The biggest problem with the ill-fated DC Extended Universe was that it tried so hard to do the same thing that the Marvel Cinematic Universe tried to do. But the MCU started out on a rocky start as well.
Yes, The Avengers was a huge thing, but now more than a decade later, it feels sloppy, mainly because Joss Whedon was never a good filmmaker. It’s obvious in the MCU later entries the rest of the 2010s, they had found their footing through trial and error. The DCEU tried to hit the ground running with the divisive Man of Steel and didn’t look at what worked and what didn’t.
As we know now about Whedon stepping in to help Zack Snyder with Justice League, it was obvious where the problems were. There were more misses than hits and there’s now a soft reboot with the DCU coming up. For the most part, the concept of The Penguin was very outdated even by the time Frank Miller released The Dark Knight Returns.
With his top-hat, tuxedo, monocle and cane, he seemed cartoonish. That might have worked for the Batman TV series in the 1960s and the 1966 movie. But the messy Batman Returns had the right idea by making Oswald Cobblepot a sinister gang leader who was trying to sneak his way into elective office as mayor of Gotham City. Recent comics in the 2000s and 2010s portrayed The Penguin more as a corrupt politician.
In the 2022 The Batman, we were introduced to Colin Farrell, behind make-up and a fatsuit, as Oswald “Oz” Cobb, an associate for crime boss Carmine Falcone played by John Turturro. Created by Lauren LeFranc, who is also the showrunner, the eight-episode series begins about a week after the events of The Batman where the seawalls of Gotham were destroyed and the city has been flooded. Falcone has been killed and Batman has left the city as well.
This leaves a void for control of the city’s crime. Oz, who was managing Falcone’s Iceberg Lounge, views this as a chance to move up as the focus more on the drug manufacturing of a synthetic drug Bliss. Oz kills Falcone’s oldest brother, Alberto (Michael Zegen), and as he tries to dispose of the body, he runs into a teenager punk, Vic Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz), who he takes under his wing despite some resistance at first.
At the same time, Falcone’s daughter, Sofia (Christin Milioti), has been released from Arkham Asylum and suspects Oz may be responsible for Alberto’s murder. She also wants to control her father’s crime empire as Johnny Viti (Michael Kelly), the underboss, wants to exclude her and take it in another path. They are at odds, mainly because of Sofia’s checkered past as she was admitted to Arkham on a murder case she claims she didn’t do.
I can’t really tell anymore because the surprises are a big part of the appeal of the series. There’s no honor among thieves and even blood isn’t thicker than water when it comes to family and money. Milioti portrays Sofia with an ice-cold demeanor that is a stark contrast to Farrell’s tour-de-force performance. Milioti who famously played the “mother” as Tracy McConnell in How I Met Your Mother manages to show behind the innocent at first appearance she is totally a sociopath.
During some scenes she stares at people with an hardened gaze she kind of reminds me of the Momo urban legend. The fact that the hulking Oz is often intimidated by her in every interaction relies on the performances of both Farrell and Milioti to make us believe it so. I know some people are going to criticize the show for its “wokeness” but Sofia’s past shows the dangers of the patriarchy where even the daughter of Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong replacing John Turturro in flashbacks) can be treated poorly and taken advantage of. There’s obvious parallels to how Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes have been treated while other male celebrities have allow drunken psychopaths with no consequences.
Feliz, who played Alex Wilder in the MCU series Runaways, shows that behind his aw-shucks babyface Vic is capable of being a rising criminal. During an interaction with a Gotham police officer who notices a huge wad of cash in his pocket, Feliz shows off a little nervous as he plays it off by letting the cop take the money to leave him alone. In many ways, he’s the only sympathetic character on the show. Even Oz’s mother, Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell), shows that only a mother’s love can go so far. And Sigmund Freud would have something to say about their relationship.
There’s also nice performances by Clancy Brown as Salvatore “Sal” Maroni and Shohreh Aghdashloo as his wife, Nadia, that I wish they were in the series more. But what LeFranc and directors such as Helen Shaver and Craig Zobel have done is in the vein of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The series seems to exist in the actual real world where crime, corruption, drug manufacturing and decadence is a way of life most of the residents live with. It’s like other HBO crime dramas like The Sopranos and The Wire where do you don’t know who to trust or who is going to whacked next.
I think if you had told people just a few years ago, The Penguin would be one of the best drama series on TV leaving the audience wanting more they’d call you crazy. And what I like about it is it’s no holds barred approach. Other gangster shows like Tulsa King have totally ruin a good concept because of the egos of the star and show-creator got in the way. Farrell is capable of being wonderful in roles despite some earlier problems in his career. This is not the Farrell of the 2000s. He’s willing to risk his GQ cover looks to commit 100 percent to a role. Just look at his comedic turn in the dark comedy Horrible Bosses.
But the bigger star is Milioti who is able to turn herself into a character if you double-cross in a dream, you wake up and beg for forgiveness.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 