Joker Begins ... my DC movies viewing order

A quick aside before we get to the heat of the meat: longtime "readers" of this blog may have noticed that I’ve gone from ranting about minor, inconsequential things like the St Kilda Schoolgirl and Global Warming, to mainly just setting out my versions of viewing and listening orders of some of my favourite things. The main reason for this is that something happened a little over a year ago that I genuinely have every right to rant about ... for once ... but it’s actually so distressing I just can’t (at least, not yet), and so instead I’m just putting my head down ... and putting stuff in order. 

Which brings me to this month’s dumb post: Something that can distress everyone - The DC movie universe (also called the DCEU (or "DC Extended Universe") and "The Worlds Of DC" (pronounced "TWO-D(i)C", according to my bois at The Weekly Planet)). 

I finally watched the Joker movie recently, like a billion other dollars, and it was fine. And then I went home and watched a good Joker movie – The Dark Knight (apart from being a sick burn, that really is a cracking movie and is, in fact, what got me into this Batman guy in the first place (prior to that I was a paid-up Marvel geek)). 

This beer is also a bit better than the Joker movie...

The main problem with the Joker movie is that, although it’s a good character study of a particular person having a breakdown and dressing up like a clown and lashing out because society, it’s not really the Joker. 

But Heath Ledger’s Joker is a GREAT Joker. 

A great Joker's good, but an amazing Joker - now that would be great!

Still, I actually think these movies can work together, if we assume that Arthur Fleck’s Joker is a “proto-Joker”, who gets the ball rolling, and then later on Heath Ledger’s Joker also dresses up like a clown but knocks it up a notch like Elzar (and is much more menacing, chaotic and, importantly, anonymous). 

So, although, it’s been explicitly stated that the Joker movie is stand-alone, separate to any other DC movie properties, I think it works as a semi-prequel to the Dark Knight trilogy. And THEN, the Dark Knight trilogy works as a semi-prequel to the later DCEU. 
Again, there are minor inconsistencies (different Jokers, slightly different Wayne murders*) BUT Joker has a young Bruce Wayne, the Dark Knight trilogy has a Bruce Wayne coming of age and then “retiring”, and then the DCEU has a much older Bruce Wayne (who must have decided to come back to Gotham at some point, and reverse his second “official” death). And I know that some say (like, um, Zack Snyder...) that the Dark Knight trilogy's gritty and realistic Nolanverse can't be in the same fantastical universe as that of the DCEU, but Man of Steel makes it clear that the world was kind of normal before Superman is outed from the alien closet (despite hints that maybe there are other metahuman goings-on that people were previously unaware of). Plus Christopher Nolan is an executive producer on Man of Steel! Not to mention the fact that including the Dark Knight trilogy lifts the average quality of the whole DC franchise...
BAM!!    
So, without further ado, here is my DCEU movie viewing order (with some spurious explanations where necessary). Note that I haven’t included the prequel comics, etc, because you don’t care. 
Feel free to ignore it along with my MCU and X-Men viewing orders!

The official and only DC movie viewing order 

Joker (Note: the only real problem including this here is that this movie’s Thomas Wayne ends up looking IDENTICAL to the senator in The Dark Knight Rises, but otherwise this pretty much works. Oh yeah, and Thomas Wayne can't be that much of a dick, Arthur must be mistaken...) 

Batman Begins 

Gotham Knight – This is definitely in the Nolanverse, taking place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (e.g., it includes Detective Ramirez, the beginnings of Captain Gordon’s Major Crimes Unit, and the gang war between ‘The Russian’ and Sal Maroni). It also includes Jonathan Crane (who hasn’t been seen since the Arkham breakout in Batman Begins), Killer Croc (who was being experimented on by Crane – and this does not appear inconsistent with Suicide Squad), and Deadshot**. 

Gotham Tonight – TV series on The Dark Knight blu-ray special features – 6 short episodes like a news/entertainment show in the 5 weeks leading up to The Dark Knight, giving a bit of an introduction to the characters and themes that show up in The Dark Knight. Includes some of the actual characters (played by the actors) being interviewed, including Sal Maroni and Harvey Dent. 

The Dark Knight 

The Dark Knight Rises 

Green Lantern *** 

Man of Steel 

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition only, please)

Suicide Squad (refers to events in B v S)

Wonder Woman – The start and end take place in the present, but the majority takes place around World War I (but I still like it here). Also, there's a bonus epilogue on the blu-ray, where Etta Candy has a mission to recover a Mother Box hidden under a World War I battlefield (likely the one hidden by the humans centuries ago, as then seen in Justice League). 

Justice League 

Aquaman – very brief references to the events of Justice League (when Mera talks to Arthur about him defeating Steppenwolf). 

