THE DEATH OF BATMAN
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review written 9/8/2003

The Caped Crusader became very popular in the fan films world after Dead End, and once again has been given an impressive effort.

The opening credits font (New York, right?) is just a little too simple, but at least it's a tasteful serif typeface. And I like the title screen, and the opening news sequence looks very professional. A news report is a fine way to introduce exposition.

Evildoing ensues in a nice dark location. And, holy crap, Batman looks awesome. I mean, wow. I want a suit like that. He's even got the right voice and the right chin. Christopher Stapleton is an excellent Dark Knight.

I like the use of the giant shadow on the wall, and how the rights to the larger shadow fall to the thug who defeats him. It's a strong visual and it supports the story. I'm less thrilled with the Christ-on-the-crucifix imagery, not out of offense, but simply because I think it's a too-glaring attempt to seem deep.

Now, clearly this is a professional sort of production; I wouldn't dream of judging this on the standards of the sort of thing a few kids might put together behind their friend's house after dark. Come to think of it, it's almost a shame there have been no truly amateur Batman fan films made available (at the time of this writing) to compare this with. Someone get on that.

A very long sequence of Batman hung up on poles while the thug lectures him has been going on while I reflect on production values. This is a surprisingly literate and well-spoken thug. Why is he still a thug with a metal pole? This is the sort of dialogue I might expect from a master villain. Perhaps there have been hints at his identity that I have missed.

I really liked the juxtaposition of the torture scenes with the 'man of the year' report. And it was nice to hear about Bruce Wayne. This is just the sort of thing I like about Batman—the double life of Batman and Bruce, and how sometimes, just to keep both stories moving, we would hear about both their exploits at the same time.

It is amazing to see how haggard and weak Batman looks, conveyed in his makeup, his facial expression, his body language. This keeps me going through a bunch of scenes that are essentially the same thing—thug lecturing Batman and occasionally hitting him with a pole. When Batman speaks—"Coward!"—his eyes enthrall me.

Ah! My questions about the thug are answered. The twist is good, very good.

And then comes a second twist when a gun is fired. It's a brave one, and I applaud the filmmakers for not taking the easy, obvious road. I like the music that accompanies it, too. But it seems false, especially given the previous build-up.

And then, all of a sudden, we fade to white, and the film readjusts on the more obvious path.

I like the cinematography in the church scene (though did we need the last shot of Jesus?), and the closing music. This was a very well-done film, and even when it lagged, it lagged out of a brave choice taken rather than beating the obvious to death. If you'll excuse the pun.