Batman: Gotham Knight Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Get Ready....To Rage Against Evil
Anime-inspired direct-to-DVD anthology film. Comprised of six short stories, from diverse creators, including Academy Award-nominated Josh Olsen (A History of Violence), Batman Begins writer David S. Goyer, and comics scribe Brian Azzarello. It's planned for a release window of two to four weeks prior to the release of The Dark Knight, and would bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
| Kevin Conroy | Bruce Wayne/Batman |
| Gary Dourdan | Crispus Allen |
| David McCallum | Alfred Pennyworth |
| Corey Burton | Scarecrow/The Russian/Marshall |
| Will Friedle | Anton/Cultist/Youth #1 |
| Brian George | O'Fallon/Arman/Scruffy Man |
| Jason Marsden | Thomas Wayne/Doctor/Cop/Youth 2 |
| Scott Menville | B-Devil/Cop |
| Jim Meskimen | James Gordon/Floyd Lawton/Deadshot |
| George Newbern | Man in Black/Guido/Man/Youth 3 |
| Corey Padnos | Porkchop |
| Rob Paulsen | Sal Maroni/Mole Man/Youth #4 |
| Kevin Michael Richardson | Lucius Fox/Avery/Wounded Man/Bulky Man |
7.10 out of 10 (2246 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Animatrix Part Duex
posted on 04 Aug 2009In the spirit of the Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight is a series of animated stories done each by different director and bridging the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Also as with Animatrix there were some I loved and some I just liked but all of them have to be respected for there unique concepts and vision. It is so interesting to me to see so many great ideas and different perspectives sprout from the original concepts of Batman and The Matrix. I'm always astonished at how far the technology of animation has come over the years and wonder if actors will some day be replaced by animated characters and environments that are not restrained to anything in anyway. Which will make anything you can think of not only possible but way easier to put on screen. All that said the film was enjoyable, entertaining and whetted my appetite for July 18 and The Dark Knight.
A lot were disappointed, but I wasn't one of them.
posted on 02 Aug 2009While the Timm-verse is no longer up and running as a weekly aired series we still are getting Bruce Timm and his company working on stand alone projects for each DC character. So far a lot have been disappointed by them, first Superman: Doomsday and second, Justice League: The New Frontier. Now here we have Batman: Gotham Knight and still people are giving a snake eye at it. To each their own, but I can't see what was so wrong about this collaborated animated feature.Unlike the least two projects this is not done in the style of Bruce Timm's work, instead we have a total of six world renowned artists from Japan who had their own visual look on the dark knight. Joining them are writers of previous batman material, including David S. Goyer, co-screenwriter for both The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. All stories feel like stand alone arcs, but they are actually connected and told linearly unlike Sin City, which some could compare in terms of story structure.The first story starts out in a warehouse where a bunch of street kids are skating with their skateboards. Each tell a story they had experienced earlier that day, where they all seemed to have encountered Batman taking on a gizmo freak. This story reminded me of an episode of "The New Batman Adventures" titled "Legends of the Dark knight" where a group of kids talked about their own views on what Batman is and what he represents. This is like that and like that episode Batman later shows up finally putting an end to the gizmo freak.The second story is seen in the pov of a determined detective who has a one sided view on the Batman; he considers him to be a vigilante, no questions. Both eh and Det. Rameriz are ordered to take the Gizmo freak seen in the last arc to Arkham Asylum, on their way they discuss their thoughts on the batman. After they drop off izmo they ride into a dark part of the city where they find themselves in the middle of the street war between Sal Maroni and The Russians. This story gives an introduction to the character of Det. Rameriz who is seen in The Dark Knight, we learn more about her hear as well as her thoughts on what Batman means to the city. This also introduces the struggle between Maroni and the Russians, which is kind of mentioned in The Dark Knight. However, unlike their film counterparts Sal Maroni is much more vicious and violent than Eric Roberts' portrayal, and the Russians look younger and seem like a bunch of street punks.The third story (finally)centers around Bruce Wayne, Wayne finds out from Fox that they can actually create a force field around Batman's armor that will help Bruce out when when the matter of guns are involved. This field can be penetrated with the help of Wayne tech's satellite technology. This technology comes in handy during a golf game Bruce has with some friend, but he really puts it all in use when he infiltrates the docks and takes on both the Russians and Maroni. Batman is able to settle their dispute once and for all and under the pressure both Sal Maroni and the Russian leader agree to both have separate lands to operate and not to get into each other's face period( This explains why we don't see their struggle in The Dark Knight). This story shows Batman's boundaries as while the force field works for him easily it can also be deadly, one bullet that bounces off of him hits the shooter in the body.The fourth story has Batman going deep into the sewers with Gordon and company watching his every move in a copter hovering across the city. This arc has Batman taking on killer croc and encountering now insane villain The Scarecrow.The fifth story has Batman walk through the sewers where he finds a case of guns, bleeding to death Batman recalls an experience he had on his travels to find himself, where in India he met a women who taught him about how to control his pain.The sixth and final story arc has Batman recovering from his killer croc incident and dealing with the box of guns he found. Meanwhile a cold assassin named Deadshot makes his way into Gotham as he is assigned to take down Gotham's finest. Deadshot embodies the gun, and here Batman battles this weapon. Unlike the box that he found earlier, he can actually hurt this one. This arc shows Batman's temptation to use such a weapon.The action is fantastic, the voice acting is top notch, everything is very well done with this animated feature. I would highly recommend it to anyone.
