5 Years Later: The Lego Batman Movie

Director: Chris McKay
Starring: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson
Running time: 104 minutes

Somehow, five years have passed since the greatest take on Batman to ever hit the big screen - yes, I said it. The Lego Batman Movie just gets the Caped Crusader, nailing everything that makes the character so iconic. The brooding voice. The commitment to justice. The borderline unhealthy obsession with black… and sometimes very, very dark grey. 

Yet this film does all of this with its tongue firmly placed in its cheek, pointing out the outright absurdity of worshipping a multi-billionaire who dresses up in a bat costume and beats the living daylights out of people - to the point where, for all his talk of never taking a life, he’ll leave certain characters simply wishing they were dead. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, while undoubtedly an incredible piece of filmmaking, is largely joyless and drab, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne proving little more than a relatively bland vessel around which more interesting plotlines revolve. And the less said about Zach Snyder’s run with the World’s Greatest Detective the better. 

The Lego Batman Movie, though, is fun, funny and whip smart. Will Arnett’s take on the lead character is a breath of fresh air, taking the darkness of recent iterations and blending it with the ludicrousness of the sixties TV show. At no point does the film take itself too seriously, showing a clear willingness to make light of the more ridiculous aspects of Batman while underpinning the jokes with a real sense of love and respect for the legacy of one of DC’s most prized assets.

Throughout the movie, Wayne is reluctantly saddled with a new, overly-excitable superfan/sidekick in Michael Cera’s Robin, creating a dynamic which is played to impressive comedic effect. “My name's Richard Grayson, but all the kids at the orphanage call me Dick.” “Well, children can be cruel,” is just the first of a string of amusing exchanges between the pair, as the notoriously uncool Robin is torn apart for laughs. 

Even the villains, of which there are many, fail to escape a taunting, their peculiar traits and illogical methods hilariously made fun of. The Joker’s infatuation with Wayne is the source of so many great gags, including one in which Batman suggests the Clown Prince is not, in fact, his number one enemy. “You're seriously saying that there's nothing special about us?” whimpers the Joker when Bruce drops the truth bomb, in a line excellently delivered by Zach Galifianakis, who is in fine form throughout. It’s entertaining and original stuff in a section of cinema that has already been explored in painstaking detail over the past couple of decades. 

Underneath the humour, though, the important messages that have defined every interpretation of Batman still shine through. Family, responsibility, right versus wrong; these are all explored with surprisingly impactful effectiveness. As the Caped Crusader faces down his enemies and has the chance to either go it alone or put trust in those around him, he’s given a choice loaded with consequences - a gripping narrative device that has become so intertwined with the drama of this character. The script from Seth Grahame-Smith and co may not be as polished and full of surprises as The Lego Movie’s, but it lands emotional blows with an unexpected level of force. 

For too long now, filmmakers have decided to take the super serious, super heavy approach to the Dark Knight, and that looks set to continue with Matt Reeves’ upcoming movie The Batman. Not since Batman Begins has an audience really had an out-and-out blast when he’s on screen. There’s tension, sure, and plenty of jaw-dropping moments. But without an edge of self-awareness, things can all get a little too serious. There’s a balance to be had, and this - while undoubtedly made with children in mind - manages to find it. Okay, The Lego Batman isn’t a masterpiece, and it isn’t truly the best Batman movie in recent years. You’d be mad to suggest as much. Yet it does something that very few others have done for a long, long time - it allows itself to have fun. Just because the lead character dresses like a member of Slipknot, doesn’t mean that's a bad thing. 

Did you know? Morgan Freeman, who appeared in the Dark Knight trilogy and The Lego Movie (2014), said that Batman in the latter is his favorite incarnation of the character.