Batman: Dead End

It's about time someone tried to do something with Batman, if Warner won't. It combines three movies I think fans would love to see, though because of this it suffers from lack of time. Very cool idea, it leaves a lot up to the imagination as to how it began or how it ends, or what happens to certain other villians. I thought the villians costumes looked amazing, I assume someone broke into the Fox props department for those. This was short, but darker than even Burton's first Batman movie, though this one relies a little heavy on his script, at least at first. The directing was great, too, there were several well composed shots, which says a lot about an 8 minute film. I loved the fact that Bats was in his classic black and grey costume, which was made of cloth and not rubber. If you have the disk space and the time to DL this, you won't be disappointed.

Perhaps Joel Schumacher would be willing to take pointers from Sandy Collora on film direction, but I doubt his ego would permit him to even consider it. This 8 minute masterpiece is how the 3rd and 4th "Batman" films should have looked, and more importantly, FELT, had someone with a sense of what the character was all about were in charge. Unfortunately, we were saddled with Mr. Schumacher who is under the impression that silly comic relief; ridiculous gadgets and unnecessary explosions make for a good film. It is my sincerest hope that the powers that be in Hollywood take notice of this little gem and allow Sandy Collora a chance to direct the 5th Batman film before it too is ruined before it even hits the screens.

Hearing constant kudos and praise for this short fan film, my interest was piqued. Just being a fan film that one of the few that is NOT about Star Wars is enough to recommend it. Seeing Batman take on an alien as well as Predators is fun in an ultra geeky way and for the money spent, it IS quite a nice looking and polished film. On a whole, I did enjoy it. The one thing that didn't work for me in the least was the casting of Boner from "Growing Pains" as the Joker. Listen, the guy has had NO work since that show for a reason. He just can not act and brings the short to a grinding halt almost before it truly begins. But as I said, it's a huge nerdy Geekgasm after the Joker is out of the picture.

My Grade: B

When you go into these fan made shorts it's hard to have any hope that they will deliver. How do you make something like Batman with a non-existent budget?

Standing at around the eight minute mark this short see's Batman hunting down the Joker on the streets of Gotham. Newly broken out of Arkham Asylum he isn't the only thing that hides in the darkness.

As hard as it is to believe but this is Batman vs Joker vs Aliens vs Predator and it looks fantastic! The sfx are considerably better than you'd expect and the whole thing is constructed so well I'm genuinely upset there isn't a feature length movie.

I'd consider this a must watch for Batman fans and would love to see more by these guys.

The Good:

Looks amazing

Great concept

The Bad:

Batmans costume looks naff

Things I Learnt From This Short:

If fans can make this masterpiece then what's the excuse for Batman vs Superman?

Don't expect a crappy little amateur film. "Batman: Dead End" puts some of the superhero movies made these days till shame.

The style and atmosphere is even darker and more sinister then in the 2 Tim Burton Batman movies. You can say that "Batman: Dead End" is a more daring movie. The movie shows how the makers can handle several styles and it's the crew that really deserves credit. Everything works perfect especially the cinematography.

But let's not forget the cast. Clark Bartram is actually a very convincing Batman (Better then Val Kilmer and George Clooney anyway) and Andrew Koenig is the perfect Joker his character is actually much more different then from the original movie in a good way. The character is more sinister and psychotic in a scary way instead of an entertaining. The characters are much more closer then the ones from the comic books.

Sure the story is just beyond silly but that's not the point, the crew really showed how they can handle different moments and styles. This little film is filled with wonderful little moments and is a shear pleasure to watch.

Awesome fights, great make-up, wonderful costumes, excellent directing, great cast, most excellent cinematography and a great and daring atmosphere and style, what is there not to like?

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/