MIKE AT THE MOVIES: Costuming Can Make the Movie

by MIKE ORLOCK

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Quick quiz: Which movie won the Oscar for Best Costuming last month?

If you said Cruella – the live-action Disney origin story for Cruella de Vil – without having to Google the answer, then you obviously know the importance of costuming to the success of any movie.

Is it too big of a stretch of spandex to suggest that costumes can make the movie?

Two recent films – both in theaters, but coming soon to a streaming service near you – seem to think so. The Batman (R) and The Lost City (PG-13) both put costuming front and center in their story lines, so it makes sense to give a shout-out to David Crossman and Glyn Dillon of the former, and Marlene Stewart of the latter, whose contributions to their productions might put them on stage next March, following in the heels of Jenny Beavan (you remember her, don’t you? Cruella’s lone winner), when statues are handed out again.

Crossman and Dillon reportedly spent more than a year designing the duds the new masked crusader Robert Pattinson dons in director Matthew Reeves’ auteur retelling of the DC comic-book character. Reeves wanted his film to be an origin story of sorts for how all that latex and lycra were put to use creating the Batman look in the many Batman movies before his, and he also asked his costumers to create vintage looks for other Gotham City headliners, namely Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), the Penguin (Colin Farrell) and the Riddler (Paul Dano). So much attention, in fact, is paid to what these characters wear, it’s no wonder the film has a running time of three hours.

Pattinson, who cut his teeth in the Twilight saga, takes over the role of Gotham’s most conflicted crime fighter from Ben Affleck, who followed Christian Bale, George Clooney, Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton. He contributes his own worthy jawline to the pantheon of Batmen. Reeves frames him in his very dark camera compositions (this is one very dark movie, beginning to end) as a hulking presence, usually on the periphery of things before exploding into violent outbursts. In his Bruce Wayne persona, Pattinson conveys all the awkwardness of a teenager who grew too fast and wants to seem smaller, so he makes for an interesting antihero as he seeks to avenge the deaths of his parents and exorcise the demons plaguing his psyche and his city. 

The Batman, following in the footsteps of Joker and Justice League,continues Warner Bros.’ marketing strategy of competing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe by going darker and artier, in stories drenched in neo-noir tropes and philosophical angst. Poor Adam West – TV’s original Batman – would be completely undressed in this new universe.

The Lost City stars Sandra Bullock as a romance novelist who’s kidnapped from a book promotional tour and bumbles into a remote jungle on a treasure hunt in a low-cut, spangly purple jumpsuit and ridiculously high heels.

That’s a lot to unpack, I know, so let’s begin with the fact that Bullock is making a welcome return to comedy after several sober, serious excursions into drama. She plays Loretta Sage, a burned-out writer of Harlequin fare who would just as soon stay home with her cat and a glass of wine than go through the motions of promoting her latest piece of pulp on the arm of Dash McMahon, the dim-witted beefcake model who adorns the covers of her books. Dash is played by Channing Tatum, who seems to be having fun playing to type as a bewigged Fabio.

Loretta’s newest bodice ripper, The Lost City of D, unwittingly includes a passage she cribbed from her archaeologist father’s archives that apparently deciphered an ancient rune leading to a priceless treasure – one that billionaire criminal creep Abigail Fairfax (a never-funnier Daniel Radcliffe, post-Harry Potter) wants for himself at any cost. He sends his goon squad to kidnap the author in the middle of a publicity shoot.

Loretta’s publisher hires a professional mercenary named Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt in an extended cameo that steals the movie) to rescue Loretta, and what follows is a series of comedy bits involving Loretta and Dash (who crashes her rescue) against Fairfax and his henchmen as they race each other in pursuit of legendary loot.

The directors Nee (brothers Aaron and Adam, who also helped with the script) beg for comparisons to The Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone, but they do just fine watching Sandra Bullock mine comedy gold from the jumpsuit she’s been sewn into. The Lost City would be lost without her.

In another lifetime, Mike Orlock wrote film reviews for The Reporter/Progress newspapers in the western suburbs of Chicago. He has also taught high school English, coached basketball and authored three books of poetry. He currently serves as Door County’s poet laureate.