Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog
It's really difficult to explain a movie that is part musical, part comedy, part science fiction comedy. Oh, hey. I just did it. Some history: Joss Whedon and his brother decided during the Hollywood writers' strike to try something new: create a movie and release it for free on the Internet. Gain a following and then sell it, cheap, on iTunes. The actors worked for share, there were no distributors or corporations to pay. It was an astounding success.
So, Dr Horrible is a failed super villain. His dream is to become a member of the ELE - the Evil League of Evil. He is thwarted by 3 things: some faulty inventions, a basic compassion and respect for human life... and the superhero Captain Hammer - "corporate tool". With Bad Horse (the Thoroughbred of Sin and leader of the ELE) watching him to evaluate him for membership, Dr Horrible has to decide whether he will break his moral code to achieve his goals.
Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog is so named because the super villain keeps an online blog to communicate with his fans. This is an original and clever device that links the story together brilliantly. The writing is inspired. The music is catchy. Neil Patrick Harris (from How I Met Your Mother), Felicia Day (from Buffy and her own show, The Guild) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly and Serenity) make a perfect threesome of protagonist, antagonist and love interest.
Interestingly, though, the protagonist is the super villain, the antagonist is the super hero, and the love interest is a mousey red head with very little luck in love. Look at Dr Horrible, dressed all in white, and Captain Hammer, with his black gloves and t-shirt. And take the hint.
Joss Whedon has always been a master of comedy and characters. He is also an innovator when it comes to unusual camera angles. Even though he works mainly with television, he stays away from the old three shot sequence (over his shoulder, over her shoulder, both together in mid-shot). This is most evident at the start of Act II in the song On The Rise.
Dr Horrible, as his alter ego Billy, is followed through the first verse, his face stark against the darkness. The camera leads him slightly, keeping space in front of him as he walks, turns and looks through the window. As the verse ends, he steps backwards into darkness, a fantastic ending to the scene. Later in the song as he sings a duet with Penny (who he is stalking), the camera frames the two of them carefully, to have them both in shot.
Dr Horrible fits the musical genre due to it telling the story through song. The random choreography is hilarious, a classic example being when Bad Horse rings Dr Horrible and three cowboys jump into frame to sing the message. And a massive group number with crowds of people singing in unison for no apparent reason.
From the superhero side of things, we have the classic good guy/bad guy/damsel in distress combination. The rule breaking with the good guy being the villain just goes to cement the cliche in the superhero flick genre. And of course the bad guy with the alter ego and the crazy gadgets.
The music really is catchy. It's light-hearted and really adds to the on-screen action. An excellent example here is when Dr Horrible snaps. Pushed to the edge by Captain Hammer, he realises that he has it in him to be a really bad guy. Behind him, the music thrums - a swell of music and a blast of guitar music rips through the scene as the ferocity of his anger towards his nemesis comes to the fore. Up until this time, Dr Horrible is a reasonably moral person. Check this:
"This appeared as a moral dilemma
Cause at first it was weird though I swore to eliminate
The worst of the plague that devoured humanity
It's true I was vague on the how, so how can it be that you
Have shown me the light.
It's a brand new day and the sun is high
All the birds are singing that you're gonna die!"
The lyrics, coupled with the electric guitar riffs, signify a change in tone in the story.
Music, camerawork, acting and dialogue combine to make this one of the best movies I've seen in the past five years. And at a budget of under a hundred thousand $US, it shows that you don't need huge special effects to create a world-class movie.
And as for the experiment? Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog was No. 1 on the iTunes download list for 3 months, and is selling like hotcakes on Amazon. So there's hope for you budding directors out there.
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