Review: Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

[Scott Mendelson]

Batman: Gotham Knight
2008
75 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

At its core, Batman Gotham Knight is an anime-styled series, with six
12-minute short cartoons dealing with Batman in the world established
in Batman Begins. All six stories are underwhelming in the story
department and even the art leaves a little to be desired. The
animation is more conventionally realistic than Batman: The Animated
Series or The Batman, but the caped crusader himself never looks
terribly imposing or convincing. The stories do have the thinnest of
connecting tissue, but really they work better when viewed as six
separate stand-alone tales.

And the voice work leaves much to be desired. Yes, Kevin Conroy was
dubbed in at the last second as Bruce Wayne and Batman, but it's
downright awkward hearing this fifty-three year old voice actor voice
a twenty-seven year old Bruce Wayne, especially when Conroy employs
his more arching, over-the-top, and older sounding Batman voice that
he started using on Justice League (it's far less effective than his
subtler readings from Batman: The Animated Series). Dare I say it, but
if they wanted continuity from the animated worlds, they should have
gone with Rino Romano, who plays Bruce Wayne on The Batman at the same
age as he is presented here (Romano may never be Conroy in his prime,
but he steadily improved as the show ran its bumpy course). To be
fair, Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker suffered the opposite problem
when they were forced to replace Stockard Channing with a much younger
Angie Harmon as the voice of fifty-something Barbara Gordon. Harmon
did what she could, but she just sounded too young.

The other voice work fails to stand out, despite the use of various
voice veterans in the Andrea Romano catalog (Rob Paulson, Cory Burton,
George Newbern, Kevin Michael Richardson, etc). Jim Meskimen lacks the
gravitas to measure up to previous incarnations of Jim Gordon, be it
Gary Oldman, Bob Hastings, or Mitch Pileggi. Much of the voice over
suffers from a stilted, unnatural delivery, which seems partially the
fault of the stilted visuals. The animation seems to not be completely
animated (something like every other frame) and it most resembles the
three-season Spawn cartoon that HBO aired back in 1994.

As for the much advertised PG-13 rating, it's purely for the dark and
gloomy atmosphere and character models. There is periodic bleeding and
occasional fisticuffs, but nothing that wouldn't be out of place in
the PG-rated Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. And this certainly isn't
1/4 as disturbing as Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker (truth be
told, I'll be shocked if Heath Ledger does anything approaching as
horrifying as what happens in that direct-to-video shocker). Oh, and
Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker was rated PG-13 when it was
released in its original uncut form in 2004, so the sticker on the
Batman: Gotham Knight DVD claiming that its 'the first ever PG-13
rated Batman animated movie' is blatantly false.

Now, onto the actual stories...

1) Have I Got A Story - Very similar the much-heralded Batman: TAS
episode 'Legends Of The Dark Knight'. In that episode, two kids told
their differing views of Batman, which in turn were presented as
different versions of the character over the years (the first segment
was modeled after Bill Finger and Dick Sprang of the 1940s and the
second was a riff on Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns). At the
conclusion, they encounter the real Batman who is a little bit of both
versions. This is the same exact concept, except it's closer to the
1973 Batman comic story 'You Shoulda Seen Him'. In this version, the
kids tell more surreal versions of Batman (one imagines a Man-Bat, for
example) and yes, they eventually encounter the real thing. It's a
good idea, but it's easily the third best version of this story, a
fact highlighted by the fact that the episode Legends Of The Dark
Knight is included on the two-disc DVD and Blu Ray special editions of
this title.  (I would have preferred 'Almost Got Im', but that's me).
Grade: C

2) Crossfire - Detectives Crispus Allen and Anna Ramirez (not Renee
Montoya, no absolutely NOT Renee Montoya) get caught in a gang war
while transferring a prisoner to the Narrows. This one, written by
Greg Rucka, deals with Allen's resentment of Batman and his issues
with trusting a freelance vigilante. Fair enough, but the dialogue is
simplistic and Ramirez is forced to play the role of helpless hostage
at the climax for no particular reason (since Allen is the one who
doubts Batman, shouldn't he be the one in peril?). For what it's
worth, this one gives us a preview of just what happened to the
Narrows after Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow released their toxin at the
climax of Batman Begins. Anna Ramirez is apparently featured in The
Dark Knight, and I have no idea why she wasn't named after her comic
book counterpart.
Grade: C

3) Field Test - Bruce Wayne tests a new bullet deflection technology
with mixed results. This is one of the best segments, with solid
dialogue, good interplay between Bruce Wayne and Lucious Fox, and a
slightly surprising and suspenseful climax.
Grade - B+

4) In Darkness Dwells - Batman encounters Killer Croc in the sewers
and gets doused by Scarecrow's fear gas. An entertaining action-filled
episode, but it fails to have much of a pay-off.
Grade: B-

5) Working Through The Pain - As Batman struggles to find safety after
being seriously wounded, we see flashbacks that show how Bruce Wayne
learned to control pain and pain management. An interesting piece of
Bruce Wayne's past, but no more than that.
Grade: C+

6) Deadshot - The best episode is saved for last. Written by Alan
Burnett (one of the pioneers of Batman: The Animated Series, along
with Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski, and Paul Dini), this tale contrasts
the sheer obsessive professionalism of Batman alongside master
assassin Floyd Lawton (aka - Deadshot). This briefly deals with
Wayne's fear of guns and provides a terrific action climax. Batman is
at his most bad-ass in this segment.
Grade: A-

Overall, Batman Gotham Knights fails to engage even half as well as
lesser episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (or The Batman for that
matter). The writing is often simplistic and the action is so stylized
that it never gets your adrenaline pumping. In the realm of recent
direct-to-DVD DC cartoons, this is far short of silly but fun
Superman: Doomsday, the flawed but ambitious New Frontier, and is
about even with The Batman Vs Dracula. It is, however, far superior to
Superman: Brainiac Attacks (the low-water mark for anything related to
DC animation in the last twenty-years). If you're a Batman junkie, it
might be worth a purchase just for the documentaries and bonus Batman:
TAS episodes included. Otherwise, either rent it or skip it.

Overall Grade: C+
Note - The Extras are actually superior to the feature itself.
Included is a crowded cast and crew commentary, and two documentaries
running about 35 minutes each.  One of them focuses on villains in the
Batman canon and the other deals with Batman co-creator Bob Kane.  We
also have the mentioned four bonus episodes of Batman: The Animated
Series (Heart Of Ice, I Am The Night, Over The Edge, and Legends Of
The Dark Knight) and a ten-minute preview of the next direct-to-DVD DC
comics film, Wonder Woman.  It also looks better than this feature.