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It's difficult to separate Warner Bros.' latest DC animated movie from the fact
that it features Adam West in his final outing as Batman. West's death just a
few months ago saddened fans everywhere. And while the movie can most certainly
stand on its own, beyond serving as a fitting tribute, it excels in bringing us
the '60s Batman at his very best.
The first 1960s Batman animated movie, last year's Return of the Caped
Crusaders, was the first continuation of a TV superhero classic. It delivered on
extremely high expectations, offering up a deceptively charming thesis on the
light and dark of decades of Batman interpretations. Batman vs. Two-Face doesn't
really have to rely on the indulgence of letting you know how much it loves the
glorious camp of the 1966 series. It's considerably less zany for the sake of
zaniness (although that is simply by its own standards, this is still a movie
that's as mad as a hatter). Instead of relying on bringing back oodles and
oodles of familiar faces, it's content to tell a much more manageable story: one
that, just like the Batman '66 comics, lovingly enriches this version of Gotham
with new takes on characters the show never got round to adapting. Batman vs.
Two-Face not only surpasses its predecessor in my view, but it also may very
well be the best DC animated film to be released in 2017.
As you might have guessed from the title, the character brought to 1966 this
time around is Harvey Dent, the Gotham DA turned maddened criminal villain whose
mood can turn with the flip of a coin, and played to perfection by William
Shatner. Shatner doesn't, as you might expect, give a wildly over-the-top
performance; he's surprisingly nuanced one as both sides of Harvey. That said,
this movie does include an excellently silly conversation where Shatner has a
spirited conversation with himself in his two Harvey voices. Alongside a
suitably Batman '66 re-imagining of Dent's origin story that involves Hugo
Strange and a suitably-labled "Evil Extractor," Shatner's Harvey sits at the
core of Batman vs. Two-Face. The film delves into the fear a supposedly-cured
Dent feels that his darker impulses could rise up again (spoilers: of course
they do, or this movie wouldn't happen).
Although there are a few distractions along the way -- in the form of delightful
yet brief stints with two classic Batman '66 villains, Victor Buono's King Tut
(now voiced by Wally Wingert) and Roddy McDowall's Bookworm (Jeff Bergman) --
Harvey's plight and his re-emergence as Two-Face serve as the emotional backbone
of the film. Shatner's performance matches an equally measured and nuanced one
from West, both as Batman and as Bruce Wayne struggling to be there for his
ailing friend. And while yes, West is still best as that endearing straight edge
to the inherent absurdity of the world of Batman '66, the quieter moments of
this movie paint a fuller picture of his Batman, and are made heart-wrenching in
the context of his passing.
But while more subdued than its predecessor, and more focused on the expansion
beyond the typical sort of stories that made Batman '66 a beloved icon, that's
not to say that Batman vs. Two-Face is an entirely too self-serious film. It is
still keenly aware of its kitschy trappings, and is just as capable of reveling
in the theatrics of, say, a sequence where Batman and Robin are chased through a
giant pool table, or gags like Harvey wanting Bruce to supper a charity for
"Underprivileged Fraternal Twins." ("The stigma of being the less attractive
twin is a burden nobody should have to bear," West adds, in an earnest delivery
so perfectly deadpan it might just be the best line of the movie). This time
around, the ethos of Batman '66 gets displayed through brief cameos and a sense
of style, rather than throwing as much as it can on the table. Like Return of
the Caped Crusaders before it, Batman vs. Two-Face deeply loves and respects
what the decades-old TV adaptation did for the world's greatest detective.
And really, that's what makes Batman vs. Two-Face such a strong film, and a sad
one with the context of West's death. It's silly enough to embrace the camp
hysteria of Batman '66, while also lovingly aware that leaning on wackiness
shouldn't be an excuse to get away with weightless storytelling. Through the
excellent performances of Shatner and West -- that, frankly, belie their ages in
a way neither Julie Newmar or Burt Ward's performances as Catwoman and Robin
ever quite can -- Batman vs. Two-Face gains a great heart to match its goofier
aspects, with the two coming together to make for a thoroughly enjoyable 70
minutes.
Recently, Burt Ward told press that if Batman vs. Two-Face goes down well, we
could get more movies in the Batman '66 universe. But as much as it pains me to
say it, I'd be happy closing the door on this wonderfully bold and bright-eyed
take on Gotham City for good with Batman vs. Two-Face. It stands as the finest
parting gift you could give Adam West's Batman: it's not a greatest hits
collection of his finest moments, but instead one final, excellent story that
shows us not just the endless appeal of Batman '66's world, but why West's
absence leaves such a monumental gap in the Bat-Pantheon in his place. |
