A Dame in that it’s not boring. Where A Dame felt almost sleepily safe and content merely to reproduce what had gone before, Golden Circle shakes up the script and goes to places one wouldn’t expect. Though slickly devised, Harry’s return is anything but smooth, and it leads to an interesting new dynamic with Eggsy. It’s a real treat also to see a British stereotype of Americans; if The Secret Service satirized Britain’s vision of itself, Golden Circle is a dashing wink of a cliché of the United States, with its cowboy whiskey peddlers and honky-tonk bars.

The Golden Circle is not, as the trailers might have led you to believe, a film about the Statesman agents (though apparently Vaughn wants to make that spinoff). Aside from Pascal, who participates in the film’s rousingly thrilling Spy Who Loved Me by way of OHMSS action setpiece, the Statesman cast amounts to an extended cameo. The focus is squarely – rightly, as fun watching Statesman can be – on the Kingsman agents and the high-octane action that follows them. The film opens with an extensive (and, in IMAX, quite loud) taxi chase through London; you’ve also got the ski chase sequence, a snowy shootout, and the raid on Poppy’s HQ, all of which feel substantively different than what we saw in the first Kingsman film.

This Kingsman is about twenty minutes longer than the first one, and I have to say it does feel it. There’s a recurring gag about Elton John that overstays its welcome, and this film does feel a bit bogged down by laddish humor, perhaps more so than before (but mercifully not as bad as in Kick-Ass 2, which actively suffered from this). The first Kingsman famously ends (no spoilers) with an unconventional send-up of Bond’s get-the-girl closer, and while it’s tonally off-putting it wasn’t as cringingly gross as Eggsy’s encounter at the Glastonbury Music Festival, which does leave a bad taste on the film for a while. Perhaps overall the film needs more of what Colin Firth brought to the first film and to Eggsy’s training – a Pygmalion for the surveillance crowd, polishing up the rough bits and reminding us to stand a little straighter. (Put another way, “Manners maketh man.”)

Back in 2015, Kingsman: The Secret Service was better than most of us were expecting it to be, especially since it was pitted (you’ll recall) against the guaranteed box-office winner 50 Shades of Gray. The Golden Circle, however, is not as good as it should have been, though neither is it as bad as it could have been. It’s not as impressive as the first, which is a tragedy, but it’s a fine second entry and a cheering diversion at its best.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is rated R for “sequences of strong violence, drug content, language throughout, and some sexual material.” Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. Based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. Starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, and Julianne Moore.

10 @ a Time - Batman v Superman, Part 10

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Part Ten: Transfigurations, Part I

Welcome to the tenth installment of “10 @ a Time: Batman v Superman.” Last week we talked about the Washington hearings, Bruce’s (orchestrated) reaction, and why the Ultimate Edition is still so much better. Today, Superman hits another Jesus moment, and Doomsday approaches.

[For those playing the home game, we’re looking at the “Ultimate Edition” home video release; for today’s 10@T installment, we’re looking from 1:35:00 to 1:44:51.]

If I can get ahead of myself, I was a little surprised to see that the next installment of “10 @ a Time” will take us to the top of Lexcorp for Lex’s big monologue and the beginning of the end – a testament, perhaps, to how much can happen in ten minutes of this movie. There’s also the acute sense, though, knowing that this is the end of the second act, that Batman v Superman is hitting a kind of mythic cyclical button, as if to say, “And so we return and begin again.” This segment of the film moves everyone into the places they need to be for the film’s narrative and thematic climaxes – Superman is at his vulnerable nadir, Batman is assembling his death trap, Lois is two steps closer to proving Lex’s guilt, and Lex is (like Batman) moving his final schemes into place.

Batman: The Animated Series - "Moon of the Wolf"

“Do me a favor, Shaggy – stay down!”

