Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
Not long ago, I looked at the state of the Marvel movies in cinemas. The DC universe began much earlier with the 1960s TV adaptation of Batman bringing the character to mass audiences. That was continued in 1978 with the appearance of Superman on the big screen. The rich and varied history of the DC characters is impressive, but in the wake of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warner Bros. has tried mightily to replicate that success, but looking back at the best DC films, it becomes clear that with a few exceptions, the modern content can’t hold a candle to that of the past. In anticipation of the umpteenth reboot of the Batman character for the big screen, I take a look back at the best DC films, only two of which come from the current DCEU and neither of those fit well within that, so let’s get into it.
Superman (1978)
From a pure iconography perspective, Richard Donner’s 1978 adaptation of Superman is a significant achievement in cinema. It’s also a rousing adventure. Although the character of Superman had been adapted a handful of times before, the big screen had never gotten its own version of the superhero until this film, co-written by The Godfather author Mario Puzo alongside Bonnie & Clyde scribes Robert Benton and David Newman, with Leslie Newman also contributing.
John Williams had already become a household name thanks to his work on Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, he proved his ability to write catchy and memorable themes with his work on this film. It’s one of the most recognizable tracks in cinema history and is better than nearly every other superhero score ever written with his strongest competition coming up next on the list. What really made this action film fly was Christopher Reeve in the role of heroic Superman and his mild-mannered alter-ego Clark Kent. His humanity and charisma aided immeasurably in selling the film. While Gene Hackman as the supervillain Lex Luthor and Margot Kidder as Superman’s paramour Lois Lane helped add additional weight to the film. That can also be said of actors Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, and Valerie Perrine who each made the most of minor characters.
No Original Review Available.
Batman (1989)
Saying that Williams has competition for the best superhero composer of all-time is no boast as Danny Elfman gave us his signature style in most outstanding fashion with his work on Tim Burton’s wonderful incarnation of Batman. Up to this adaptation, Batman had been seen entirely on the small screen and in comics, but Burton brought the caped crusader into theaters with his own brand of twisted energy, a completely fitting style for the dark, gothic nature of Gotham City.
Once again, the lead in the film helped give the picture its teeth. Michael Keaton introduced us to the first serious and compelling Batman and his unassuming secret identity, Bruce Wayne. Keaton was almost bested by Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but Keaton stands just above as the best we’ve yet seen. Kim Basinger plays a wonderful romantic lead as Vicki Vale, the intrepid reporter wanting to unmask the street-roaming vigilante. Several other prominent actors graced the film, including Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance, but the actor everyone remembers best from the film is Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s trademark psychotic personality fit perfectly with Batman’s chief villain, Joker. Add it all together and you have a wonderful, unforgettable experience.
No Original Review Available.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Speaking of Christopher Nolan, he tried his own hand at giving the Dark Knight a new lease on life in the grimmer, more visceral Batman Begins, but it was his 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, that really changed the conversation. Bale was still his protagonist, but with the first film’s Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watanbe) vanquished, we once again returned to everyone’s favorite Batman villain, Joker. This time, the role was handed off to Heath Ledger, who had already shown his range of talent with his Oscar-nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain, but he redefined the character with his gripping, unhinged performance in this film.
Winning the Oscar for his work, Ledger isn’t the only element of Nolan’s second film that merits acclaim. The film itself is a fantastic, haunting effort that took the character and the grimy Gotham City into even darker territory. If 1989’s Batman had given a new, darker tone from the television comedy of the 1960s, this film made Burton’s film look a bit like Candyland by comparison. Both films have a deserving place in our hearts as the best incarnations of the Batman/Bruce Wayne character, though there is always room for new and more interesting attempts as well.
Wonder Woman (2017)
Having exhausted the pre-DC Extended Universe slate of comic adaptation, we move into a central figure of the current DCEU, Wonder Woman. Previously filmed as a popular TV show starring Linda Carter, Diana Prince was brought into the DCEU earlier, but it was this 2017 stand alone drama from director Patty Jenkins that has stood out the best among the current crop of DCEU films. With Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the leading role, audiences are taken back in time to World War II where Diana leaves the isolated Amazonian home island of Themiscyra and joins shot-down pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) in 1940s Europe where she’s set to the task of keeping World War II from devolving into a war that would threaten her home as well as the lives of others on planet Earth.
Gadot is an affable lead and Pine is at his least grating in the film. They are ably supported by David Thewlis, Lucy Davis, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, and Danny Huston. While Jenkins employed the darker tone of the current DCEU in her film, she infused the effort with wit, charm, and hope, something seldom seen before or since in the DCEU. That’s part of what made her vision of Wonder Woman such a success. It’s a rousing story with plenty of comic book-level adventures to enthuse the audience, but Jenkins’ astute skills behind the camera helped guide the full production to its wonder-filled conclusion.
Birds of Prey (2020)
Although Birds of Prey is ostensibly a part of the DCEU, the film sits as something of a stand alone adventure for Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) who had been previously introduced as Joker’s put-upon moll in 2016’s Suicide Squad. Having been mentally abused by Joker for most of her post-professional life, Quinn finally gets to claim her independence in this Cathy Yan-directed feature. As feminist a film as you’re likely to ever see in the DCEU, Yan’s film clearly takes some of its inspiration from Burton’s Batman. The colorful and suggestive amusement park that plays a major role in the near-final combat sequence in the film looks like something Burton’s strange mind might have come up with.
While the periphery of the film is that dark and gloomy Gotham environs we’ve become familiar with in the DCEU, Yan’s production team infuses the picture with color and creative chutzpah bring audiences fully in tune with its zany, charmingly psychotic lead. Robbie was born to play this role and although she still doesn’t use the Joisey accent the character is known to use, it’s nevertheless a sensational performance. Robbie is joined by a wonderfully talented cast of actors including Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, and Ali Wong. If Harley can be considered an antihero in her emergence into independence outside of the Joker’s villainy, what does that say about the deliciously evil Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis. McGregor is likewise terrific and plays the foil well, though credit should also be given to his sidekick Victor Zsasz, a vicious serial killer of women brought to creepy life by Chris Messina.
While some have blanched at the film’s overt pro-feminist agenda, that’s all the better as this film stands out marvelously in a traditional, male-dominated superhero landscape. It’s loudly-announced desire to give Harley, and thereby every other female character in a comic book universe, her own voice and her own self-determination is needed. That’s a terrific way to redefine the genre and Yan does it beautifully.
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