Batman & Jesus (2017) Reviews

• Entertaining and Enlightening

  jwolforth2017-11-04

  Batman and Jesus This is an independent film that probably won't come around very much. If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. It starts out a bit silly, seeming to draw on the campy version of Batman 1960's television, but it covers the more adult themes of the Dark Knight Batman series as well. You don't need to be a comic book nerd to enjoy the movie but they are an important part of it. They get real people from a comic book convention so you see what it's like to be a fanatic about something that is just a story. I'm not sure if "documentary" is the right genre for this film, but documentation of the Batman comics is covered as well as that of how the New Testament was written and compiled. To show the parallel, the filmmakers get the people from the convention to sit down and determine which books, movies and shows from the entire history of Batman should be considered "official". In Biblical terms, this is called the "canon". The movie then switches back and forth from the discussion about what the "real" Batman is to the history of how the New Testament was compiled. The discussions get quite passionate. The brief forays into history are well done and accurate and since you are seeing the parallels, entertaining. Also mixed in is a future scenario when Batman is a religion and people are debating if he was a real person. These don't just poke fun at those who would believe such a ridiculous thing, but also those who make bad arguments against it and then pat themselves on the back for being the smart ones. It's all a lot of fun and such a relief from the spate of "Jesus is a myth" documentaries that have come out over the last couple decades. I think this one would stand up well to any scholarly historical peer review. It even throws in a little double-cross mystery at the end. I enjoyed this movie so much, that near the end, I needed to go the bathroom, and was seriously trying to figure out how I could do that without leaving the theater.

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• Preaches to Its Choir

  jamaisj-838-937322019-05-17

  The idea behind this "documentary" is that Batman is modern mythology, Jesus is mythology, and so they are equal on every plane, making Jesus just another story. They even have a "First Council of the Bat" to comment on the Council of Nicea, where fans are brought together to determine what is canon. Batman is also presented as religion in and of itself in order to better drive the point home. Ignoring that there are several different levels of canon when you're dealing with Batman (movies vs. comics vs. cartoons), the logic here is spurious at best. There are a lot of historical inaccuracies, as well as conflating a lot of stories. The really weird part is that no one form the opposing side is consulted; this is presented solely to demonstrate that Jesus is nothing more than a mythological construct and is therefore of no consequence. It just comes off as assuming that all believers treat The Bible as a historical document, something that is hardly universal. If you believe that anyone who believes in religion is mouth-breather incapable of any form of rational thought, this is the movie for you. For anyone whose thoughts on religion have any kind of nuance whatsoever this is probably a solid miss.

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• Okay idea

  Koshuakoshuaa2017-11-28

  An interesting idea that is executed somewhat embarrassingly--one imagines a fedora atop all the crews' head. Nonetheless, good to see some things being made in my home city. Is this the most artful or entertaining? No. Does production itself have value in that it spurs along the better? Yes