Batman thwarts a mugging at the Gotham Zoo, but things aren’t what they seem when the mugger turns out to be a snarling werewolf. Meanwhile, at the insistence of Professor Milo (Treat Williams – remember him?), Anthony Romulus invites Batman to his home in what is retrospectively perhaps the show’s most obvious baited trap.

In the words of the immortal Han Solo, didn’t we just leave this party? As a matter of fact, between “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Tyger, Tyger,” haven’t we left this party a few times already? “Moon of the Wolf” goes for the hat trick, a trifecta of subpar “creature feature” episodes of Batman: The Animated Series that nevertheless never quite feel like the show we’ve been watching for the past forty-some weeks. Though the werewolf animation is actually quite slick, the exuberantly dated wailing guitar and unabashed bend toward the mystical makes this episode feel more like something out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer than Batman.

Maybe this is a story that works better in its comic book source material (Batman #255, from 1974), which scripter Len Wein also penned. On the surface, there’s nothing overtly wrong with the idea of Batman facing a werewolf; again, Batman is somewhat bulletproof when it comes to genre. However, for a series that literally began with Man-Bat and just introduced Tygrus and Dr. Dorian in the last episode, Batman’s skepticism in the face of an honest-to-Hoyle werewolf rings somewhat false. Above all, this is an episode in which a character says, absolutely straight-faced, “However, advanced werewolfism can be cured,” as if that’s a sentence that makes sense on any level. (It begs the question, too, what precisely is light werewolfism?)

I had said back in “Cat Scratch Fever” that Professor Milo was a lower-tier Bat-villain waiting for a better episode than the one that he got, but “Moon of the Wolf” isn’t that episode. Milo comes off a little better than he did as Roland Daggett’s poindexter stooge, with a dilapidated cabin housing whatever mad experiments his mind can conjure, but the chronology of his latest scheme and his inexplicable ability to induce lycanthropy leave the audience a little puzzled. As is usually the case with the less successful episodes of BtAS, his plan is itself a bit murky and probably boils down to wanting to kill Batman, which isn’t even a motivation that works for The Joker.

Then there’s the werewolf, with the (un)likely moniker of Romulus (I suppose Talbot was taken). “Moon of the Wolf” burns through his origin story, which can only be described as “Feat of Clay” without the pathos, and he never comes off as sympathetic. A star athlete on wolf steroids doesn’t engender the same kind of connection as Clayface managed in his stellar two-parter. It’s also surprising to see that this episode repeats the ending of “Tyger, Tyger” nearly shot for shot, teasing the survival of yet another furry beast on the outskirts of Gotham and reminding the audience that, yes, we have just been through this.

(Sidebar: “Terror in the Sky” is coming up, and it’s a Man-Bat episode, which feels very of a piece with “Tyger, Tyger” and “Moon of the Wolf.” Perhaps Michael Reaves noticed, because his Batman Adventures #21 from 1994 brought Man-Bat, Tygrus, and Romulus together in a hairy conspiracy orchestrated by Dr. Dorian. I recall that issue doing better justice to these characters, though it does hang a lantern on how similar they all are.)

Perhaps I’m biased, because I can’t say I’m particularly enamored of werewolf stories. Had “Moon of the Wolf” touched something of the metaphorical link to Batman, who himself transmutes into a creature of the night to accomplish what his human identity cannot, I might feel differently. As it stands, though, the episode doesn’t do anything to sell me on the particular plot or the general sub-genre of werewolf tales.

Original Air Date: November 11, 1992

Writer: Len Wein

Director: Dick Sebast

Villains: Professor Milo (Treat Williams) and Anthony Romulus (Harry Hamlin)

Next episode: “Day of the Samurai,” in which Bruce Timm tries his hand at Kyodai Ken.

🦇For the full list of Batman: The Animated Series reviews, click here.🦇

The Defenders (2017)

We have always already known it was all building to this. Back in 2015 (only two years ago!), Daredevil debuted with the promise that its protagonist would eventually join Netflix’s Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist in The Defenders, echoing the successful franchise building that culminated in 2012’s The Avengers. And so it is all but a little impossible not to compare The Defenders to The Avengers; on an instinctual level, Defenders is not as successful as Avengers, but then again it’s more successful than it could have been, and it has the unbelievable ability to make me care about The Hand.