How Batman adapts himself to Gotham... good, if not great.
posted on 29 Jul 2009Having seen Batman Begins, audiences can't wait for another installment in the Nolan Batman saga. However, the kind people at Warner decides to quench our thirst with this animated film while we were waiting for "The Dark Knight".Set in the same universe as the Nolan Batman saga, this Japanese anime inspired film tells six interlocking stories of the Batman/Bruce Wayne. Each of the six stories has its own unique animation style and is clearly meant for eye candy, however fans won't be disappointed by this as it give a glimpse of what our Caped Crusader went through and what the people of Gotham have to think about him. Batman is not a superhero although he is clearly labeled as such, he is merely a tortured soul who wants to protect the innocents by giving the criminals a dose of their own medicine - fear.There are four stories which managed to capture my attention. The first story, "Have I Got A Story For You", interestingly explores the thoughts of a group of youngsters giving their somewhat exaggerated opinions of Batman, as the sequence takes place right after "Batman Begins". The art, which is done by the same group responsible for Tekkon Kinkreet, is fluid. The second story, "Crossfire" shows us two Gotham police officers discussing how their chief wants to protect a vigilante more than the city itself, and is a great look into the citizens of Batman. The fourth story, "Field Test", looks into the life of Bruce Wayne the billionaire, and his social life. However it is the fifth which is gripping, "Working Through Pain", which shows a battered Batman crawling through sewers gasping for life, and then showing flashbacks of Bruce Wayne's training in India for endurance. The weakest entries are from Madhouse studios, the third story "In Darkness Dwells" shows Batman fighting a monstrous villain named Killer Croc and Scarecrow himself, and the last story, "Deadshot", sees our anti-hero battling odds with a professional sniper. While weak in story and characterization, both sequences are visually stunning, especially the latter.The voice acting is commendable. Kevin Conroy returns as the voice of Batman. His acting is powerful and emotional at scenes. Some commendable chops - CSI's Gary Dourdan as a Gotham police officer who has doubts about the city and Batman, and Rob Paulsen as mob boss Maroni. The weakest voice job has to go to Parminder Nagra, who is seriously hammy in her voice acting.Overall, I did not expect it to be good, what with all the anime influence, but I ended up satisfied. Its great to know how people adapt to a vigilante in their city. However, as mentioned on this site, nothing can prepare anyone for the apotheosis of the superhero genre, that is "The Dark Knight", the cinematic brilliance that has Bruce Wayne battling odds and wits against the Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker.Overall rating: 7/10Delton
Okay.
posted on 19 Jul 2009The animation seemed lazy to me. And I found the music forgettable and amateurish. But at least the filmmakers seemed completely sincere in their efforts. And the stories had some interesting ideas. The imagery also wasn't bad. But overall it does come across as a bit rushed and lacking in skill/talent. Kevin Conroy seems to have quite a few fans but his voice for Batman seemed pretty lame to me.I'm frustrated that I don't remember as many specific details about the movie as I normally would but I suppose I should blame that on its blandness and not on my impatience. Too much of it falls easily under generic situations that audiences have become over-familiar with. Another bad guy with a hostage. A big shoot-out. The wise person with a past teaching a promising student. Sure, most movies and TV shows suffer dreadfully from this sort of lack of originality but that's the point; this doesn't stand out very much.Anyway, if you like Batman then this is passable entertainment but really not worth a huge amount of effort. Pretty good as a casual movie for kids (if/when deemed appropriate).
