Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!!

I think I’ve waited long enough to finally write about this film. I’ve noticed, if it’s too soon and I put a spoiler warning, no one reads these. I noticed people had read the Alien to Alien Romulus Non-reviews clear up until Alien Romulus and then stopped… and that only had mild spoilers for Romulus at best. No worries.

I feel like I’ve voiced certain thoughts on this film through Non-reviews for other films so maybe I’ll just clear the docket real fast.

I liked most of this film. A young struggling not-fully-into-his-own Bruce Wayne/Batman is a fascinating take. Implying that he’s already dealt with the Joker and is now consulting with him a lá Silence of the Lambs was VERY interesting… or was that just a deleted scene?

I loved the emphasis the film put on criminals and their newfound fear of the shadows because of the Batman. They’re either in the light, visible to everyone, or they go into the shadows where Batman maybe waits. This point was effectively executed. It was probably a bit too dark sometimes though. There’s gotta be a happy medium between a pitch black screen and broad daylight such as what we saw in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and that happy medium is NOT the neon lit Gotham we see in Batman Forever.

Batman Forever holds a special place in my heart simply because of Jim Carey’s involvement. I recognize my kid brain was reacting to “Jim funny man yay” which has nothing to do with Batman.

That’s another interesting ratio though. How real should a superhero movie get? How cartoony should it get? I’ve mentioned several times in other Non-reviews my need for a bit of escapism in films. I know there are some who demand complete realism but those people don’t enjoy superhero movies of any kind, boring weirdos that they are.

The Riddler was just too realistic for me. I’m not expecting him to be the Frank Gorshin inspired Jim Carrey version. Something more akin to Riddler in Batman The Animated Series would have been nice. They really did The Riddler correctly in that show. He was suave and dapper. His plots were very specific to him and his motif. A lurking psychopath in a military-style cold weather mask just didn’t do it for me.

I didn’t care much for Colin Farrell’s Penguin either. He was interesting as the bourgeois gentleman we’ve come to expect. Farrell’s Al Capone-like portrayal makes him seem like just another gangster of which this film and many others is well stocked.

I’m interested to see more in this franchise but it’s not my favorite depiction of anything Batman.

The internet seems to be abuzz with the question “Why did The Riddler start singing Ave Maria when Batman was demanding he tell him what he had planned?”

The fact that Riddler served as a choir boy at the Catholic orphanage has been pointed out. It’s a good background for the character but I sang in a choir once also and I don’t break out into “Oh Happy Day” whenever a masked vigilante is pounding on the glass of my cell.

I have a theory which I’m surprised no one else has pointed out. The Riddler compulsively leaves hints. He can’t help it. It’s how he gets his ego food.

Ave Maria, by Franz Schubert, was first sung as part of a set of six songs from Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake in 1825.

I don’t think the subject of the story is important here, only the title. The Riddler was about to blow the dikes and flood the city. The female mayor-elect was about to hold a convention at a sunk-in amphitheater at the center of the city. In singing Ave Maria, The Riddler was answering Batman’s question. The mayor-elect was literally about to become The Lady of the Lake.

This riddle is never solved in the film, if the riddle it be. So this is just a theory. But I have to wonder:

The Riddler has to be hard to write for. His riddles have to be clever and yet believably solvable. If the solution is too far-fetched it’s just stupid, like Robin concluding “It all happened at sea! C for Catwoman!” in the 1966 film. If his riddles are always solved, even by Batman, then he ultimately doesn’t appear too clever. So maybe the director decided to include a riddle that doesn’t get solved in the film. Maybe he left it unsolved for the audience to figure out years later. That, or I am really good at BSing obscure facts together to make a point.

POSTER ART! Sorry, I’ve been forgetting to put these down here for email readers.