Shazam – Includes an almost-cameo by Superman, and Freddy has an honest-to-goodness Batarang (along with many other references to the other superheroes of the DC universe, including merch). Also, the ‘Superhero Hooky’ motion comic (on the blu-ray) is a new story post-Shazam. 

After that, we'll soon have (among others) Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which I'm really looking forward to, Wonder Woman 1984 and, of course, the new The Batman movie, which might throw all of this out (especially if there’s a black Jim Gordon and Catwoman) but let’s cross that bat-bridge when we come to it…

* It could be assumed that every depiction of the Waynes getting murdered (e.g., in Joker, Batman Begins, Batman v Superman, etc, etc, ad infinitum) is just someone's possibly flawed memory (a child, a Joker) that may or may not be entirely correct! 

** One of the main problems with including the Nolanverse with the DCEU seems to be one important element of this slightly-canon piece, since this Deadshot certainly appears to be a white guy (though I just explain it away due to the lighting … and the fact that it’s a cartoon …) 

*** Wait, wait – hear me out! I know this is technically not part of the DCEU, but it still fits easily here (and the Lanterns have been canonically teased in Justice League). It includes Amanda Waller (and could even serve as a bit of her origin, including shots of her (dead?) husband and son, and the reasoning behind why she might want a taskforce to take down alien threats…), and the Parallax climax (Climarallax?) could have been explained away by the authorities as a weather event? Waller says that finding Abin Sur’s body is also the first proof the humans have of alien life (meaning it has to be before Man of Steel). Plus Taika Waititi's in it! Scott Mendelson also reckons it works well as part of the DCEU, and means the next Green Lantern movie (e.g., Green Lantern Corps) can get straight to business and not re-hash things...

Here I go again!*

I was kind of hoping my last post would be the last time I would need to fix a DC superhero movie.

Well, I saw Suicide Squad last weekend, and unfortunately, it can be improved.

Specifically, we see the very Aussie Boomerang a few times with his fluffy pink unicorn (and it’s hilarious)! Later on, he gets shot in the chest, but it turns out the shot was blocked by…a wad of cash?!? Why not get it blocked by the fluffy pink unicorn**? Links it all together, and adds in another opportunity for Boomerang to play up that all-important comic-relief!

Aaaand…ummm...that’s it really!***

Apart from that (actually, even with that), I enjoyed it a lot! Just fun from start to finish, cool characters and nice callbacks to comic moments (such as Harley and Joker dancing):

In fact, I pretty much agree with everything in this (positive) review: http://www.slashfilm.com/suicide-squad-review/ (even though I don’t really care about (or even really noticed) the problems with “pacing” in the movie – I just enjoyed the ride).  

For my own very quick, very flawed review, I’d say it’s kind of like Guardians of the Galaxy, crossed with Escape from New York, one of the Mummy movies, and a really loud music video…

Another couple of positive reviews (they’re hard to find, so I thought I’d put some of them here!) are here and here (and Erik follows that review up with some possible changes, most of which make sense (he doesn’t address the pink unicorn in the room, though)). 

And I don’t agree with all of these, but some of these suggestions would make sense (but keep Captain Boomerang – he may be a mega-douche in the comics, but he was great here, and it seems clear that keeping close to the comics is not what Warner Bros seems to be going for, anyway…)

But, as I alluded to before, positive reviews are few and far between – it’s been getting slammed by the critics. I certainly understood those rage-aholics and their rage-ahol when it came to B V S, but I don't really get it with Suicide Squad.

For example, a common complaint seems to be that Enchantress is not enough of a Big Bad, but I think she, as the villain, totally fits the story – that story being that Amanda Waller will do whatever it takes to cover her ass. The Squad’s first mission is not to save Midway City, but to rescue Waller – it makes sense that the reason she would mobilise her new team of freaks for the first time would be to save herself. Especially when she caused the crisis in the first place, by manipulating, and then failing to contain, the Enchantress. Then, when her chopper goes down and she’s captured by the Enchantress and things start getting real messed up, the Squad goes in to rescue her and take out the Big Bad. The plot and the villain (well, the villain from the point of view of the Squad…apart from Waller...) are therefore very self-contained, and it makes total sense to me.

Another issue people seem to have is that the movie doesn’t include enough Joker, and that Joker and Harley’s relationship is not representative of the one in the comics – i.e., some people don’t like the fact that they seem more lovey-dovey – but I actually prefer it. Harley’s love for the Joker in the comics, in light of the way he treats her (and how many times he tries to kill her), is really disconcerting, as well as tough to believe (let alone understand). But here, it seems he genuinely likes her (while still being mental and bad), and swoops in twice to try and save her. So it makes much more sense in this universe that she would want to be with him – they’re crazy together. Although he does leave her in a car wreck at the bottom of a river at one point, too, so I like that nod to his own douchery.