Batman in a new and original animation
posted on 19 Jul 2009This video proves to be almost an equal to Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1994) With the voice of batman being the same, which was a huge plus for me, this new animatrix like video really brings a spark to a very dreary area of batman at the moment (animation) I think this would suffice as a new animated series on a television channel such as spike or a late night TV program like adult swim. With the violence being better than the animated series these are the only places I could see this show fitting in. Definitely worth buying if you like batman. Worth seeing if you have any interest in anime, comics, or batman. Each short story put together make an epic single story that is mesmerizing in all its entirety. After watching it once I watched it for a second time in the same week. My favorite episode would have to be the final 6th episode about deadshot. I really hope they make another one of these DVDs or consider a TV series.
An Embarrassment.
posted on 13 Jul 2009If i was in Nolan's shoes , id be very, very glad this wasn't being promoted as being more directly linked with the upcoming release of THE DARK KNIGHT, although some will no doubt connect the two.. It is purported to "fill in" the chronological gap between BATMAN BEGINS and TDK, but this claim is overblown hype at best. Two of the segments deal with the gang war between Maroni and The Russian, but there is absolutely NO vital or even interesting back-story information here. Pay no heed to the yappings of hormone-addled fanboys. As it stands, BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT is a collection of bad or mediocre stories bookended by two pretty good ones. First segment was easily the best one animation-wise (Shoujirou Nishimi worked on TEKKON KINKREET), and i'd put it on par with the last one story-wise (they both get a 7/10). As for the crap in between, the less said the better. Bad writing, bad animation. Even the presence of highly regarded writers like Azarello and Rucka seems arbitrary. I don't expect much from Goyer but at least his segment was actually passable. Barely.In summation: Embarrassing. Huge potential shamelessly squandered. One would expect at least something on the level of the "Batman: Black & White" comics content-wise. BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT is being regarded as another ANIMATRIX. but that is really just insulting to the Wachowskis' work. Whereas that film delved into the matrix mythology via genuinely intriguing stories (and a top notch presentation), BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT is no more than a pathetic cash-in.
good addition to the batman universe
posted on 09 Jul 2009First of all: I was very, very excited about this release. I was blown away by the "Animatrix" and expected something similar in terms of quality.It's a good enough addition to recommend it to anyone who is interested in the batman and while it doesn't reveal too much background for the upcoming movie, it manages to keep a good pace between the episodes.There are def. some weaker episodes in the compilation, especially the first episodes reminded me more of the TV series. The overall quality of the story, visuals, audio, voice acting etc. just doesn't live up to high standards the "Animatrix" has set (at least for me).I would recommend this to any fan of the batman, just don't expect too much in terms of crazy background revelations and high production value.
