Geektoberfest Day 11: Batman vs. Two-Face

Posted on by The Beard
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A quick review

BATMAN VS. TWO-FACE is a 2017 direct-to-video production by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is based on the 1966 BATMAN TV series and Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar reprise their roles as Batman, Robin, and Catwoman respectively.

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The film begins with Dr. Hugo Strange attempting to extract the essence of evil from the Batman villains – Joker, Penguin, Riddler, etc. – and contain it in a vat. Those on hand to watch include Batman and district attorney Harvey Dent. The villains succeed in overloading the machine – laughing all the while – and it explodes! The liquid essence of evil burns half of Dent’s face and seeps into his body driving him crazy and turning him into the mad Two-Face.

He then goes on a crime spree with Batman and Robin hard-pressed to stop his various nefarious schemes. He is eventually captured, his face is repaired and his insanity seemingly cured, he is allowed to return to his old life as a crusading district attorney.

Batman and Robin fight King Tut and Bookworm but there is another evil player in the shadows. There is a common thread in the crimes – duality – but Two-Face is gone and Dent has reformed. Hasn’t he? Meanwhile, Dent takes a phone call and speaks to Two-Face. After arguing with Batman, Robin gets captured by Two-Face and Dr. Hugo Strange and using the essence of evil as a gas they transform Robin into something evil. Batman is forced to fight his beloved sidekick. Back at the Batcave, Robin is cured. Two-Face captures Batman and Robin and is revealed to in fact be Harvey Dent suffering from split personalities. The villain unmasks Batman and then tries to auction off the hero to the Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, and all the rest of the Batman bad guys. With Catwoman’s help Batman and Robin escape and defeat all the villains but Two-Face gets away. Using a biplane he intends to spray the city with the evil essence gas and turn everyone into his likeness. They manage to shoot Two-Face down into a flaming factory and Batman and Two-Face go at it. At this point Two-Face completely takes over Dent’s body – both sides! Batman manages to appeal to Dent and he succeeds to shaking off the villain finally defeating him. Dent and Batman escape the burning factory.

Months later Dent appears to have completely shaken off his evil persona and returned to his old life. The movie ends with Dent hosting a bachelor auction at Wayne Manor with Batman being the first bachelor.

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Let me say right off the bat that I have never been a big fan of the original Batman TV series. Even at eleven years old I found it silly. I have never been a fan of camp and have always preferred my super-heroes serious or not at all.

Let me go on to say that I am older and wiser now. I am less prone to judge and I am less prone to take myself so serious. In revisiting the BATMAN series I’ve changed my mind and can now appreciate what it was intended to be – fun! In the best sense of the word the series was fun.

Which is why I looked forward to seeing the BATMAN VS. TWO-FACE movie, which promised to be an extension and continuation of the original series. It lived up to that promise in spades and I had a wonderful time watching it.

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THUMBS UP

  • I had always wondered why of all the Batman villains the TV series never used Two-Face. So for me this movie corrected a major flaw. Loved the fact that the bad guy was Two-Face.
  • Oh My God! What a great idea to get William Shatner to play Two-Face and then draw the villain to look like Shatner did in STAR TREK. Brilliant!
  • Wow! Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether are back! Holy Reunion, Batman!
  • Loved the romance between Batman and Catwoman. This was something only hinted at in the original series but here we have Batman visiting Catwoman in prison as a date. Of course the romance was as platonic as you can get but it was still a romance. And the movie ends with a bachelor auction with Batman being the first bachelor and Catwoman making the first bid. Yay!
  • Robin was as annoying as ever. I was afraid they were going to tone him down. Wisely they didn’t.
  • This was Adam West’s final role before he died. The film includes a tribute to him. Well done. He will be missed.
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THUMBS DOWN

  • I’m not sure if this should count as thumbs down. The movie is silly as hell! And if you are a Batman purist and can only accept him as angst-ridden, manic and obsessed then this film, is not for you. Watch BATMAN BEGINS for the umpteenth time and continue turning your brain into tapioca. However, while the silliness of the original series bothered me this movie does not. Quite the opposite. I got the jokes and they made me laugh. The silliness is part of the fun and watching the film was fun! And isn’t that why they call it entertainment?

Tomorrow’s post is all about how the Mustache got into reading books. It is the beginning of another feature called the Reading Sanctum. Please don’t forget to smash that LIKE button if you enjoyed this post. Please comment. We all appreciate a little feedback. We look forward to continue being a place for you to learn and participate in a continuing dialogue about genre entertainment, geek culture, and all the little things in between that make life worth living. See you tomorrow. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

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Published by The Beard

I’m Eliseo Figueroa Jr. and you’re not. I was born in Saint Francis hospital across the street from Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx. I was born there because that was where my mother was and I wanted to be near her. My parents came from Puerto Rico and moved to New York City when they were kids. My dad spoke fluent English – with an accent – but he’d had a stint in the army and had mastered the language. However, he needed a little work on reading and so everyday on the way to work he would buy a comic book and read it on the subway. In those days they were ten cents, a quick read, you could fold them and put them in your pocket, and when you finished you threw them away. Back home my mom would tell my dad to read me a story to put me to sleep. My dad had no desire whatsoever to read me any of my baby books so he read me one of his comic books instead. While other kids dreamed of Mother Goose, the Old Lady who lived in a shoe, or Little Red Riding Hood, I dreamt of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. And this went on for years. When I got older I asked him to give me the comic books. At that point he stopped throwing them out and I had a comic book collection even though I still didn’t know how to read. During the day I would make my mom read me my comics over and over again. I was dying to learn how to read and had been told that you learn to read in first grade. I remember being so excited the first day of school for the first grade. I couldn’t contain myself. I thought it was like magic – poof! – I was going to come back home and be able to read all of my comics. My mom had to sit me down and explain that it was a process. That over time I would learn how to read and by the time I finished the first grade I would be reading. I must say I was disappointed but more determined than ever to master this thing called reading. Over the years my comic collection grew (my dad had to keep building bigger and better shelves) and so did my interests. I mastered reading and went on to read books. I discovered the library where they actually let you borrow books – what a concept! And my interests in literary science fiction and fantasy expanded to include television and movies. Yes, I was and still am a full-blown geek! By the way, I’m the beard in our little duet. I have a goatee and no moustache. In all that time while growing up my dad never once complained. How could he? This was all his fault and he knew it. One time we were in a store where I was purchasing some comics and it all came to twenty bucks. As my dad was paying the man the owner commented on how much I was spending on comic books. My dad’s reply was, “Well, at least he’s not on drugs!” Science fiction, fantasy, horror, secret agents, giant monsters, and more are my drug of choice. Anyone who has ever sat in a darkened theater and has had their heart start racing in excitement as the music to STAR WARS begins to play knows exactly what I mean.