Batman: Gotham Knight, a review

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Good Stuff
So, Malach who has a plethora of Best Buy gift certificates, went out and purchased Batman: Gotham Knight (BGK) and watched it last night. BGK is a direct to video 6 episode interrelated animated films; a Batman anthology, in the vein of the Animatrix. They are set between the events of the feature length movies, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

The shorts are written by a collection of well known American comic book writers, screenwriters, and television writers: Josh Olson, David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg and Alan Burnett. Each of the 6 shorts is individually written by one of the writers, but relates to the whole; the first couple years of Batman's career. As each short has a different writing style, they also have a different animation style, each directed and animated by a popular anime director: Shojiro Nishimi, Futoshi Higashide, Hiroshi Morioka, Yasuhiro Aoki, Toshiyuki Kubooka, and Jong-Sik Nam (Yeah Wikipedia is racist against the Japanese, no articles on these directors). Bruce Timm of course is the executive producer, and BGX retains his influence and additionally the talents of Kevin Conroy and many of the original voices actors from The DC Animated Universe. It is rated PG-13, for stylized violence, and has some pretty gory, though cartoony, violence in parts, including a decapitation, and realistic depiction of unanesthesitized surgery.

The 6 stories trace Batman's first year or two as the caped crusader, taking off right from a few months after Batman Begins. He battles the likes of Killer Croc and The Scarecrow; Gotham's ultra violent gangs and criminal underground; explores much of his psychological makeup (why he does what he does, and the crazy edge he rides and a costumed vigilante); explores his pre-Batman training through effective flashbacks; and finally fights off Deadshot. Much of the hour plus explores Batman and Bruce Wayne, what made him and why he does it. The animation style is pretty amazing, and yes, it has some anime elements to it, but not so overpowering that the Angry Piper will hate it. It is more in the highly detailed vein of Akira, Spirited Away, or Cowboy BeBop than say something like Naruto or or the cheesy anime rip off they did for Teen Titans. The animation is impressive, breathtaking in places. The fluid movements, the stylization, and especially Gotham.

The short films do an excellent job of establishing what Batman is, if you had never known what Batman was, these films would immediately get you started. The intro film, not part of the 6, does an very interesting job of describing how Batman is perceived from the eyes of 4 kids. Each has seen Batman fighting and unnamed robber, and each perceives him in a different way, while perfectly describing Batman's image. One of the middle films, has Batman deep in the Gotham sewers, severely injured, and bleeding profusely, attempting to make it back to the surface, where of course Alfred is waiting, fighting off pain and unconsciousness, and continually flashes back to his early training with a Fakir woman.

While for some, it might miss what they are looking for . . . classic Batman vs. Villain of the Week battles, true Batman fans, especially fans of Batman: The Animated Series, and the current The Batman, will love these films as much of the influence on the character provided by these "cartoons" is felt in this and the current feature films.

Malach gives it 3 out of 4 Rubbersuitheads, and be careful with this one around children.

I am Malach, The Batman