How do these lovable nutjobs end up together? While Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist (Finn Jones), pursues The Hand in fulfillment of his mission from the mystical K’un-Lun, Luke Cage (Mike Colter) rejoins Harlem and finds its youth in danger. Likewise, Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) becomes embroiled in corporate terrorism when her client tries to bomb his own office, and through a friend of a friend (Rosario Dawson) she finds herself represented by Matt Murdock, alias Daredevil (Charlie Cox). All the while, The Hand’s leader Alexandra (Sigourney Weaver) has sinister plans for her latest protégé Elektra (Élodie Yung), the new Black Sky warrior.

The Avengers did this remarkable thing where it built on what came before and moved it into new territory without ever losing sight of the audience members who might not have done all the homework from Iron Man on. The Defenders aces those first two categories, finding clever ways to bring these characters together while setting up some intriguing new stories for them, but it isn’t the best introduction to some of these characters, particularly Daredevil and Luke Cage (whose standalone seasons left them in places that Defenders contorts to resolve in time for them to unite). Then again, I’m not sure that there are too many folks out there who haven’t followed the Netflix universe as closely, and so maybe it’s folly to expect Defenders to be entirely its own thing.

Then again, The Defenders is such viscerally engaging viewing material that I almost wish they’d discontinue the bulk of the Netflix project and just do a few more seasons of The Defenders instead. The Defenders ably collects all of what works about each show, scraps what doesn’t, and blends it all together in a show that doesn’t have any dead spots – likely a casualty of its eight episodes (compared to Marvel/Netflix’s standard thirteen). For all that Daredevil can be a mopey sort, The Defenders pairs him with three others who will call him out on that. The show even seems hyper-aware of the creative problems of Iron Fist, hanging a lantern on Danny’s idiocy and protracted self-introductions, in the process matching him with characters who can finesse him into a more capable character. Jess and Luke change the least, for my money because they’re characters who are already in stellar shape, and it’s a real delight to see them sharing the screen again after Luke’s turn on Jessica Jones.

Without fail, The Hand has been the least inspiring aspect of the Marvel Netflix Universe; I didn’t care on Daredevil (and I really didn’t care on Daredevil: Season 2), and The Hand was just one more element that didn’t add up for Iron Fist. However, The Defenders takes The Hand bigger, showcasing their ancient influence, sweeping plans, and fascinatingly distinctive leaders, including Weaver’s Alexandra (who brings a genre pedigree to the role with charisma and grace) and my personal favorite, Madame Gao. While the Defenders learn to work together, The Hand struggles not to kill each other in a gripping give-and-take that feels a little like Game of Thrones mixed with the more interesting kung-fu bits of The Matrix. Elektra too, somewhat dull in the overstuffed second season of Daredevil, emerges on top as her character struggles to find her place within The Hand and at Alexandra’s side.

Where Marvel/Netflix has done well, The Defenders continues to thrive. What the universe hasn’t cracked, The Defenders patches up. I would have liked to have seen more from the non-super supporting characters, as The Defenders largely relegates Foggy, Trish, and Colleen to a police holding room; additionally, it’s a little surprising that there’s nary a nod to Frank Castle in here. Instead, The Defenders lasers its focus on its four protagonists, who crackle in every scene they’ve got; even separated, when the show feels more like an anthology than a team-up, there are fine moments of characterization and plotting that make The Defenders feel like a win.

Make mine Marvel, and roll on The Punisher (because I hear Inhumans isn’t very good).

The Defenders is rated TV-MA. Created by Douglas Petrie and Marco Ramirez. Based on the Marvel Comics. Starring Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter, Finn Jones, Élodie Yung, Rosario Dawson, and Sigourney Weaver.

