Dying Is Easy

I will repeat: best looking live action Batman ever. These guys should make a Batman movie for WB.

This is a film short without the massive budget needed to make a film feel like a comic book, and yet it does as good a job of capturing the essence of the Dark Knight myth as the original Batman (with Michael Keaton). The Batman looks like a vigilante, not like a film star, as should be, and conveys a genuine sense of menace. The depiction of the Joker is the best ever caught on film. The voice is reminiscent of Mark Hamill's without the cartoonish exaggeration; more of a snake's hiss, while the movements make the voice almost unnecessary. The facial expression, though, is the only one I've seen to capture the lunacy originally inspired by The Man Who Laughed. I very much hope Warner picks up the director going forward with Batman.

High praises to the art dept, make-up, set-design, VFX, and all others that made this LOOK incredible.

The story was ok. My only problem was the way way over-the-top acting, here and there, which gave many scenes a very cheesy vibe. However, Kevin Porter did great, as usual, and even though it was a very small role I actually thought the actress who played Harley Quinn did a better job than Margot Robbie.

The Joker, I'm just not buying. Personally I don't think it was portrayed well but of course that's just my opinion and I'm sure many people would disagree. It's quite clear the actor really cared about the role, however, and that's respectful.

In the end, though, this was purely made by fans for fans and everyone involved seemed to put a ton of work in. I know it's not easy to put together something like this and I must say, certain cheesy scenes aside, definitely the best Batman fan film I've ever seen.

Watching Bat in the Sun short films is compulsory for any superhero fan. Their independent movies and "Super Power Beatriz Down" episodes are usually very well produced and much truer to original characters and comics than most of big budget official superhero blockbusters. Dying is Easy is one of their very best accomplishments (only slightly below City of Scars, in my opinion). There is a good script and story, with nice dialogs and action, wonderful art direction, make-up and CGI, and a perfect portrayal of the characters. Not only the Batman (Kevin Porter, as usual), the Joker (director-producer Aaron Schoenke himself, once more) and detective Bullock (Michael Madsen!) have great performances and are visually awesome, but we may also praise several other bat-villains perfectly portrayed in minor roles.

This is an amazing project that people expecting a $20m budget will hate. The direction, the choreography, everything you need in a Batman story was there. The script could have been tightened up a bit, but that is my only major complaint. Shoutout to them for putting their own spin on a beloved icon.