Batman gets an anime makeover
posted on 09 Jul 2009I must admit, I've never really watched much anime but after watching Highlander: The Search for Vengeance I was impressed with the artistic style of it. So when I heard that a Batman anime was being released I decided to buy it after seeing how good the Highlander anime was. Batman: Gotham Knight was pretty good, it had some interesting visuals and it was nice to hear Kevin Conroy doing the voice of Bruce Wayne/ Batman again. Each story has a different kind of animated style so each part looks fresh. Batman: Gothman Knight does have a slight flaw and that is the segments are too short and because of that they don't get much depth, the segments are interesting but if they had more time to develop the story then they'd be even greater. The shortness of the segments also cuts down Chatacter screen time, one prime example is the segment "In Darkness dwells", you've got two main bad guys Killer Croc and Scarecrow and you'd expect some intense fight scenes and character development but because of the shortness of the story they're screen time is pretty short. Other than that minor flaw Batman: Gotham Knight is an impressive anime that's visually stunning and got great memorable scenes. The segment "Deadshot" is definitely the most visual and one of the best stories in the film.The segments to Batman: Gotham Knight are:Have I got a Story for You: A kid meets with his friends who talk about seeing Batman fighting a mysterious criminal who uses high tech weapons.Crossfire: After taking a criminal to prison two Detectives are caught in the crossfire of two rivalling gangs.Field Test: Bruce Wayne is given a new small arms device which reflects bullets, as Batman he tries it out but when a henchman is injured by a reflected bullet Batman tries to help him.In Darkness Dwells: Batman goes into the sewers under a cathedral when Cardinal O'Fallon is abducted by a mysterious deformed man named Killer Croc, Batman also discovers that the Scarecrow is responsible for this.Working through pain: After being wounded by a gunshot, Batman tries to make his way out the sewers while having flashbacks of when he was in India trying to find a way to get rid of his pain.Deadshot: An assassin named Deadshot is hired to kill Gordon but after Batman deflects the bullet Deadshot tells him that he is his real target.Batman: Gotham Knight is a great animated film but may not be for everyone, if you're not a fan of anime than you may not like this but if you are a fan of anime or a fan of Batman than you may want to check this out. 10/10
Nice collection of stories about Batman.
posted on 07 Jul 2009Batman: Gotham Knight serves 6 different stories about Batman. In these stories we see six quite different looking, yet familiar versions of the character on his way to become a crime fighter.Despite all the stories are visually compelling, it was the first story that stuck into my mind the most. In this story, "Have I got a Story for you" a group of kids are trying to relate each other what they saw during that day, when they happened to see Batman fight against a high tech criminal. The most interesting part of the story is how differently each of them saw the Batman, ranging from a shadowy specter to a high tech cyborg.The other stories range from Gothic splendor to anime and they all are well written. The voice acting and music do a nice finish to this visually interesting package.
Batman Goes Anime
posted on 21 Jun 2009Batman : Gotham Knight is a compilation of 6 shorts. It is made to be an anime, which is hugely popular in Japan and slowly gaining interest in other countries in the world.The first Segment is titled 'Have I got a Story For You' . It follows a story by young kids who told their peers about Batman, the way he fought and the way he managed to win the battle. Exciting, with a witty twist in the end. Absolutely well done in terms of storyline, but lacking in the expressions shown by batman and the villains. It was so generic and lacked emotions.In Segment Two : Crossfire, Cris and Anna has been partners for six weeks with Major Crimes Unit (MCU). Cris was reluctant to be in the force and has consider to be in other police unit. It was because Cris' didn't agree with the way MCU sees Batman, as a vigilante. Anna, however, were grateful with Batman for making the city much better.Cris' reluctance were somewhat mixed when Batman helped saved his life during a gunfight between two Russian mobs.However, the producer leave it to the viewers to decide whether Cris' perception of Batman has changed or not.Segment Three : Field Test. Yeah, true to the title, it shows how Bruce Wayne got interested in being Batman. He tries out his new power, and his gas guzzling, super power batmobile. My least favorite episode.I have a gripe with the fourth Segment, 'In Darkness Dwells' . The kung-fu were cool, but the visual is not that nice. It appears to be lacking in fluidity, the movements seems a bit rigid and unrealistic. And the scenery seems to be poorly done. Whether purposely made that way? I do not know. However, it did made it less enjoyable.'Working Through Pain' is the best shorts! It deals with pain, and how we as humans managed them. The story goes back and forth between Wayne's time underneath the city's sewer, suffering from much pain due to the wound in his abdomen, to the days when he travels to India to seek knowledge from Cassandra, the purported witch in the village.It allows us to think of pain. Of how it happened, and how to deal with it. Either to deny it and to bury it deep in the memory, or step out of it and realized then pain is a normal human feelings.The visuals of India is so vibrant, so colorful, so believable. Kudos to those who made this short for the time taken to study about India and her beauty.The Final Segment : Deadshot is a duel between Batman & a hit-man, DeadShot. Suspected of killing many prolific figures, Batman with the help of his trusted buddy, Alfred to find DeadShot.Found him, they did. Just as he was about to shoot at the Police officer, Batman managed to avoid DeadShot's bullet from entering the police officer. Ragede, he went to find DeadSot in the train and atop the train Batman faced the deadly hit-man.All in all, I found the shorts to be enjoyable. It showed the many aspects in Batman's life, what happened when he was much younger and what aspires him to be what he is now.
