Dying Is Easy (2021) User Reviews

Bat In The Sun's Welcome Return To Their Roots

[sacam97 · 8/10 · 20 April 2021]

Ever wonder how it's possible to make a great Batman movie on a 75k budget, look no further than Bat In The Sun's Batman: Dying Is Easy. Bat In The Sun is a fan studio that is best known for their hit web series Super Power Beat Down and a few Batman short films like Batman: The City of Scars and Patient J. I've watched Bat In The Sun's films since I was in the fourth grade when I saw their trailer video Batman Legends, and my first exposure to their films was through Patient J clips that were used in fan-made trailers for The Dark Knight that was posted before the first official trailer dropped. Their films are made on crowdsourced budgets and are non-profit films because Bat In The Sun is not affiliated with Warner Bros or DC. That being said Aaron Schoenke and his team understand Batman and the characters they feature in their films far better than half of the people Warner Bros hires to make DC films, I'm looking at you, Joel Schumacher. This actually demonstrated extremely well in Batman: Dying Is Easy with an interesting plot and great character development. Not to mention the casting and production value.

The Film follows Batman as he tries to unveil the mystery behind the disappearance of three GCPD officers. After saving a young girl from the Mad Hatter, Batman notices a clue that links the missing officers to the Joker. Batman learns from Lieutenant Bullock that the Joker is dying and it increases Batman's urgency to see the Joker. Of course, Joker has other plans in mind. Joker wants Batman to kill him and will do his best to provoke Batman into doing so. What I like most about Dying Is Easy's story is that every moment is important. There aren't moments randomly thrown in the film because they're cool. Even the Mad Hatter fight is important to the film's story instead of being a random fight.

The film's are well written and well performed. Batman is depicted as being a brutal vigilante who refuses to kill even the most sinister villains in Gotham. The Dark Knight is played to perfection by Kevin Porter. Joker is portrayed as being a murderous psychopath with the never ending desire to push Batman's buttons until Batman snaps. Aaron Schoenke delivers a great performance as the Clown Prince. Harvey Bullock is made into a dynamic character whose introduced as being a cop who hates Batman but evolves into respected him. Michael Madsen captures these elements well in his performance. Even minor character are portrayed well with the standouts being Doug Jones as the Riddler and Ana Johnston as Harley Quinn. However, while I love Chris Daughtry's music, I must say he was a miscast as Hugo Strange. It was cool to include Daughtry, but I'm not sure Hugo Strange was the right role for him. He looks the part though. I also appreciate that Bat In The Sun included Athena Finger, the granddaughter of Batman creator Bill Finger, as their answer to a Stan Lee cameo in the film.

Dying Is Easy is also a visually stunning film to watch. The fight scene with Batman and the Mad Hatter's henchmen is a great scene to watch and one the best fight scenes in a Batman movie. Also, the shot of the little girl hugging Batman is a powerful shot. The film's score complements the scenes of the film. The special effects are good for the film's budget of $75K. However, I could live without the fog effect that's in the outdoors scenes in the movie. The costume and set design is also great. The Batman costume in Dying Is Easy is easily the best costume featured in a Bat In The Sun film. Arkham Asylum looks amazing an the Joker's makeup makes the Joker look like he was ripped straight from the comics.

In conclusion, Batman: Dying Is Easy is a magnificent Batman movie. Aaron Schoenke and his team created a great story with a wonderful cast of characters. The production value of the film was great too. From great sets, costumes, and makeup to great cinematography and good visual effects for the film's budget. However, there were some visuals that I could definitely live without. The cast did a great job with their roles despite having a weak link. However, that weak link didn't interfere with the overall quality of the film. Ultimately, Bat In The Sun proved with Dying Is Easy that you don't need a multimillion dollar budget to make a great Batman movie, you just need people that love the material making the film. With that in mind Batman: Dying Is Easy is well worth the watch and go check it out on YouTube and subscribe to Bat In The Sun's channel.

It was alright

[rallder19 · 6/10 · 13 March 2021]

High praises to the art dept, make-up, set-design, VFX, and all others that made this LOOK incredible.

The story was ok. My only problem was the way way over-the-top acting, here and there, which gave many scenes a very cheesy vibe. However, Kevin Porter did great, as usual, and even though it was a very small role I actually thought the actress who played Harley Quinn did a better job than Margot Robbie.

The Joker, I'm just not buying. Personally I don't think it was portrayed well but of course that's just my opinion and I'm sure many people would disagree. It's quite clear the actor really cared about the role, however, and that's respectful.

