In the Shadow of a Dark (K)Night

Movie Review – The Batman

Mise En Scene(5/5) – Many well constructed images, the jump from the top of police headquarters among them.

Cinematography Score(9.5/10) – The sets were usually in low light but the images were always crisp. A few less headlight closeups would have been nice.

Sound Score(10/10) The soundtrack reinforced the mood of the story. Also some good use of low frequencies that amplified the sense of menace in the film.

Catwoman Score(5/5) Good performance by Kravitz. The first totally non-oppositional Catwoman we’ve had in the movies.

Film Noir/Horror/Thriller Score(9.5/10) The film had a good, dark look. The violence was creepy without being over-the-top gory. It did seem to rain a lot though.

Fight Scenes Score(4/5) This is a problem in a lot of films. A character like Batman hits you once and you’re out. Films want to prolong these fight scenes for the sake of movement but that’s not realistic.

World’s Darkest Detective Score(9.5/10) This is something the other movies were missing, a mystery to solve. Batman did seem to figure out the Riddler’s riddles too quickly though.

Riddler Score(10/20) Film making decisions have consequences. Spielberg’s decision to remake West Side Story invites comparison to the original. Any decision to make a Batman movie will invite comparisons to “The Dark Knight.” And any Batman villain will be compared to Heath Ledger’s Joker. In my opinion, Dano’s Riddler falls short. This isn’t much of a criticism since I think Ledger’s performance is one of the top 25 acting jobs of all time. Dano delivers a hyper-level of energy in his Arkham scene but Heath’s Joker was an archetypal menace. Where Riddler is after revenge, a pretty common motive, Joker wanted to watch the world burn, corruption for the sake of corruption. From the opening bank heist to the disappearing pencil to the burning mountain of money to the “Do You Want To Know How I Got These Scars” running gag to the exploding hospital to the reversed hostages-and-hostage-takers to the reversed Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent The Joker went to depths no villain(except Scottie Ferguson) had ever gone.

Gritty Darkness Score(6/10) So, yes, this film sounded and looked dark. But, again, one can’t help but be reminded that The Dark Knight was something more, a film that “was” dark even when it didn’t “look” dark. The Joker can blow up a hospital in the light of day but that’s still a dark moment.

Story Score(10/10) One thing I enjoyed about the story was the fact that Batman is still relatively new to his crime fighting role in Gotham City. He still doesn’t have the trust, or the complete cooperation, of the police.

Remake Score(2/5) I was initially perturbed at the 3rd reboot of Spider Man(Homecoming.) But they eventually justified that with No Way Home. Perhaps this reboot will eventually attain similar heights. But, for now, it remains(for me, at least) a good film which I can’t help but be reminded, isn’t a great film.

80.5/100

Even If…

MercyMe surprised me.

My musical/christian music tastes tend to run more in the classic rock/progressive rock direction(Kansas, The Who, Mark Heard, The 77’s, DC Talk, etc.) But MercyMe was playing nearby and my wife wanted to see them. And I wanted to go with her.

So here I was at Addition Arena wondering how long the night might seem. But, from the first notes, the evening was enjoyable. MercyMe, as all bands do, was promoting their most recent album so most concert offerings were from that album. The songs they chose, and the backing videos they had created, were fun tunes. And I was pleasantly surprised that they waited 4 songs before stopping to speak. Some CCM acts are infamous for talking more than they sing(nobody comes to hear these guys preach.) When he did speak Bart Millard, the lead vocalist and frontman, was worth listening to(which, in my experience, has not usually been the case at CCM concerts.) He did a genuinely funny bit about the band’s decision to include a disco song on the recent album. He even faked us out and made us think Gloria Gaynor was there in the arena to sing her vocal part on the song. Millard has genuinely good comic timing. A later monologue sequed into the acoustic set with a replica of the fire pit around which the band frequently gathers(complete with real fire.)

The second highest point of the evening wasn’t even musical. Mark Stuart, the former lead singer for Audio Adrenaline, spoke between sets(there were 2 lead in acts) about his missionary work in Haiti, particularly in regard to helping needy children find adoptive parents. He shared that their best experience in this work involved a baby girl who had been “thrown away” by her 14 year old mom immediately after her birth. In Haiti if a child’s parents cannot afford to support him or her the baby is either given away, sold(into slavery) or thrown away, sometimes in an outhouse toilet. This was the fate of the baby girl about which Mark spoke. Her 14 year old mom dropped her into a 30 foot deep outhouse toilet. And there she would have died had it not been for a 14 year old boy who saw what happened. He grabbed a UN soldier and the two of them, and some other passersby, braved the depths of that toilet to rescue her. A group member with a flipphone video’d her emergence from the toilet depths, wrapped in a plastic bag for the 30 foot ascent. As if this all weren’t dramatic enough what Mark said next really hit me, “The best part of this whole story is that I get to be this little girls father!” Yes, he and his wife had adopted that baby, who is now 15. She walked out on stage and spoke in behalf of the children that Mark is helping. They connected this all to MercyMe’s song “Say I Won’t” which the band played during their set.

The high point of the evening was all about musical quality. The only song of MercyMe’s that I knew was “I Can Only Imagine”, their big hit. But, after leading the audience in a verse of “It is Well With My Soul” the band played “Even If” from their “Lifer” album. It deals with the same theme as the hymn. Well, sometimes the way a writer expresses a thought just totally connects with you and the way Millard expressed his thoughts here really hit me. So I found myself in a situation I thought I would never experience, crying at a MercyMe concert. Surprising but not shocking I guess. I’ve cried singing “It is Well With My Soul”, I’ve cried listening to Michael Card’s “The Job Suite”, and I cried here. It’s a powerful theme and Millard does an excellent job with it.

I know what I like but I’m glad I’m not too old to be surprised. Not yet, anyway.