Batman: Dying is Easy (2021) Review

 

Batman: Dying is Easy (2021)

Batman: Dying is Easy follows Batman, who enters into a battle of wit and words with a dying Joker to discover the truth behind the disappearance of 3 cops.

I stumbled upon this fan film from Bat in the Sun Productions earlier today and dude! I was blown away at the subtle attention to detail and how impressive the quality of this was because while it was clearly a fan film, with many of the qualities of such, it still felt very professional in it’s production. It borrows a lot of it’s style and feel from the Arkham games, being a dark and gritty insert into that world of stories, with both Batman and Joker looking to be ripped right out of the series.

And speaking of Batman and Joker, they very much carry this story and that’s a tall order considering the already preconceived notion of the Joker we have in our heads. He’s crazy, energetic, and certainly looks the part of the clown prince of crime, and plays his part to perfection in getting a rise out of Batman. And oh boy, Batman is a force in this, being a massive, intimidating, and badass incarnation of the character that I figured would be kind of hokey at first, even though he looked perfect, but I was super impressed with his dedication and understanding of the hero, never trying to overdo it.

The cast featured some surprisingly big names, including Michael Madsen, Doug Jones, Jamie Costa, Aaron Schoenke, and Kevin Porter as the Dark Knight. Porter, who is a short-film, Batman legend at this point, nailed Batman, capturing his subtle mannerisms and tormented darkness so well, on top of looking amazing in the suit. Schoenke as the Joker was also really impressive, being super expressive and genuine in his literary attack on Batman.

Batman: Dying is Easy, directed by Sean and Aaron Schoenke on a crowdfunded budget of around $75,000, is a faithful and fun short film made by a group of people who genuinely care about the character and created something gritty and real in the vein of the Arkham games, a stylistic choice that brings this from good to great.

8/10