dragonfire88's Full Review: Batman - Gotham Knight
After the Batman movies went downhill, the franchise was rebooted in 2005 with Batman Begins. I loved that movie and have been looking forward to the sequel, The Dark Knight, for a long time. I recently learned about Batman: Gotham Knight, an animated Batman release and I decided to pick it up.
Batman: Gotham Knight was made by the same producers as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. It consists of six short, interlocking stories made by six different directors in different styles of animation. The stories were supposed to cover the time between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Have I Got a Story For You featured a group of kids sharing stories from chance encounters with Batman. Each kid had a very different perception of Batman that colored their story. In Crossfire, Lt. James Gordon assigned Crispus Allen and Anna Ramirez to transport a criminal. Crispus didn’t trust Batman, and as a result, didn’t trust Gordon that much either. Crispus and Anna ended up under attack from the mob and needed help from Batman. In Field Test, Bruce was testing a new device that Lucius Fox had developed.
In Darkness Dwells was more connected to Batman Begins since it mentioned Scarecrow and the fear toxin he had developed. Batman was trying to deal with him and reports of a monster, who turned out to be Killer Croc. Working Through the Pain had an injured Batman struggling to leave the sewers. He was remembering how he had trained with a woman named Cassandra in India to deal with pain. Deadshot was about an assassin who was in Gotham City for a job. Batman was working with the police to stop Deadshot.
The different stories that made of Batman: Gotham Knight were supposed to be connected to each other. I felt like the connection was only barely there and there was almost no connection to Batman Begins like I had thought there would be. I did think the stories were interesting. They just didn’t seem to connect as much as I had thought they would. The stories were very short, so there really wasn’t much development or depth to them. They all focused on a specific thing and were fairly simple without any suspense or surprises. It would have been nice if the stories were more detailed and longer, but they were still entertaining.
Batman: Gotham Knight was one of the darker looks at Batman. He had to deal with several criminals and that usually involved fighting. Those fights did get violent at times. Those fights did get violent at times and some of the injuries were shown. Sometimes those things were shown graphically. There were also a few things shown that were a bit twisted. I thought the darkness and violence fit in well with Batman. The movie deserved the PG-13 rating and it isn’t one for children.
Each of the stories that make up Batman: Gotham Knight were created by a different director with a different style of animation. Most of them were fine, but I didn’t love any of them. I really didn’t like the look of the animation in Have I Got a Story For You. The characters had an odd look to them that I just didn’t care for. I did think the animation looked better in the other five stories even though it still wasn’t what I consider great animation. I wasn’t impressed with any of the animation. The city and the characters who were in more than one of the stories like Bruce, Alfred, Crispus, Anna, and Lt. Gordon looked different in each story. There was really no consistency with how anyone or anything looked. It was interesting to see the different ways the different directors interpreted the characters.
Batman was the only character to be all six of the stories. Bruce was only shown in some of them. There was only a little bit of development for him, but it did add to the character and his methods for what he was doing. That especially came though in Working Through the Pain. Kevin Conroy, the man who did the voice for Bruce/Batman for Batman: The Animated Series, did the voice for Bruce/Batman. Alfred was only briefly around, and there was no exploration of the relationship he shared with Bruce/Batman. Bruce’s parents were very briefly shown in a flashback.
Lt. Gordon was only barely shown as well. Crispus and Anna were featured a bit more, especially in Crossfire. I don’t remember those characters being involved in any other versions of Batman that I have seen. Scarecrow was barely used and there really weren’t any new developments there. It did seem a little pointless to squeeze Killer Croc in since he didn’t do much. There also wasn’t a lot about Deadshot either. Cassandra was a woman that Bruce met in India who trained him to deal with pain. There was a little more shared about her and she did seem interesting. With the stories being as short as they were, there just wasn’t time to fully explore the characters. It was interesting to see some different villains, but it would have been nice if they received more attention. The Joker and Harvey Dent, two characters who look to be very important to The Dark Knight, were not featured or even mentioned.
Voice Talent
Corey Burton - Scarecrow Kevin Conroy - Bruce Wayne/Batman Gary Dourdan - Crispus Allen David McCallum - Alfred Jason Marsden - Thomas Wayne Jim Meskimen - Lt. Gordon/Deadshot Parminder Nagra - Cassandra Anna Ortiz - Anna Ramirez Kevin Michael Richardson - Lucius Fox Andrea Romano - Martha Wayne
DVD Information
Batman: Gotham Knight was released straight to DVD on July 8, 2008. It was released as a single disc and a two disc special edition. The single disc has commentary by people connected to Batman, including Kevin Conroy. There was also a look at the upcoming Wonder Woman direct to DVD animated movie release. The special edition included those things as well as a documentaries on Bab Kane and different characters connected to Batman. There are also four episodes from Batman: The Animated Series introduced by Bruce Timm. I decided to get the special edition because of the special features.
A Mirror For the Bat: The Evil Denizens of Gotham City featured several people talking about the different villains of Batman. Some of the people included people from DC comics. I thought it was very interesting to hear more about these different characters. There were a few clips from Batman: Gotham Knight as well as images from the different comics and cartoons shown as well. There was no mention or how the villains had been depicted in the movies.
Batman and Me: A Devotion to Destiny was focused on Bob Kane, the creator of Batman. It included old interviews with Kane as well as some of the different people he worked with over the years. There was a lot of information about Bob Kane that I thought was very interesting. It was talked about how Kane had met Marilyn Monroe and had a relationship with her. Kane actually based the character of Vicki Vale on Monroe. Mark Hamill and Stan Lee were also featured talking about Kane. Lee shared a few stories from their friendship, like how they would tease each other about their creations. Kane’s widow Elizabeth also talked about him. The two featurettes were wonderful and fans of Batman should really enjoy them.
Batman: Gotham Knight was an entertaining collection of short stories that helped to share a bit more about Batman. The stories were very short, so they weren’t as developed, which might bother some people. Fans of Batman will probably find them interesting.
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