I had the chance to watch Fifty Shades Darker, but I didn't, can't imagine what informed that decision, instead I just decided to watch The Lego Batman Movie again, after all, when I go to the desk asking for a cinema ticket, better an animated film about a toy brand than a cheesy porno romance with all of the cringe and none of the sexy, let's go.
The film got me right from the first second, literally, as Batman mocks the style of epic movies, while being every bit as narcissistic as he was in The Lego Movie, before a cool plane hijacking and an awesome battle in a power plant between Batman and more Batman villains than I could count. Just like the first Lego Movie, this film loves to take the piss of the licences it's using, and this time it has Batman and DC comics to play with, leading to two very subtle jokes at the very beginning of the film that were unbearably funny, seriously, I was dying laughing. Being as satirical as it is, it pulls from a huge amount of Batman's history, and mocks various things, from Tom Hardy's Bane, to Batman and Robin, and some really funny pokes at the 1960's TV series with Adam West. But despite being a complete piss take of everything Batman, The Lego Batman Movie still manages to tell a very interesting story, one that, like its predecessor, goes to some very interesting and mature places, and while it goes to different places, and loses some of the emotional weight of the first film, it makes up for it with it's really good Batman story. Batman is, as you'd expect, the star of the film, and like I said before, he's every bit as egotistical as before, constantly feeling the need to remind everyone that he's Batman and that Batman's awesome, this could very easily have been annoying, but it isn't, instead it's a brilliantly satirical take of Batman. But like all Batmans, this one has a lot of trouble dealing with his emotions, and it's actually depressing to see how lonely he is in this film, literally how lonely it is with just him and Alfred in his massive island mansion, and it lends a lot of sense to his narcissism, making for a surprisingly interesting and deep character. His life looks like it might be brightening up with Robin, who also suffers from intense loneliness, and struggles to deal with the loss of his parents. But, very adorably, he absolutely idolises Batman, and is ecstatic about finally having a father figure in his life, and getting to help his hero fight crime. His energy and naivety works well with Batman's gruff talking lone wolf attitude, and the pair of them bring out the more interesting elements of their characters. Alfred serves a similar role to Batman that Batman serves to Robin, being the parental figure in his life, but is constantly getting protest from Batman, who sees him as overbearing and restrictive, when all he wants is what's best for Batman. In an interesting reverse of Robin, Barbara also idolises Batman, but sees his unlawful law enforcement as outdated and ineffective, and seeks to make a real change in Gotham, much to Batman's disapproval, it's also very funny that Batman seems to idolise her, and it's cute to see her slowly become a part of his family. What's weird is how interesting the Joker is, as his character is an exploration of the Yin and Yang, the duality of Batman and Joker, and the need the two have for one another, it's handled in a very funny way however, as Joker almost wants it to be a relationship, wanting Batman to admit that he's his greatest enemy to try and validate his own existence, and it makes Joker a surprisingly sympathetic character, as this flaw in his character motivates his evil schemes. While not as serious as The Dark Knight or as morbid as Batman, The Lego Batman Movie still tells a very emotional and interesting story, while having a great sense of humour and loads and loads of references.
Like The Lego Movie before it, this film has a relentless script, with jokes coming fast and hard for the majority of the film, including some stabs at Batman's previous theatrical outings that are decently hidden, and massively funny when you pick up on them, with some highlights coming from its fun with the 1960's series. It also deploys a huge number of Batman's villains, ranging from well known ones like Riddler and Catwoman, through to obscure ones like Calendar Man and Condiment King, even with someone joking that villains like them and Kite man sound made up. In addition to Batman's villains, both famous and obscure, just like the first film, this film is filled to the brim with appearances of other famous characters, this time with the Joker assembling a team of the world's most evil super villains, similar to the team of Master builders from the first Lego Movie, and it's awesome to see these characters, and to see them teaming up to do evil together. Speaking of Master Builders, Batman in this film is still a Master Builder, and can still take his surroundings and turn them into cool gadgets and vehicles like his Quadruped city scaling Scuttler, and while it's less important here than in The Lego Movie, it's still cool to see. What's also cool to see is action, and this film has lots of it, opening with a huge action scene, and past a certain point being nothing but action until its conclusion. There's just one bothersome point in the film, where things just slow down, and the action takes a backseat to character development and development of this film's family theme, and while it does make sense to do this, when the rest of the film is so fast, this moment where it slows down feels like it really slows down, it actually kind of drags on until Joker makes his move, and the film gets back to its normal speed. This is also a Lego movie, so it's all Lego, just like The Lego Movie, and the aesthetic of this animation is still awesome, it's cool to see this world built out of bricks and plates, and to see the mini figures going about their days, with the same perfectly imperfect animation, though I noticed more elemental effects in this film like water and mist not carrying on the Lego aesthetic, but it's something that can easily be overlooked, and other effects like fire and gun shots are still done in Lego. And while this film is very definitely meta and self referential, it doesn't take it as far as the first Lego Movie, with the big emotional punch of that film's conclusion replaced with this film's own themes, and the big reveal of the first film left pretty much ignored.
All in all, while I can admit this film has more failings than the first Lego Movie, and drops a lot of what worked in that film, it replaces it with its own stuff that works equally as well, and makes for an equally interesting and emotional, if less meta, story. Film definitely has a huge amount of fun with its source material though, pulling from both the good and the bad of Batman's history, and having a good laugh at it all, while also pulling from other licenses like its predecessor. The film also provides a roster of far more interesting characters, including a surprisingly well developed hero and an excellent villain, and the film ramps up the chaos, with more exciting action sequences, which do eventually make up for the very slow point the film definitely has. While I didn't find myself loving The Lego Movie like many people did, I did find myself loving The Lego Batman Movie, and it's definitely a must watch.
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