I also liked his role in this movie – not too much, but with his own genuine Harley-related subplot, that ties in well to what the Squad are doing.

SO, I would say: Get out there and watch it! Don't take it seriously - it's not high art, it's a freaking comic book movie with explosions and stuff. 

What an age to be alive!!!

* With thanks to David Coverdale. Incidentally – "Whitesnake" would be a good name for a member of Suicide Squad (maybe if they release an R-rated version…)

** With even more thanks to @joetwit99…

*** Actually, I do have one more - less Bohemian Rhapsody, please! Not just in this movie, in the world!! I'm over it!!! Help me, change.org!!!!

The Killing Joke - Take 2!

I'm kinda hoping that my blog doesn't just become me correcting every DC movie that comes out*, but it looks like that's what it is for the moment.

My last post was about some problems I had with Batman V Superman, and my ideas to fix them (incidentally, since then I've seen the Ultimate Edition, and it IS better than the theatrical version, but...still...why did Lex want Superman and Batman to fight if he was going to create Doomsday anyway? And..and...oh, I'll let it go...)

This time around, I get to fix the new Killing Joke movie.

The Killing Joke is one of the most iconic Batman stories of all time, involving the relationship between Batman and his arch-nemesis - the Joker. It also contains pretty much the accepted version of Joker's origin (even though the book itself even hedges its bets on this matter).

So the fact it's finally being made into a movie is a big deal (at least, in the Bat-Universe).

It also represents an opportunity for DC to correct one of its fundamental problems - the "fridging" of an important female Bat-character - Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl.

When I first read The Killing Joke, I didn't know what fridging was. To be honest, I didn't even know that Barbara Gordon was Batgirl (it was only the fourth Bat-book I'd read), so the importance of her being crippled (beyond it just being not very nice) was lost on me initially.

But since learning of the practice of "fridging" female characters (the term was coined in relation to a comic where Green Lantern comes home to discover his girlfriend has been murdered, chopped up, and put into his fridge - and it now refers to any instance of a female character being abused or killed in order to provide male characters with a plot-device), I can see it's a classic example of "fridging". even Alan Moore, the author of said book, has admitted as much in retrospect.

It appeared that the people behind the movie were aware of these problems, and decided to tackle them head-on. Bravo!

They decided to add a 30-minute 'prologue' to the beginning of the movie, focusing on Batgirl, no doubt to explain better who Barbara Gordon was, and make the viewer care more about what actually happens to her.

Great stuff, and I was genuinely excited as the movie started, seeing that Barbara was front and centre.

And then the prologue happened and I had to wash my eyes.

The following article includes a live tweet of the movie, and pretty much sums up everything wrong with the movie: http://www.themarysue.com/review-the-killing-joke-animated-movie/

But to summarise, it seems the way they've decided to depict Barbara more positively, and to endear her more to the viewers, is to (a) make her an object of desire for a really creepy new villain that no-one cares about (and she apparently finds that attention flattering - urgh!), (b) have her desiring, and chasing, Batman relationship-wise (with them eventually...gulp...having sex! Dear God No), and (c) being generally bad at being Batgirl, so that she eventually quits. At one point, the creepy guy is obviously leading her into a trap, but because she's slightly flattered by this unwanted male attention and at the same time wants to impress the other male in her life who's not giving her attention (Batman), she walks right into said trap. I'm not into victim-blaming, but if she had been killed in that trap, that would have entirely been her fault.

To summarise it even more succinctly, as Jeremy Konrad now-famously said to the makers of the movie at a panel discussion, they made her a "stronger" character "by using sex, and then pining for Bruce" (incidentally, Azzarello, every time I'm thinking about buying something you're involved with in future, I'm going to remember this - not great marketing, dude).

So, yeah. That's their attempt to depict her more positively, and get audiences to feel more sorry for her when she gets shot. Epic Fail.

It seems a lot of reviews agree on this - it could have been a lot better, and rather than make up for how Barbara was treated originally in the book, they've probably made it worse (and Batman doesn't come out of it too well, either).** 

But it again got me thinking about how they could have done it better. And I realised it could be improved with only a couple of small tweaks.

So here's my quick fix, in Three Easy Steps:

1. Batman and Batgirl do not have sex. Just...no. If they have to go there, they could have Batgirl start something, but then also stop herself. Batman just stares, a little dumbfounded, but they don't do the act. This also makes Batman seem like less of a jerk when he doesn't answer Batgirl's calls - he's still a little dumbfounded.