10 @ a Time - Batman v Superman, Part 9

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Part Nine: The Sound of Silence

Welcome to the ninth installment of “10 @ a Time: Batman v Superman.” Last week we discussed whether angels bleed and why we need mothers. Today, more stuff blows up.

[For those playing the home game, we’re looking at the “Ultimate Edition” home video release; for today’s 10@T installment, we’re looking from 1:24:53 to 1:35:00.]

At least Superman didn't have to live through Election 2016.

What’s immediately apparent is that this chunk of the movie plays so much better in the Ultimate Edition than the theatrical release, which shortchanged just about every character except for Lex Luthor. In the Ultimate Edition, Senator Finch gets a moment of clarity before her death, Superman finds himself hampered yet again from saving people, Lois pushes further forward with her story, and Bruce fractures his relationship with Alfred ever more painfully. What’s remarkable, too, is how much is communicated silently, without the benefit of long monologues. In fact, the people that speak the most in this installment are the ones with the least to say. In the theatrical cut, recall, Lex blows up the Capitol, Superman disappears, and Bruce scowls at the television before stealing the Kryptonite; let’s break down, then, what the Ultimate Edition expands and how it deepens the film.

Batman: The Animated Series - "Tyger, Tyger"

“Tyger, tyger, burning bright / In the forests of the night / What immortal hand or eye / Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Dr. Emile Dorian (Joseph Maher) abducts Selina Kyle (Adrienne Barbeau) and whisks her away to his secluded island where he conducts genetic experiments on felines to perfect his mad science. By the time Batman uncovers Dorian’s scheme, he’s too late – Selina has been transformed into a literal cat-woman, and she may not want to leave, especially after she meets Dorian’s greatest success, the wolf-man Tygrus (Jim Cummings).

For one of Batman’s greatest rogues, the bad news continues. “The Cat & The Claw” and “Cat Scratch Fever” were tragic disappointments for Catwoman, overly moralizing in the one and utterly dismal in the second. For “Tyger, Tyger,” I’ll say that it’s not as objectively bad as the first two Catwoman episodes, but it is certainly the strangest episode and the first real moment in more than forty episodes where I’ve had to remind myself that this is Batman: The Animated Series and not, say, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Classics Illustrated – the latter because “Tyger, Tyger” is essentially The Island of Dr. Moreau. More precisely, I should say that I had a hard time reconciling this as a Catwoman episode; after thwarting bioterrorism and animal testing, Catwoman is next faced with a feline fetishist mad scientist. Wait, what?

Batman, however, is right at home in a story of science without morals, and “Tyger, Tyger” is valuable in that it demonstrates the sheer bulletproof nature of Batman, who can be dropped into any sort of story imaginable without having to change much to accommodate his new genre surroundings. It’s no trouble at all to imagine Batman going from the streets of Gotham to the abandoned castle where Dr. Dorian conducts his loony experiments, and he’s equally at home in a notably compelling fight scene with Tygrus in the jungles surrounding Dr. Dorian’s lair. It’s Catwoman, though, who never quite fits in. Because Dr. Dorian’s motivations are pretty thin – mad science for the sake of science – it isn’t clear why Catwoman becomes involved, aside from the obvious pun invoked by the name of her criminal alter ego. It’s equally vague why Catwoman might want to remain a cat-woman or why she feels any attraction to Tygrus, and for the episode to hinge on those developments results in a fairly flat narrative.

The voice cast in this episode is quite strong, and I’m not just saying that because Jim Cummings does no fewer than three voices (one of whom, the ape-man Garth, is easily the scene-stealer of the episode). Cummings is suitably tragic as Tygrus, though it’s never clear whether Tygrus is a man turned into a cat or vice versa. Most notably, Joseph Maher plays Dr. Dorian like Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) from Bride of Frankenstein, an effete yet clinical scientist obsessed with pushing the boundaries of morality. It’s just a shame his episode isn’t particularly strong, because one could imagine a better Dr. Dorian plot that didn’t result in a strange contortion to include Catwoman.

