Review of Batman: City of Scars
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Watch the video above if you haven’t seen Aaron Schoenke’s Batman: City of Scars. Below is my short review on the 30 minute feature. You saw it? Good, now read below:
Spoiler Alert!
On the positive side: I enjoyed Kevin Porter’s role as Batman. The camera work, especially with the fight scenes were very well done and I think I enjoyed the fight choreography better than what I’ve seen in Nolan’s work. However what ruined this movie for me is the death of the Joker and whether his death at the hands of a child is something that Batman himself would have done. Such doubts kill the idea of what the Joker represents in the Batman mythos.
The Joker is a symbol of the line Batman can never cross. Should a man be a killer to stop a killer? What becomes of the man once he kills for justice? These type of questions Batman faces every time he meets the Joker. Will the Joker drive Batman to a point that even Batman can’t escape from? This type of moral dilemma we can relate to when we watch the news and see a killer go free or get caught. Such debates have led to the sanction and repeal (and vice versa) of the death penalty in many states. Would you stop a killer by murdering him or her? And if you do, what becomes of yourself? Will you grow to like it? Will you grow cold? Or would nothing change at all? This type of question is what makes the Joker character in Batman so interesting to us.
Part of the appeal of Batman is his rogues’ gallery. Not even Spider-man and the X-men combined have a better and more interesting gallery of villains than Batman. If we take that away, what would we have left of? I couldn’t help by the end of the short film feeling unsatisfied. If the filmmaker had a different perspective or point to make at the end of the film, I have failed to see it. All we have is a Batman doubting his means of effectiveness, and to me that is not Batman.
Ok, granting that this was a fan film, and therefor3e had a limited budget, I still think that was the best Batman live-action film to date. Kevin Porter’s voice was the closest I’ve heard to Kevin Conroy’s, the quintessential Batman voice from the Cartoon. and all around, i think the characters and voices were better and closer to that of the cartoons’, which i think was the best representation to come off the page. Excellent! A+. 5 stars. the best fan film I’ve seen yet.