Critical popcorn

Batman Vs Two-Face is a proper throwback to the 60s show, with tongue-in-cheek action, plot and bad jokes… that they get away with, of course! It follows up 2016’s Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders and also went with the same passage of premiering at the New York Comic Con but, sadly, this time it’ll be the last for the original dynamic duo following the death of the legendary Adam West.

Reprising their roles alongside West as Batman is, of course, Burt Ward as Robin and Julie Newmar as Catwoman but this time they’re joined by William Shatner as Two-Face, can you imagine how amazing that would have been back in the 60s?! The plot this time sees Batman and Robin invited to a special experiment led by Hugo Strange and Dr Harleen Quinzel. The idea is to extract the ‘evil’ from the likes of The Joker, The Riddler, Penguin, Egghead and Mr Freeze in order to make Gotham safe forever. The project is also supported and attended by Harvey Dent and – yes, you guessed it – the test goes so very wrong and Dent ends up becoming Two-Face after an explosion.

After an opening sequence that shows Two-Face escaping, committing crimes everywhere and eventually being caught by Batman and Robin, he’s then put under the knife and his face is fixed… ‘back to normal’? Well, he might be but he definitely still has his coin and one half is now scratched up. From here, they initially go up against King Tut and – avoiding entire spoilers – they take him down but obviously the Two-Face story isn’t done yet!

Batman Vs Two-Face looks stunning and features all of the expected clichés, delicious alliteration and those classic one-liners you’d want from the pair, I slightly preferred the recent Batman Vs Harley Quinn that goes beyond the classic cheese but this Batman Vs Two-Face is definitely a lot of fun and truly captures all the spirit of the classic West series. The truth is, if you love the original Batman, you’ll absolutely love this one.

If you also enjoy DC’s Batman: The Animated Series, that started back in 1992, then I highly recommend having a look at Matt’ 5-star review of that collection by clicking here – and that’s also available now from HMV.

Batman Vs Two-Face is available now on Blu-ray and DVD. Order here: http://amzn.to/2iZwGNj

Special Features:

• The wonderful world of Burt Ward
• Burt Ward on Being Starstruck
• Burt Ward on Ambition
• Julie Newmar on Inspiration
• Adam West Tribute Panel: Comic-Con International 2017 (This one is particularly great!)
• Knock Knock, Mr Joker!