For about two-thirds, “Tyger, Tyger” is head-scratchingly incongruous with itself and the rest of the series. It never quite coalesces as an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, but Batman’s involvement in the third act is as baseline engaging as we’ve come to expect from the show. It’s never dull, just strange, and its ending – in which Kevin Conroy recites William Blake (which is alone worth the price of admission) – is surprisingly thoughtful and heady for a kid’s cartoon. Is it too much to ask, though, for a Catwoman episode where she’s stealing jewels and being chased across rooftops?

Original Air Date: October 30, 1992

Writers: Michael Reaves, Randy Rogel, and Cherie Wilkerson

Director: Frank Paur

Villains: Dr. Emile Dorian (Joseph Maher), Tygrus (Jim Cummings) and Catwoman (Adrienne Barbeau)

Next episode: “Moon of the Wolf,” another creature feature in which Batman wrassles a furry beast.

🦇For the full list of Batman: The Animated Series reviews, click here.🦇

10 @ a Time - Batman v Superman, Part 8

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Part Eight: Do You Bleed?

Welcome to the eighth installment of “10 @ a Time: Batman v Superman.” Last week we talked about the Knightmare and touched on Alfred’s efforts to keep Batman human. Today, stuff blows up, and two titans meet again for the first time.

[For those playing the home game, we’re looking at the “Ultimate Edition” home video release; for today’s 10@T installment, we’re looking from 1:14:10 to 1:24:53.]

The bulk of this installment is taken up by an action sequence, which is a fabulous eyeball kick. It’s interesting that, at seventy-five minutes into the movie, this is (barring the Knightmare sequence) really only the second Batman sequence of the film. We’ve had Batman as creature of the night in his horror show debut, and now it’s Batman the stop-at-nothing action hero.

Achievement Unlocked: Creature of the Night +10xp

Batman: The Animated Series - "Joker's Wild"

“Oh, please, Mr. Kaiser! You of all people should have realized there’d be a Joker in the deck!”

Cameron Kaiser (Harry Hamlin) is set to unveil his new casino venture, but the startling likeness to Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime sickens his guests and spurs the ire of The Joker himself (Mark Hamill). Joker springs himself from Arkham to seek revenge for this slight, while Batman begins to wonder what Kaiser’s really after.

Joker episode? Check. Paul Dini script? Check. Lush animation married to a peculiar sense of humor? Yep, it’s another winner of an episode. I’ve said before that Dini is at his Bat-best when he’s working with The Joker, and “Joker’s Wild” is one more card in the Dini Flush. It’s the kind of episode that would only work with The Joker – although I could imagine a similar plot involving The Riddler and his effort to clear his name by outwitting an opportunistic casino magnate – and it benefits greatly from the etheric madness that seems to follow The Joker like a cloud of laughing gas.

Perhaps even more so than in his first Joker episode, “Joker’s Favor,” Paul Dini demonstrates his great affection for the sinister jester, such that the first act of the episode – a full third of the runtime – features nary a frame of Batman. Instead, the floor is turned over to Joker himself, enraged by the nightly newscast and then engaged in a madcap escape from Arkham Asylum. It’s more elaborate and intricately staged than his treetop getaway in “Christmas With the Joker,” a perfect setpiece that shows off Joker’s zany humor and dangerous chemical prowess. (Sidebar: We learn in this episode that the doors at Arkham are literally unlocked. There’s an alarm, but you’d think the exterior doors would have better security than a klaxon and a wire fence. I mean, at that point, aren’t you just asking for a breakout?) This escape sequence, coupled with Hamill’s level-best vocal work, gives one the acute sense that we’d be perfectly content to watch Joker: The Animated Series instead. Batman is practically the B-plot in “Joker’s Wild,” though it’s hilarious that his efforts to reason with The Joker are met with the latter tying the former to a colossal roulette wheel.

