‘The Lego Batman Movie’ Extended TV Spot Introduces the Very Extensive Rogues GalleryPosted on Monday, December 12th, 2016 by Angie HanPerhaps no superhero has as famous a rogues gallery as Batman, who seems to attract baddies by the bucketful. (It’s almost like patrolling alleyways dressed as a bat isn’t the most effective way for a billionaire to fight crime.) So now that the tiny plastic version of Batman is getting his own spinoff, The Lego Batman Movie, it’s only natural that his tiny plastic archnemeses are also coming along for the ride. The new Lego Batman Movie extended TV spot introduces a whole bunch of them, including the Joker, Bane, King Shark, Scarecrow, and so, so many more. Plenty of Batman stories have explored the twisted, almost codependent relationship between Batman and Joker. But I’ve never seen one that ends with the Joker choking back real tears because Batman refuses to admit that what they have is special. Well played, The Lego Batman movie.
Galifianakis sounds perfectly cast as the Joker, and I bet he didn’t even have to send Will Arnett a dead pig to get into character.But the Joker isn’t the only Bat-baddie that comes out to play in The Lego Batman Movie extended TV spot. Joker rattles off a whole roster of classic Batman supervillains, including the Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, Gentleman Ghost, Calendar Man, and the Condiment King. And nope, he really isn’t making those up. Director Chris McKay wasn’t kidding when he promised to “go deep into the Batman rogues gallery.”The Lego Batman Movie drops into theaters February 10, 2017. It also features the voices of Michael Cera as Robin, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth, Rosario Dawson as Batgirl, Mariah Carey as Mayor McCaskill, Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn, and Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face.In the irreverent spirit of fun that made The LEGO® Movie a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble—LEGO Batman—stars in his own big-screen adventure.
But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up. Cool Posts From Around the Web: ZergNet on February 11, 2017 at 7:17 AM, updated Heath Ledger's legendary Joker in "The Dark Knight" emphatically nailed Batman by hissing three razor-sharp words: "Why so serious?"Batman IS so serious. So serious, he's ripe for satire. So overripe, if he were a banana, you'd mush him up and make banana bread. "The Lego Batman Movie" is aware of this, and exists to let the air out of Batman's balloon of pretention real loud and fast, so it makes that awesome flatulent BLAPALAPALAP noise. The animated film spins off of 2014's zany, hectic, self-referential "The Lego Movie," and toys with the Batman persona as only a movie that creatively and kinetically animates a ubiquitous line of (rather expensive) toys can, a movie that skeptics will call a clever marketing ploy, but only after they laugh their fool heads off at it and come to their killjoy senses.
Anyway, if the movie was a rocket ship, it'd be fueled by high-octane irreverence. It takes nothing seriously. Except maybe making us laugh. It's super serious about that. I'm pretty sure it's extra-super serious about that.) It succeeds mightily, especially if you're the type who snatches the shark repellent references with the ecstatic glee you feel when you finally get your hands on that rare Aquaman variant action figure you've been lusting after for months. In this subculture, few things are more timeless than a Batman/shark repellent joke. Will Arnett reprises the voice role of Batman, after rendering the character an obnoxious egotist and the du-jour scene-stealer in "The Lego Movie." Zach Galifianakis speaks as the Joker, and as is the case in many of the iconic Batman stories on paper or screens big and small, this classic hero-villain dynamic is the throbbing heart of the primary conflict. Here, the yin and yang of good and evil is fodder for comedy almost as sophisticated as it is ridiculous.
Batman is a loner who insists he doesn't need friends, family or even a psychodramatic foil. This upsets the Joker, whose emotional fragility not only honestly reflects the reality of his "relationship" with Batman, but also feeds his vengeful lust to destroy the guy. So how does Batman truly defeat the Joker? He hurts his feelings. Like, REALLY hurts them. Batman won't proclaim the Joker to be his arch-enemy. He stubbornly refuses to say "I hate you," and if anything stings more than dislike, it's indifference. The Joker's antipathy is tragically unrequited. "I think we should fight other people," Batman says. "I like to fight around." The Joker is crushed. But he has a plan. The Joker always has a plan. Of course it is. It involves dozens and dozens of referential in-jokes/familiar character cameos zinging by lickety-split. Meanwhile, Batman continues being an arrogant, self-centered jackass. He rap-sings a terrifically stoopid new theme song exploding with braggadocio. He bickers with his loyal butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes).
He feels his heart skip when he meets new Gotham City Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson). He bums out when the Justice League conveniently "forgets" to invite him to a party. He unwittingly adopts an orphan, Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), who unwittingly becomes his gee-whiz sidekick Robin, and is way too thrilled to be charging into battle wearing a green speedo, and no pants. Review: 'The Lego Movie' is crazy, funny, weirdly philosophical family entertainment "The Lego Batman Movie" opens with Arnett's voiceover commentary of the studio logos and the uberdramatic score, setting the tone for unapologetic lampooning. And silliness - heaps and heaps of it. It's followed by an uproariously funny sequence dense with blink-and-you'll-miss-'em jokes and maniacal action. The movie can't maintain such a crazy pace, because that would be impossible, and the audience might pass out, what with the physiological need to exhale more than occasionally. It cycles down a few notches for the film's funniest sequence, in which Batman heads home after thwarting evil and saving Gotham City from destruction (again, yawn), and goes about doing the mundane stuff we never, ever see Batman do.
He changes into his bathrobe. He microwaves his dinner. He sits down and cycles through all his TV inputs, eventually landing on "Jerry Maguire." The film makes a deliberate point of all this. I mean, he really futzes with those TV inputs, for far more screen time than we should ever see a movie character futz with TV inputs. This is the same stupid crap you and I do every day, except it's Batman doing it, you see. The damn Dark Knight, the World's Greatest Detective, the Caped Crusader, for crimony's sake, and he's just like us, futzing with TV inputs. Except on a TV way way way way way way bigger than yours or mine. Apologies if I'm giving away that joke, but fret not, there are scads of others, sometimes overlapping and crashing into each other, cascading from the screen like some kid just overturned a giant bucket full of colorful toy bricks and began building an insane new world. Appropriately, the film dashes along with the playful exuberance of six-year-olds making up anything-goes, off-the-cuff narratives with their playthings in the basement - although they'd have to be six-year-olds who know who Adam West and Burt Ward are.