"Your salvation depends on the truth of your convictions"
"Helena Rosa Bertenelli, otherwise known as the Huntress. Age 32. daughter of a former, but respectable crime lord. You chose to swear your life to vengeance after your family was brutally murdered."
"...Who are you?"
"A logical inquiry, but you have no power to interrogate... I, on the other hand, do."
With DC being such a fountain of source content, it's not surprising how many fan films are out there about the famous caped crusader, but I'm yet to see any of them pull off something as tense yet minimalist as Riddle of the Mask.
"You and your boyfriend are connected to car batteries, that are both electrically charged from a certain point. I press the button and you both are dead in 20 seconds. I have found from experience that this is a very uncomfortable way to die."
The plot of this short film revolves around one simple question, "Who is the Batman?". Helena Bertinelli wakes up tied to a chair, faced with the death of her and her boyfriend at the hands of the weary and irritable Edward Nygma (also known as "the Riddler"). As far as plot goes, the piece could be seen as extremely minimalist. One location, three actors, and one long conversation. If a film follows a single conversation thread, it needs two things: compelling actors that understand their characters well and a hell of a good conversation topic.
Needless to say, this film got it right as with a simple question, lots of death threats, a few nifty Batman lore references and two characters at each others throats with mere words - this film in some respects has done what larger budget comic book movies have failed to do in feature length run times.
The cinematography of the piece is very unique, I'm yet to see another comic fan film to use lighting in the way that Justin Zagri did as though minimalist, it worked exceptionally well to maintain the tension, realism, and style of the film throughout the run time. The set itself is also interesting, as one would expect a short film of this genre would need locations of a greater grandeur to capture what makes the comics great - yet, they used a chair, some props, two actors and we never see outside the room in the fifteen minutes of run time. It's impressive to see a film doing this much fan service with the characters and situation while simultaneously using a mise-en-scene that consists largely of a dark empty room and a chair tangled in wires from a "car bomb" (notice how the bomb doesn't go off when the chair is kicked over. Nygma was bluffing from the beginning).
The camerawork was good, with the majority of the film being mid shots of close ups of the two main characters which really amplifies the drama by fully taking in all of their body language and expressions in reaction to each other. What really makes this film fascinating though is the framing and how the power balance doesn't noticeably visually shift in the second part of the film. This could be because of Edward having the physical upper hand, given his armed and dangerous position, opposed with Helena's oratory power - reflecting the "brains vs brawn" idea through the cinematography. Having said that, the shots with Helena increase in duration as the power over their conversation is taken, with the Huntress passionately ridiculing the Riddler with an intensity that leaves him broken with much emphasis on her victory.
"Break the man? Break... the Batman? A man so strong and skilled, and resourceful... and you wanna break him?"
Helena Bertinelli (Charissa Saverio) makes for an interesting protagonist figure in the film. Though her morals as a character are often questionable, Saverio plays an ultimately likeable character - one who held up against physical and psychological attacks throughout, only to completely turn the tables at the end. The defiance in her eyes and the manipulation in her words was cleverly done, from the original screen writing to Saverio's performance, and the downward spiral she sends Edward on was thoroughly entertaining to watch:
"You scar him, you break him, you take everything from him, but what do you think a man, even the Batman, is gonna do when he has nothing left to lose?"
Beau Marie, despite the pressures of the role when considering the iconic portrayals of the character in recent years, delivered a spectacular portrayal of the Riddler that honestly may be the best characterisation to come out of the DC fan base. His dark and cynical twist on Edward Nygma brought a grittiness that wouldn't be out of place in Nolan's recent Dark Knight trilogy, and a dry humour that can make an audience chuckle and be terrified simultaneously. His sadism fit really well with the character, moving far away from the camper characterisation by the likes of Jim Carrey and Frank Gorshin into a Riddler shaped by the darker Gotham that has come out of the shadows (pun intended) in recent years - the Fox series "Gotham" being an excellent example of the grittiness of the comics being brought into the light.
"I have... removed your deceiving
façade, and neither Batman nor your faith will save you here, sister..."
The anger in his character in consideration of his other iterations feels refreshing, and the moment when he kicked over Helena's chair almost felt as savage as the Joker's pencil trick in the dark knight - with the cinematography making you experience the shock and the pain alongside the Huntress. Of course as mentioned beforehand, Bertinelli got her revenge at the end, and Marie played the defeated puzzle master to perfection in the last act and somehow made this terrible character easy to sympathise with. All the best villains are those that the audience can relate to, we can expect great things from Marie in his future acting projects.
In all, this film is likely one of my favourite fan adaptations of this source material. The film being comparably smaller in budget than professional blockbuster adaptations would make you think that it would lack in quality, but the team behind "Riddle of the Mask" did more in 15 minutes than some films have done in their run time. The realism paired with the integration of the comic book canon just showed that the darker parts of the DC universe can be brought to the big screen effectively with the right story, writers, and talented cast. The mother of all riddles now, is how DC could pull this type of material off (officially) with the restraints of hollywood and needing to appeal to wider demographics in the mainstream superhero film market, but in any case, films like these will likely be made regularly for years to come given the enthusiasm of the fans.
Joke of the Day:
Q: What's the Riddler's favourite TV programme?
A: Question time.
A: Question time.
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