This episode feels very of a piece with one of the show’s last, “Joker’s Millions,” both of which share an eccentric wit and a plot which involves Joker in an unconventional proximity to money. In both cases – yes, they’re both Dini episodes, too – you’re left to stop and wonder every so often, “Wait, this is really bizarre, isn’t it?” But by the same token, both push Joker to his breaking point by taking him to his nadir and giving him the chance to claw his way back. In a bizarre way, you’re actually rooting for Joker against the scummy Kaiser, even if it’s just to see the oddball ways in which he plans to “clear” his “good” name. If The Joker is the protagonist in this episode, it’s because Kaiser has attempted to sanitize and organize Joker’s madness; where Joker relishes the chaos left in the wake of his irrational schemes, Kaiser has taken that template and monetized it, plastering everything over with a slick sheen of that rictus grin. That corporatization is of the utmost offense to The Joker, who never considers plundering the casino’s profits; the showman is being shown up, and that aggression will not stand.

To cap off the funhouse mirror quality of the episode, there’s a standout sequence in which Bruce Wayne finds himself at a blackjack table with The Joker as his dealer. There’s a tense exchange when it’s possible each knows who the other is, followed by a few great one-liners in which Bruce ribs Joker by baiting his vanity, teasing the clown under the illusion that he doesn’t know his dealer is The Joker. “I’d be ready for the laughing academy if I had to stare at that ugly clown all day,” he says lightly, privately reveling in the seething fury he inspires. And lest Kevin Conroy get upstaged by Mark Hamill, a terse “He’s here” to Alfred changes the tone of the sequence with the two-syllabled grace that only Conroy could bring.

Hell hath no fury like a Joker scorned, but “Joker’s Wild” is a giddy treat.

Original Air Date: November 19, 1992

Writer: Paul Dini

Director: Boyd Kirkland

Villains: The Joker (Mark Hamill)

Next episode: “Tyger, Tyger,” in which the David Bowie theme from Cat People is regrettably not used.

🦇For the full list of Batman: The Animated Series reviews, click here.🦇

The TOTAL FILM Quiz, Part 2

The British film magazine Total Film has a recurring feature called “My Life in Movies,” and the questionnaire got me thinking. As The Cinema King, my life has been significantly affected by the movies I’ve seen and the one’s I’ve continued to carry with me. It’s ten questions – with an eleventh question for Brian Michael Bendis, the comic book scribe whose Total Film interview convinced me to take a stab at the quiz – so here goes. Post your answers in the comments below!

The Movie I Love But No One’s Heard Of

I’m sure most people have heard of The Rocketeer, but I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know who have seen this movie but aren’t related to me. Actually, this film is a strong contender for the first movie I ever saw, and it’s a formative one; it cemented my love for the superhero genre, period pieces, and Jennifer Connelly. The Rocketeer is on a very short list of “instant buy,” no matter what the merchandise (partly because he’s in such short supply). If you want to understand the modern fascination with superhero films, we can trace it back here - yes, Tim Burton's Batman is earlier by two years, but The Rocketeer shows audiences how fun, innocuous, and elegant superhero fantasies can be. Superman nothing... this was the movie that convinced me a man can fly.

The Movie That Scares Me The Most

The Strangers still keeps me up at night. There’s something primordial about the terror of the just-out-of-sight, and the image of Liv Tyler oblivious to the masked figure skulking just behind her still sends a cold chill down my spine. It’s a perfect film to watch late at night, with all the lights doused. That dread of the concealed still convinces me there’s someone lurking in my home, waiting to torture and murder me.

The Movie I Should Have Starred In

Back in 2005, I was young enough to believe that my world was going to end if I didn’t find a way to be a part of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Of course, that was before we knew it wasn’t, after all, to be the last Star Wars film, nor did it end up being very good anyway; Mark Kermode described it as “a two hour, twenty minute borefest, of which seventeen and a half minutes are quite good.” As ever, the good doctor’s got it right. These days, I’d probably be better off with a role in a superhero movie.