In the end, though, this was purely made by fans for fans and everyone involved seemed to put a ton of work in. I know it's not easy to put together something like this and I must say, certain cheesy scenes aside, definitely the best Batman fan film I've ever seen.

This is great, well worth the watch.

[wrcarter4 · 8/10 · 14 March 2021]

This is an amazing project that people expecting a $20m budget will hate. The direction, the choreography, everything you need in a Batman story was there. The script could have been tightened up a bit, but that is my only major complaint. Shoutout to them for putting their own spin on a beloved icon.

Absolutely fantastic

[graham_hill1 · 10/10 · 27 November 2021]

The actor portraying the Joker was perhaps one of the best performances I've ever seen. This was bold, dark and gripping every second I was watching this. Beautiful yet gothic looking cinematography which creates an astonishing look out familiar city. Not bad green screen. This could easily be longer. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

If Alan Moore were a film director

[Grimmell73-212-552849 · 10/10 · 30 June 2022]

This is a film short without the massive budget needed to make a film feel like a comic book, and yet it does as good a job of capturing the essence of the Dark Knight myth as the original Batman (with Michael Keaton). The Batman looks like a vigilante, not like a film star, as should be, and conveys a genuine sense of menace. The depiction of the Joker is the best ever caught on film. The voice is reminiscent of Mark Hamill's without the cartoonish exaggeration; more of a snake's hiss, while the movements make the voice almost unnecessary. The facial expression, though, is the only one I've seen to capture the lunacy originally inspired by The Man Who Laughed. I very much hope Warner picks up the director going forward with Batman.

Pretty decent watch overall if you like Batman

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 1 June 2021]

"Dying Is Easy" is an American English-language live action short film from 2021, so really fresh and new still and in the couple months since its release this has scored millions of views on Youtube to show you how successful it turned out to be. One reason may be the title that is catchy and easy to remember, but the key reason is probably that this is linked to Batman as you can see from the poster here. The director and writer is Aaron Schoenke and these 26 minutes here are by far not his only trip to Gotham City. He has worked on several Batman films in the past and the experience certainly works in his favor. He is also an actor and plays the Joker in here during the film's perhaps most memorable scene. I am oof course talking about the one between Batman and Joker. If you think this ended with Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning, Joker-defining portrayal, you are wrong. Schoenke by the way has also worked on all kinds of other stuff in the past, for example given his voice to Spider-Man in a famous video game. But let's stay with this one here for now. I should say Aaron Schoenke because the co-director here is Sean Schoenke. Not sure, but my guess is he is Aaron's brother and they have collaborated many times as well. Sean Schoenke stems from the music department usually, but has worked in all kinds of production areas over the years and also played minor characters in front of the camera. In general, you can say that most people you see in this movie have worked with the Schoenkes before. And the cast is not shabby either. There is a reason why not only Doug Jones (would have been nice to see more from him) is on board here, but even Tarantino regular Michael Madsen is a part of this film and not just in one very brief scene.

Looking at the story, Batman fans get their fair share as well. We see most of the famous antagonists, but you cannot fit stories for all of those into under half an hour. Some nice banter between Harley Quinn and Pison Ivy though. So the focus is on the Joker once again. We are told that he is about to die and he thinks so himself, but then we find out it was all just a trick by Batman to get a certain confession out of his most famous antagonist. The quote about how all these other antagonists have something to live for (and to die for), but the Joker does not is also one to remember. The final words of this movie were also on the more memorable side in terms of how Batman is also depicted as a monster here. This can also be seen through how he deals with these chains in what could be mistaken for him trying to kill the Joker. This is of course exactly what the latter wants. In general, the style here is very dark, reminds one a lot of Christopher Nolan's take on the franchise and the really deep voice by Batman here is ansother parallel. Overall, I think this was quite impressive for a fan film. If I had to rate it as a fan film, I may have added another two stars. But rating it as a film in general, it's still 3 out of 5 and a positive recommendation for me here for sure. I personally felt that the only time when I did not enjoy it was basically the epilogue with Catwoman coming into play. That did feel a bit generic, almost cringeworthy, with the meow there. But other than that, it is certainly worth watching. Also really on a strong technical and visual level. Go for it!

BEST LOOKING LIVE ACTION BATMAN EVER

[leandrobfonseca · 10/10 · 14 March 2021]

I will repeat: best looking live action Batman ever. These guys should make a Batman movie for WB.