Loads of potential, mostly squandered
posted on 17 Jun 2009Batman: Gotham Knight is a lot like The Animatrix in that it bridges two movies with colorful and varied animation and innovative stories. Or at least that's what it should have been. While The Animatrix was fresh and exciting and superior to the live-action films Batman: Gotham Knight just seems to plod around familiar territory without ever getting too deep.Averaging at about 11 minutes each the stories are just too short to really make an impression and a couple of them end abruptly much to the annoyance of the viewer.Kevin Conroy returns as the voice of Batman (this will come as a great relief to fans who have had to put up with Rino Romano's voice in the new, inferior series) but there's none of the wild invention seen in the 90s TV series or any of the subsequent feature-length movies. Each story seems to have one idea and sticks with it to the bitter end whether it works or not. It would have been better if they connected the stories and built towards a better end.As a movie it fails. As a sequence of quick adventures leading up to The Dark Knight it kinda works. The animation is pretty and I'd like to see more but give us more depth next time, Warner.
Perfect Accompaniment To The Most Anticipated Movie Of 2008
posted on 07 Jun 2009I've just finished watching Batman: Gotham Knight and have came straight to IMDb to write about it.Well, the dark knight is almost here and to whet our appetites for the upcoming movie, some kind people have given us Batman: Gotham Knight.BGK is essentially several short stories that bridge the gap between batman begins and dark knight all done in different styles of animation.The animation from different artists are all very diverse and interesting and tell interesting stories with some great writing and direction.If your like me; a huge batman fan, loved batman begins, too excited for the dark knight then this is for you, although it certainly isn't worthy buying on DVD.
9/10 for style and whacked-out anime panache; 5-6/10 for stories
posted on 20 May 2009Batman: Gotham Knight is an anthology of shorts that are different from the original WB animated series in that it's not in the usual twenty-minute animated form (1/2 hour for commercials). It's more like a collection of comic books from Batman strung together without any real association aside from it being different interpretations from the Japanese directors. A similar mode went with the Animatrix years ago, in that it's partly a weird and intriguing exploration of the world created, and partly as a cash tie-in for the upcoming new movie (in this case, of course, Dark Knight).All of the directors, to greater or lessor degrees, have a specific vision to share with us Batman fans, and at best it's a real visual 'trip'; things move past with lightning speed, but so we can see a lot of "things" happening, and every so often, like 'Working Through Pain', the animators don't kid us anymore and show Bruce Wayne going through kung-fu training with a spiritual twist (I chuckled at seeing Bruce as now being an Asian). For the most part, however, the shorts don't have a lot going on in terms of real substance- how can they with such short amounts of time. The first, 'Have I Got a Story for You', relies on Rashomon storytelling from a bunch of skater kids on Batman; this one has some of the most creative twists on just the design of the dark knight. Then there's maybe my favorite of the whole lot, 'In Darkness Dwells', which showcases the Scarecrow and, briefly, Killer Croc (apparently a fan favorite), and has a firm handle on its very dark atmosphere and the harsh story of Crane and the bums.Other stories like 'Dead-Shot', 'Field-Test', and especially 'Crossfire', are enjoyable on the shallowest levels, and there is only bits and piece of a story going on (Crossfire relies also on a big mob shootout to make up for a paper-thin narrative). While it's great to hear Kevin Conroy back to voice Wayne/Batman, and to see some of the twists the animators take and the distinct styles coming through with a handle on making it fierce and graphic (it'll probably get a TV-14 when finally broadcast), it doesn't come close to the dimensions found in the original 90s animated series. It's a wonderful, absorbing garnish of sorts.
