The LEGO Batman Movie
(2017)
(SPOILERS) Well, at least the DC legacy
lives large in one of Warner Bros’ big screen franchises. Managing to take the
piss out of the company’s comic book kingdom and make it much more fun, engaging and coherent than the real deal
is no small achievement, but Chris McKay’s superior spin-off to 2014’s The Lego Movie succeeds and then some. The LEGO Batman Movie is almost
exhaustingly funny, embracing the kind of rapid-fire gag momentum we’re
familiar with from the Zucker Brothers (and Abrahams), Trey Parker and Matt Stone,
and, of course, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
It’s probably no wonder Batfleck appears
poised to walk away from the wrecking ball that is the Snyder-supervised main offering,
when he looks at what is ostensibly a joke that has been so rapturously
received. Sure, Will Arnett’s Batman may be looking to the campery of Adam West
as the true godfather of this movie (from the theme tune, to the Robin costume,
to the Zap! Pow! inserts of the climactic fight, to the unrivalled Bat Shark Repellent,
and even a clip from the movie – along with several from Jerry Maguire, amongst references to a number of near-forgettable romcoms),
but he manages to leave you invested in his Batman/Bruce, which is more than
I’ve done with the series since, well, Batman
Returns probably (and Michael Keaton was hardly in that); I know, that will
have Bale fans up in arms, but really there was one great movie in that
trilogy, and what was great about it was all Heath Ledger.
Yes, the picture inevitably moves in the
direction of inclusive sentiment, because it has to have an in-your-face moral as it’s a kid’s movie. So, a
little more sincerely than South Park
mocking the same, and a long way from how The
Naked Gun made no pretence at such feeling at all, but it’s still far from
the rather awkward and intrusive appearance of Will Ferrell in The Lego Movie, and the general bending
over backwards therein to insert a message so unpalatably cynical you choke on
it (I tend to the view that even kids’ movies are better when they aren’t spoon-feeding
morals, although I’m not a parent, so what do I know?).
As Arnett comments in
the third trailer, “You know, it’s kind
of like the original Lego Movie, only
vastly superior because it revolves entirely around me”. The key is that it
never loses sight of having fun with Warner’s licences and characters, cutting
a swathe of irreverence across the screen even when its’s forced to wax lyrical
about the importance of family (Dom Torretto would be proud, but then there is only one current emotional undercurrent
to studio movies currrently, it seems).
Alfred: Sir, I have seen you go through similar phases in 2016 and 2012 and 2008
and 2005 and 1997 and 1995 and 1992 and 1989 and that weird one in 1966.
Following a deliriously funny opening in
which Batman squares off against Zach Galifianakis’ Joker while acknowledging
all the tropes (but not that he hates him; Superman
is Batman’s greatest enemy) before riffing on the rivalry with Supes (a
returning Channing Tatum) to maximum effect (I wish there’d been more of this;
I did get a vague feeling that they only went so far with Supes and the Justice
League so as to avoid Warner completely self-immolating the actual franchise’s
chances come November – especially since what we see here is – that word again
– much more fun and visually appealing than anything Snyder has come up with),
Batman must face his greatest fear. No, not snake clowns, but letting others
in, which means orphan Robin (Michael Cera). And, until it gets too sincere,
this makes for a formidable hive of humour.
But it’s the decision to play with one of Superman’s main devices, the Phantom
Zone, that yields the widest-ranging, most fruitful and freewheeling dividends.
By this point, we’ve already had an obvious but still funny backhander aimed at
Suicide Squad – what idiot would send
villains to catch villains – and the parade of ludicrous, but I can quite
believe are all accurate, C-list villains from the Bat oeuvre, including a few better-known
ones (Bane in particular, is hilarious, Killer Croc is attributed one line that
defines him more than Suicide Squad
did – “I actually did something!” – as
well as being much better designed, while Billy Dee Williams finally gets to
play Two-Face).
The Phantom Zone unleashes, in haphazard yet
inspired fashion, the likes of Sauron (Jermaine Clement, always great value,
particularly his delivery of “My eye!”),
Voldermort (not Ralph Fiennes, busy playing Alfred, but Eddie Izzard), Agent
Smith(s), Godzilla, British robot villains the Daleks (I would never have
conceived that Batman would meet the Daleks, outside of a Joe Dante movie,
which brings me to…) and Gremlins (who even get linked to their The Twilight Zone namesake when they set
to work on the Batwing).
The level of comic invention is so frenetic
that, like those other comedy past masters, it scarcely matters that some of
them miss. The musical interludes/Bat raps are fine, but none are as inspired
as Batman’s Song (Untitled Self Portrait)
in the first movie (as such, this is a classic example of something going down
so well that attempting to repeat that inspiration is fated to fail). And, with
regard to Batman’s emotional journey, it is undoubtedly hammered home, but all
involved are far too wised-up to make you buy that it’s too genuine (as in, more important than making us laugh – the
makers would be fools not engineer a reset of some description for the sequel,
because that faux-moodiness is the
appeal of Arnett’s performance. They’ll probably turn Cera into a rebellious
teenager too).
Visually, this is, like its predecessor, an
incredibly busy movie, particularly when it comes to the Day-Glo, technicolour
cavalcade of ADD action that is the climax (it might have been inspired by the filmography
of Stephen Sommers). Perhaps not too much for the microchipped kids, able to
process ever more alarming quantities of information at ever higher rates, but
for the elderly it can be difficult to keep up, best expressed (visually) by
Poison Ivy killing an infinite succession of penguins (not the character)
inserted between her and Batman.
So the six(!) credited writers have done well.
Making a change, Seth Grahame-Smith’s mashup fixation is actually productive, enabling
him to throw any element he can think of at the page, and once the gag writers (Chris
McKenna and Eric Sommers from Community
and American Dad probably had the
most significant input) have bulked it up, he even comes off looking almost
accomplished.
Vocally, Arnett is the business (after
about five minutes of Wayne chilling in his Bat cowl, I thought this might be
intent on reversing the conceit of unmasking the famous lead actor at every
available opportunity), and his Arrested
Development co-star Cera is, as expected, entirely serving and submissive
to the material, while Galifianakis makes for a worthy sparring partner.
Is the Lego movie franchise unstoppable? I’d
guess that depends upon whether it can maintain a broad appeal. As long as they’re
holding screenings full of adults (as mine was), quite probably, but God knows
what LEGO Ninja Hildago Movie (as I want
to call it) will mean to anyone outside of the tots. And it’s always dangerous
to flood the market with movies of the same ilk, unless you’re Marvel and know
what you’re doing. There were points during The
LEGO Batman Movie where I thought they’d surely left nothing in reserve for
The LEGO Batman Returns Movie, so unswerving
was the willingness to throw anything and everything into the pot. But then I
realised that was just foolish. After all, the entire main DC franchise will
probably really have gone down in Bat flames by then, and there’ll be a whole
lot more grist for the Bat mill.
Agree? Disagree? Mildly or vehemently? Let me know in the comments below.
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