Complaints

[BracelotiV · 10/10 · 18 March 2021]

People complaining about overacting miss the point: this is a history about a man dressed like a bat fighting a bunch of goofy lunatics. It is supposed to be overacted.

Bat in The Sun does it again!

[guisreis · 8/10 · 15 May 2021]

Watching Bat in the Sun short films is compulsory for any superhero fan. Their independent movies and "Super Power Beatriz Down" episodes are usually very well produced and much truer to original characters and comics than most of big budget official superhero blockbusters. Dying is Easy is one of their very best accomplishments (only slightly below City of Scars, in my opinion). There is a good script and story, with nice dialogs and action, wonderful art direction, make-up and CGI, and a perfect portrayal of the characters. Not only the Batman (Kevin Porter, as usual), the Joker (director-producer Aaron Schoenke himself, once more) and detective Bullock (Michael Madsen!) have great performances and are visually awesome, but we may also praise several other bat-villains perfectly portrayed in minor roles.

The joker is so bad

[stuart-meagher · 5/10 · 27 October 2021]

Everything is good except for whoever plays the joker. He's absolutely dreadful. Such a poor performance. Ruins the whole thing. Almost comical performance. Effects and customes are good. But the joker character is so bad.

Amazing

[isaakbar · 8/10 · 15 March 2021]

Best fan film ever!thanks batinthesun,this feels like the Arkham games

Its great

[tomsievins · 10/10 · 30 April 2022]

It feels like a official batman movie and its great its one of the best not official stuff i have ever seen the only reason i know its not official is because every actor is very different.

Best casting for a Batman movie

[BracelotiV · 10/10 · 18 March 2021]

The actors in this movie were handpicked, this is the best DC casting i have ever seen.

Great Batman film overall

[crispybacon-11625 · 8/10 · 11 July 2023]

For the budget that is has it's an absolutely amazing film. The Batman costume was on point, the voice was amazing and the acting was good too. Some scenes and dialogue were a little cheesy. The story was okay, it couldn't develop very well due to the short runtime but for only being 25 minutes long it had a pretty good story. I loved the joker in this film even though sometimes the actor would go a little bit over the top and make some scenes seem like they were trying too hard overall he was an amazing joker. But other than that this was an amazing film. I would totally recommend watching this film if you are a Batman fan.

Great for a fan-made movie

[Abouleid · 8/10 · 23 March 2021]

I thought the movie is great for a fan made unofficial movie. Batman looks great (although maybe he should be a bit less angry while talking and be a bit more self-controlled and calmer with a poker face). His voice is really accurate and his dark look looks really good. I really liked the Batman symbol, it's different and looks dark. Also how he used the scanner like in Arkham series was really cool. The Joker is acceptable - I mean after Jack Nicolson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto, and Jaquin Phoenix, it's VERY hard to compete... However, he's not great and not bad. Probably one of the very good ones after these pre-mentioned 4. His voice is really good, facial expressions are also good, but his body movements and overall acting is not the best. Mr. Freeze, IVY and Harley Quinn look like they can be really good (although too little screen time). Other characters are ok... not so bad.. except also for killer crocs who -and I agree with one of the reviewers- could've just shown his hand because his face looks like a rubber Halloween costume. For whatever budget they had... everything else is great... the music, the scenes, the set up, the CGI, the cinematography, the customs, etc... What I didn't like about it is that the dialogues are way too long (almost 10 minutes which is half the movie between Batman and Joker only) with nothing to really remember (agree also with one of the reviewers).. there's no master scene that you could really recall. The plot is very monotonic and simple.

Great great work!!! Shout out to Bat in The Sun... I am pretty sure if you have more budget, you'll do amazing movies.

Kevin Porter still looks great

[daisukereds · 3/10 · 14 March 2021]

For a budget.. the look still can't get past "crowd-funded project", even in 2021. Some things look good, some don't. The Batman looks great, and so does the car (if you squint a bit and the CGI isn't as noticeable). And even some of the villains look well cast (Ivy and Riddler), but their attires leave a lot to be desired. And if your Croc looks like that, just show his hand (which was really good on it's own).

The Joker is SO hard to get right, and this one I didn't enjoy. Him being the crutch of it didn't help. And the Catwoman scene was also too fidgety and weird for no reason.

My biggest issue with this, is that it is too bland and generic. There is little action, the plot is nothing special, and the dialogues are WAY TOO LONG to not say anything useful or memorable.