Batman vs. Two-Face (2017)

Touches You

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

If you were a fan of the 1960s Batman TV show with Adam West, then you will also love this 2017 animated movie. It was very much right on the money, and had captured the essence of that cheesy Batman show from way back when.Sure, it was a hilarious idea about being able to suck the evil out of the villains of Gotham, and it fitted right into that goofy 1960s Batman show.They had some very good voice acting for this animated movie, which really worked well in favor of the overall enjoyment of "Batman vs. Two-Face". And for as an animated movie, then having proper voice acting is a must.I will say that they also had good drawing style and animation, which actually did appeal to make, and it made watching it all the more easy and enjoyable.All in all, "Batman vs. Two-Face" as actually an adequate animated movie and turned out to be rather entertaining.

This is the second Adam West animated feature following Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders(2016). This animated feature shows In Loving Memory Of Adam West(1928-2017) at the end of the end-credits.Adam West is the first actor to ever play the role of Batman in a live action TV series. Before Christian Bale, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, and Michael Keaton - Adam West played the original Batman during 1966-1968.West acted along with fellow actors Burt Ward who played Robin, Cesar Romano as The Joker, Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, Lee Meriwether as Catwoman(later played by Julie Newmar) and Alan Napier as Alfred Pennyworth Batman's personal butler and friend who keeps Batman's identity a secret along with Commissioner Gordon played by Neil Hamilton.Plot: Batman and Robin are invited to a top-secret demonstration hosted by Professor Hugo Strange and his assistant Dr. Harleen Quinzel that may eventually change the future of Gotham forever. Along the way, Batman takes a stop at Gotham State Penitentiary to visit Catwoman (whose suicide attempt from the first movie somehow failed) to give her a book on poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This is something to keep her occupied for the next 36 months of her life until she is let out of prison for good. At the laboratory, they meet district attorney and Bruce Wayne's ally in the war against crime Harvey Dent who is famous for having stopped a coin counterfeit while keeping a two faced quarter as a souvenir from the case.Hugo Strange believes that good and evil are all but one-sided and has created an "Evil Extractor" to which the volunteering criminals Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Egghead, and Mr. Freeze, will be purified of their corruption. Batman bluffs it off, saying that there are no easy fixes to the straight and narrow path, but Strange conducts his experiment anyway, despite the fact that it will make the jobs of Batman, Robin and Harvey obsolete. All goes well until the Joker entices his compatriots to overload the machine....Verdict: if you are fond of corny 60's style dialogue be my guest- my personal experience tells me after watching this one till the end, my brain turned into a jelly doughnut.You want to watch better Batman animated movies? Have a look at these: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm(1993), The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest(1997), The Batman vs. Dracula(2005), Superman/Batman: Public Enemies(2009), Batman: Under the Red Hood(2010), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1(2012), Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants(2016).Thanks for reading my review. Live a long and happy life and prosper.

In the hearts of some, maybe even all, Batman fans, Adam West will always hold a cherished place. I remember as a kid tuning in to a few reruns of the series that had started just under two decades before I was born. For my money, Adam West will always be the best Batman. Despite the campiness around him, West's deadpan delivery was so perfect that he could convey his love for justice with a ridiculous eulogy for an "almost human porpoise" as much as Christian Bale could with an entire "It's not who I am under the mask" monologue.Perhaps in direct response to that dark and gritty reboot, there's been renewed interest in the 60's series. The comic book series "Batman '66" imagines a continuation of the TV series that includes villains it never got around to, including psychedelic re-imaginings of characters that weren't even introduced until decades later. Last year's animated film "Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders" breathed new life into the concept by bringing in the voice talents of the West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar, with the rest of the familiar characters resurrected through loving imitations by modern impressionists. That movie not only was a pitch-perfect extension of the '66 series, but brilliant satirized just how much darker the portrayal of the "Dark Knight" has become ever since. Earlier this year, we lost our contrasting "Bright Knight" when Adam West passed away, but not before lending his voice to a sequel."Batman Vs. Two-Face" doesn't satirize like its predecessor, but fully embraces the original series' campiness, with one concession: the inclusion of a villain considered too dark and gritty for the series at the time. Acccording to legend, Clint Eastwood was all set to take on the role of Two-Face before studio execs thought he'd scare off young viewers and put the kibosh on it. In "Batman Vs. Two-Face", Professor Hugo Strange, another villain who never appeared on the TV series, is working on an "evil extractor" to rehabilitate Gotham's greatest criminals. He's aided by another now- popular villain, one not created until the early 90's, in a cameo role. Strange, naturally, is portrayed with an impersonation of the German mad scientist voice Peter Sellers perfected for "Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." Unfortunately for Strange, his assistant, and Gotham City District Attorney Harvery Dent, Batman's greatest enemies have the ability to raise their evilness on command and, through their combined malevolent cackling, cause the devise to overload, splashing the D.A.'s face with the liquid manifestation of evil and transforming him physically and mentally into Two-Face.The opening credits montage shows Batman and Robin waging war on Two-Face as if he were just another villain on the bi-weekly roster of the series. When we return to the film proper, Bruce Wayne has found a way to restore Dent's face as well as his law career. But when King Tut and Book Worm, two villains who existed solely in the universe of the TV series, pull off heists with all of the trademarks of Two-Face's plots, Batman and Robin have to try to figure out how Two-Face can co-exist with the seemingly cured Harvey. It's a mystery with a simple solution, but the movie's not about detective work: it's about revisiting a Gotham where the swinging 60's never ended, and where the police force exists only to toggle the Bat Signal on and off, because they wouldn't know how to bring a jaywalker to justice without the intervention of the Dynamic Duo.Sorry, Clint, but William Shatner should have always been the first choice for Two-Face. Not only was he a familiar face on TV screens of that era, but no one else shared Adam West's love for the dramatic pause the way he does. He makes the menacing villain gel well with the campy universe, his distinctive cadence fits the squeaky-clean prosecutor, while he adds just a little bit of a growl to portray the darker aspects of the character. And there will never, ever be another Adam West. Only he could make a visit to the window of Catwoman's prison cell to share a kiss, read some poetry, and remind her how many months are left until her debt to society is paid seem so endearing.Youthful ward Dick Grayson's maternal aunt gets giddy at how intimate Bruce and Dick seem, winking and nudging at rumors about the relationship that have persisted since the 60's, but she also gets giddy seeing Bruce and Harvey together, at one point all but pressing their faces together and telling them to start making out. Taking from other popular adaptations of the Two-Face character, Bruce and Harvey are portrayed as being old friends, in spite of the fact that the D.A. never even got a namedrop in the original series. It makes for a sort of love triangle between Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, and Dick Grayson, and pays off with a sweet little moment of Batman declaring just how rock solid his relationship with the Boy Wonder is.Always leave 'em wanting more. It's sad for me to think of what might have been. If only someone had the brilliant idea of bringing Adam West and Burt Ward in to revisit the classic series in animated form earlier, we may have been able to witness the two squaring off against Poison Ivy or Scarecrow or Harley Quinn. But, as it is, this is as good of a sendoff as our Bright Knight could ever have asked for.

Anyone old enough to remember the original 60's Batman TV series will love this. It's great that this movie mirrors the 60's show i.e. it has the old batmobile and even better the voices of Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar as Catwoman. Another former Catwoman Lee Meriwether also has a small part. William Shatner does an excellent job as Dent/Two face and the whole movie embraces the tongue in cheek wackiness of the original series. This must've been one of the last projects Adam West was involved in prior to his death. All I can say is that he went out on a high.