2. This is my most important change - if I could change only one thing, this would be it. After Batman rescues Jim Gordon, he calls Barbara. Because that's what a normal person would do. "Barbara - it's me. I've found your Dad. He's going to be OK." Barbara thanks him, and then says (still from her hospital bed): "Batman - you have to stop the Joker. But you have to do it by the book. By the book, do you hear me? We have to show him that our way works!" That is, have her deliver the lines originally said by Jim Gordon. This shows that, although she's a victim of Joker's violence, she's the strong one. It can be on speaker phone, and Jim then says "She's right. My daughter's amazing, and she's right. By the book, Batman!"

It changes The Killing Joke a bit (which some people would be upset with, but screw 'em). But it includes Barbara in the story apart from simply being a motivating plot device for the men - she drives the end of the story!

3. Last simple change - when we see Barbara in the wheelchair at the end, simply have Batman talk to her over the comms: "Oracle, I need you!" And she mutters to herself "I know". This clearly juxtaposes her treatment at the start of the movie, when Batman really didn't seem to need her, to now, when she's invaluable. Makes what happened to her a little bit easier to swallow.

Of course, these three quick fixes are simple, but don't really correct everything about the movie. In particular, Barbara's story at the start is still pretty bad - especially the way she reacts to the sociopath desiring her and then trapping her. If I could redo it completely, I would completely change that first story. 

Thusly:

The prologue should show us Batman and Batgirl working together, but in relation to a different case. The subject of the case: the Joker! Why not, it's his movie after all! It could be a brand new story, or something based on a prior classic, like the Laughing Fish or his Five-Way Revenge. Ideally, it would involve Batman going in to confront the Joker alone, telling Batgirl it's too dangerous for her. Barbara then uses her computer skills to work out what Joker's really up to (tying into the end of the movie), suits up, moves in, saves Batman's bacon, and helps capture the Joker. Joker is taken to Arkham, and either:

(a) Batman chews out Batgirl for disobeying orders, she says "Are you serious?!?" and quits (to match the canon where she quits before being shot); OR

(b) Batman praises her for the rescue, formally endorses her as a worthy addition to the Bat-Family, and has her at her peak (less canon, but arguably makes her subsequent shooting even more tragic).

Then add in the second two quick fixes above (no need for the first, because ewwww), and voila! Perfect Killing Joke movie.

Thankyou, thankyou *takes a bow*

Gonna watch Suicide Squad next weekend. Hopefully it won't require a blog post...

* Unless DC wants to start paying me for it! Come on DC, I'll fix your movies for nice price!

** That said, Mark Hammill knocks it out of the park as the Joker.

World's most liveable city(s)

I love Melbourne (even though it is called "Melbourne" and not "Batmania" as originally proposed). But it's getting too big - it's one of the largest cities in the world by land area, with an urban sprawl to rival Los Angeles. The transport system is breaking down, we're syphoning off water from rural Victoria at a time when they need it more than we do, and more and more bogans are bashing each other, and others, in the city.
It's unsustainable, a view reiterated by Sally Capp, the chief executive of the Committee for Melbourne, in an article in The Age today: "The Australian dream of how we live is due for a revamp". The "Melbourne@5 million" plan she talks about, which proposes six new centres for Melbourne, in addition to the CBD, being Frankston, Dandenong, Ringwood, Box Hill North, Broadmeadows and Footscray, is a good start (especially if they support it with a train line running around between those areas as well). But it still involves building up Melbourne even more.
A while ago, I read of an idea to emulate Ireland's plan to focus on building up its regional cities, such as Galway and Waterford, rather than just Dublin. While this idea is unlikely to find a lot of support amongst Victoria's Melbourne-centric politicians, it makes a huge amount of sense. It seems Australia is unique in having a few huge cities spread out across a continent the size of Europe or the US, and then lots of tiny unresourced ones.
SO I'm putting it out there, sycophantic yes-men and faceless bureaucrats: it's time to focus on building up the rest of Victoria (people respond well to being called "sycophantic yes-men and faceless bureaucrats", don't they?). I'm thinking towns like Warrnambool, Wonthaggi and Wodonga, as well as towns that don't start with "W": like Sale, Portland, maybe Lakes Entrance. Put money into these towns and provide opportunities for work (particularly Government work). More jobs and infrastructure equals more people attracted to those areas equals less people in Melbourne equals less clogged roads and less need for water and energy equals something-something. It'll be better for everyone.
That said, I don't plan on leaving Melbourne, but then again I drink lattes and live in the inner city.
PS When I originally typed in the heading for this post, I accidentally wrote "World's moist liveable city(s)" and it made me snigger immaturely.