A welcome addition to the Batman franchise
posted on 14 May 2009Batman Gotham Knight: *Spoilers Ahead*Have I Got A Story For You: 8/10 Its almost identical to the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight" with 3 kids having different versions of what they think Batman is. I though it was well written and it was real interesting with each having a totally different idea of who Batman is. I wasn't a great fan of the art in this episode.Crossfire: 8.6/10 1 police officer has doubts about Batman continuously calling him a vigilante and is angry at Gordon for not letting the police go after the "gang war" that is supposed to be going on that night. Well him and his parter(who is a tribute to Renee Montoya, the current Question) get caught right in the middle of the gun war of the Russians and the Italians(Maroni) but hey are saved by Batman. His opinion completely changes for him as Batman kicks ass. It got off to a real slow start and that was one of my only problems with it.Field Test: 5.5/10 Not a fan of this one at all. Lucius Fox gives Bruce a new bullet deflector for the suit. The Italians and the Russians are at it again while Batman fights them kicking even more ass as he doesn't have to worry about gunfire. The problem is that the bullets deflect and his one of the Russians and Batman needs to rush him to the hospital while Batman gives Fox the bullet deflector back saying its "too good". The script was meh at best and I didn't like what Batman looked like.In Darkness Dwells: 9.5/10 The best episode of the bunch. This episode had everything with small cameos by the Scarecrow and Killer Croc. What made it for me was the communication between Gordon and Batman during the entire mission and the trust they showed each other. The score for this was also amazing. If you have to watch one episode make it this one.Working Through Pain: 5/10 I was mostly confused with this one. It shows an younger Bruce Wayne learning how to control his pain and not feel it as much and it keeps flashing back to the present time of Batman bleeding and struggling in the tunnels of Gotham. I was more confused than entertained.Deadshot: 9/10 Badass. Its Batman vs Deadshot thats all you need to know.*Spoilers end here*Overall it was surely worth the buy for me as the cover of the DVD is pretty neat as well and some of the episodes I will watch plenty of times. The only problem is the shortness of the episodes and Batman's anime art continuously changing through each story as each director has their own view of him.Overall: 8.4/10
Disappointing.
posted on 08 May 2009I've become a Batman fan ever since Batman Begins rebooted the film franchise 3 years ago. With anticipation building for The Dark Knight Warner Brothers have released Batman : Gotham Knight a set of six anime stories connecting Batman begins and The Dark Knight. However the noble this movies intentions may seem, these stories are disappointing. Each story has a different type of anime style. Most of the anime and artwork are very good except for the first one which is just kind of strange. The stories themselves are lacking the Batman grandeur no mystery, no suspense, and little action. Characters like The Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Dead Shot appear as supernatural villains but unfortunately are poorly used. The overall story adds little to bridge the two movies together. Rent it or watch it online, not worth a buy.
Very Mediocre
posted on 04 May 2009I am so terribly disappointed in this. I'm a devoted Batman fan, own every single DVD with the Dark Knight in it, and I must say that, if I could, I would return this piece of horrific storytelling and art tomorrow.The only redeeming quality of the entire six episodes was the fact that Kevin Conroy was the voice of Bruce/Batman.Without offering up any spoilers, here is my breakdown: One: the art, especially in the first story, is poor. The first episode is plain pathetic. Batman is shown to have a fifty inch chest, forty inch waist, and three in upper arms. His legs are about nine or ten inches long. Yes, I know it is Anime, but Anime is not usually synonymous with mediocrity.Two: There is no new information shared. There is nothing except "what ever happened to Batman?" As compared to the "Clone Wars" cartoon released prior to the final Star Wars episode, in which there were a few tidbits of information that the non Clone Wars people got, this offers absolutely NOTHING! Three: There is one episode of the six, mentioned once or twice in previous reviews, that notes that Batman has been eating quiche and listening to Barry Manilow records. He nearly calls Oprah to appear on her show to cry on her couch about a bad guy getting hit with a ricochet. Are you guys kidding me??????? He's Batman, not Quiche Man. Sure, he'd be slightly bummed, but he would never, ever, go in for the whole "emo" response he has in the cartoon episode. NEVER! Simply put, I want my $16 back. And my hour and a half. I would settle for either. Take my advice, dear reader, either Redbox rent this, or get one of your sucker friends to just loan it to you, if you are seriously interested in seeing this. But be warned, there is an excellent chance that you'll demand your hour and a half of life back.