The Remake I’d Like To See

Generally I’m opposed to remakes in principle, though there have been good exceptions – most recently, Beauty and the Beast. I’d like to see a reboot of The Rocketeer, to reintroduce the character to an audience a little readier for him. Recently, I floated the idea of a remake of Ratatouille in which the rats don’t talk. So much is accomplished by the expressive animation (Pixar trademark) and emotive score (Michael Giacchino, easily in my top three living composers) that the talking rats seem almost superfluous. It would also have the effect of making the movie just a little bit more about Linguini and the kitchen staff, who I felt were always the more interesting characters. I’ll settle for a mere re-edit, though, since I can’t imagine anyone else but Peter O’Toole as the imperious food critic Anton Ego (“I don’t ‘like’ food; I love it. If I don’t love it, I don’t swallow.”).

The Last Film I Watched On A Plane

The last film I watched in an airport was Batman v Superman, but I stowed my laptop upon takeoff and returned to my book. On an airplane proper, then, the last film was Captain America: Civil War, on the way to and from Disney World back in November 2016.

The Best Comic Book Movie

“O, speak to me no more! These words like daggers enter in my ears.” This is an unbearably difficult question, partly because I’m a sucker for the genre and because there have been a lot of really solid contenders. I’ll compromise (read: cop out) and give you my favorite DC, Marvel, and “other” comic book movie. For DC, no question, it’s The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan’s 2008 sequel to Batman Begins is one of the greatest films ever made, full stop, even without considering its source material; reverent yet original, slickly made in every aspect, it’s the gold standard. On the Marvel side, Captain America: The Winter Soldier took the goodwill and craft of the first round of Marvel movies and went beyond “entertaining” into “great film.” It took the political terrain of 2014 and the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and told a story that felt significant and engaging, never compromising on its spectacle or the fearlessness of its protagonist. Like The Dark Knight, it’s a great standalone and a continuation. Outside of the Big Two, my favorite comic book movie is (at the risk of this being the answer to most of these questions) The Rocketeer, an underrated cult classic. Director Joe Johnston created Boba Fett and directed Captain America: The First Avenger, but in my eyes this will always be his creative achievement. It’s a perfect film, effortless and exuberant. Drop everything and see it.

What’s your version of the Total Film questionnaire? Sound off in the comments below!

10 @ a Time - Batman v Superman, Part 7

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Part Seven: Welcome to My Knightmare

Welcome to the seventh installment of “10 @ a Time: Batman v Superman.” Last week we talked at length about Superman and how the film preempted #NotMySuperman. Today, we’re down with another case of Bat-fever, this time by way of Mad Max: Fury Road – and you may be surprised that I actually like that.

[For those playing the home game, we’re looking at the “Ultimate Edition” home video release; for today’s 10@T installment, we’re looking from 1:04:29 to 1:14:10.]

Darkseid is.

We’ve come to one of my favorite parts of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and it’s precisely the kind of scene that merits a “10 @ a Time” treatment because the film itself doesn’t do a lot with it by way of interpretation. It’s a dream sequence, a vision of the future, but it’s not even close to a future that comes to pass by the film’s end or which is transparently averted in time for the end credits. The Knightmare is instead posited as a mystery, inviting contemplation and exegesis beyond what the film will provide.

And look, I’m aware that if any other film pulled that stunt, I’d be out in front, leading a riot. To be fair, I do think that that theatrical cut of the film might have fared better if all this overt franchise-building had been left to the Ultimate Edition. But on the other hand, the point of this feature is in part to share all the things I see in the film that make me love it, even if those things are elements that I read into the film. Put another way, I know that most moviegoers don’t recognize the fire-pits and Parademons as intensely significant to the DC mythology, but those are among the things I love about the Knightmare sequence. The film would lose nothing without this scene, but it gains so much more.