Nice solid punch of shorts
posted on 20 Apr 2009I happened to pick this one up expecting a movie similar to how Green Lantern First Flight was. Instead it was a collection of short stories depicting Batman in his early and later years. After my initial adjustment and possibly disappointment, I did however began to like all of them. Much darker and much human than how the Batman should be, the collection focused on life in Gotham City for a hero who wishes to sacrifice himself for his principles. The animation was top notch, the story-telling superb and the background music chilling and dark as it should be. I would love to see more from this team, preferably an hour long one this time! 7/10.
Bat-man Rules Gotham Night
posted on 16 Apr 2009When I think about a mystic figure flying at dark and creepy night, no other CREATURE than " Batman " comes to mind. To me, he is Dracula persona who is on good side against evil. And I cannot miss one trace of his shadowy work on those bad criminals.First, I thought it was one fully continuous plot animation, very excited. But one part starts and ends, then, another title appears and begins a different story, a bit disappointed. For the same reason, I could not understand why some of those characters have zero relation to the ones that appears in the next story.But it is a rare "Batman" animation. I kept it patiently, and at the end of it, I felt a thrill of yanking behind and knocking down school bullies. Each short but thick plots is equally fascinating and deeply connected to those fans with expectation, I believe. The voice actor who played " Batman "characterized him with complete impression. And its animated details were minutely graphic and CREDIBLY visible. I was happy and I am happy to say, it is once again " Batman " who comes in full force be it movie or animation, at least to me.
Good but but not quite Perfect
posted on 12 Apr 2009First of all the length is my main complaint, Each short should have had a good twice as much time as they did.There are other issues, which I will explain below, but still what we do get is pretty good, some minor plot points tying Batman Begins to The Dark Knight, and the writers do clearly respect the character and his history, and most of the visuals are awesome.Below I will go through Each short, and some spoilers will be included.The first short "Have I got a story for you" is based on a concept used in earlier comics and cartoons series about Batman, a group of kids each tell stories about seeing Batman, all exaggerating things with their imaginations which has the overall effect of adding the Urban Legendness of The Batman. It is the least pleasing in terms of animations style, but besides that it was pretty darn good.The second short focuses on Detectives Allen and Ramirez (Just Montoya with a name change). This is my favorite probably cause I enjoy the character development of Allen learning to trust the Batman, and Anna was pretty cool too, at the same time it probably suffered the most from hafting to be 2 short thanks to the WB's silly 75 Minute time limit on it's Animated projects.The 3rd is probably the only one that didn't really need more time thou it could have still helped a little, but it's much more to the point in it's nature, I don't feel compelled to say anymore about it.Actually I was wrong above, the 4th definitely needed more time the most, especially since it uses 2 Batman villains, Scarecrow is just there to give a glimpse of what's been up to since Begins, But they really missed an Opportunity to delve into his very tragic story.The 5th has the least action, it shows more of Bruce's past joining and is pretty interesting, it ends with the set up for the last one's main theme, Batman' hatred of Guns.The last is probably really the Best, it has a nice climactic battle, ties some things up form before, and is the first time Deadshot appears in an Adaptation.Deadshot was portrayed pretty close to perfect right up till the end where my main complaint comes in.Once Batman Disarms Deadshot he becomes a pretty pathetic cowardly villain, now I know why they did that to deliver a message about Guns, but it simply doesn't fit Floyd's character at all.Deadshot in the comics is skilled good fighter and a very dangerous threat when unarmed, he was actually trained by one of the same people who trained Bruce, David Cain (also is the Father of Cassandra Cain who becomes Batgirl).That's where I feel their biggest missed opportunity was, they could have shown more flashback's to Bruce's training, and connected the Hero and Villain of the finale story.Anyways, I'd suggest any big Batman fan check it out, but don't expect Mask of The Phantasm or Return of The Joker perfection. I give it an 8 out of 10.
The Animatrix for Batman
posted on 10 Aug 2009Have only seen it twice, but am thoroughly entertained and impressed. I would not recommend this for children, unless a parent views it first.The detail, the emotion, the back story - It is probably not as good as The Animatrix, but it is the best analogy for it.There are 6 different stories to tell, each of them from different makers. So you have multiple styles all grouped together in one series of shorts that definitely pleases the eyes and the ears.I find something new to appreciate upon each viewing, there is so much complexity to the artwork done.Would absolutely recommend to anyone that was into DC or any comic book stuff. Really good stuff.Worth buying if $20 or less.