Batman: Gotham Knight
BY Ryan LaMarca / 2008-07-09
To those of you still wondering as to where Gotham City is located, you can look no further, as it lies somewhere in the heart of Japan. "Batman: Gotham Knight" is the third in the new line of DC Animated Universe direct-to-video movies from Warner Bros. and DC Comics. This new feature is set during the time between "Batman Begins" and the upcoming sequel "The Dark Knight." If you remember back in February how ecstatic I was when the studio released "Justice League: The New Frontier," you'll also remember how I was dreading the release of this movie, a movie that will forever be remembered as the anime Batman. "Batman: Gotham Knight" stands for everything I oppose in modern animation, sporting a trend that has turned me away from many new television cartoons where traditional Western characters have been retrofitted and transformed into the Japanese anime style. How does Batman fare in this new incarnation? Have I got a story for you.
Comprised of six distinct and unique short episodes, "Batman: Gotham Knight" follows the Dark Knight as he battles crime and corruption in Gotham City. To many citizens of Gotham, Batman is a mystery, an enigma. No one knows who he is, what he's like, or if he even exists. The points of view of all kinds of Gothamites are expressed through several different interpretations of the character, all of which intermix into one storyline. Along the way, Batman faces off against various super villains, including the Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Deadshot. The relationship between Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department is also explored, as well as discussing what other law enforcement officers have to think about Gordon's mysterious ally.
The style, alone, of "Batman: Gotham Knight" is enough to induce extreme and intense vomiting. I simply hated looking at this movie. First of all, I am not a huge anime fan, but what I really hated seeing was Batman in anime. Batman is not supposed to be anime. I am so used to seeing Batman as he is supposed to look, a la the way he looks in contemporary comics, the way he looks in "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Justice League," and I can say that this is not Batman, at least not the Batman I know and love. This is something else, something masquerading as Batman, a cheap-looking imitation. When it comes to anime, I prefer more of the classic shows from the '60s, but after that I just can't get into it. It doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I'm not really against anime per se, but I just don't care for it. The aspects of this movie that I didn't like are aspects that people criticize from animated cartoons from the '60s and '70s. The animation, in some segments of this movie, looked like it was barely moving at all, and in others, the mouths had no dynamic feel. They just plop up and down with no distinction that they were made for that dialogue. It feels like something that was made thirty years ago on a shoestring budget, but marketed as high-tech.
I think what really killed any chance this movie had for me was the first episode. This was most certainly not the way to start this movie. First of all, it plays out exactly like the "Legends of the Dark Knight" episode of "Batman: The Animated Series," (ironically provided as a DVD bonus feature), an episode I have always had a problem with. The animation and designs here are the worst in the entire movie, as everything feels so squishy and round. And worst of all, it's narrated and told by a group of punk skateboarder kids who use the phrases "Yo" and "Man" about every five seconds, as in "Yo, man, this is like so cool." I don't believe that line is actually in the movie, but you get the point. The camera was constantly shaking, as well. I was just about to throw up from watching it. If it was from the shakiness of the camera or from the quality of the cartoon, you tell me.
I can't count the amount of incidents in the movie that came across as either completely laughable or downright lame. In one episode, Batman gets some special piece of technology that allows bullets to just bounce off him. If I wanted to see bullets bounce off people, I'd go and watch Superman. But this is Batman. He's supposed to dodge the bullets. Am I right? Also, the producers and directors felt like they just had to pour as much blood, guts, and violence as possible just so they could boast that this was the first PG-13 Batman animated movie ever made, even though that title belongs to "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker." Perhaps my biggest beef with the entire movie is that not for one minute during the movie did I feel like I was watching anything remotely related to Batman.
The only episode that I didn't hate was the final segment, called "Deadshot." The animation here didn't annoy me as much or make me want to eject the DVD and cut it up. The Deadshot character is also a character who I enjoyed during his brief cameos on "Justice League" and his more centered role in the DC Comics miniseries, "Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag." I felt the story was stronger here than in the rest of the episodes, and I was actually excited by it. So, the movie isn't all bad. Just about ninety percent of it is.
I was also disappointed by Kevin Conroy's performance in this movie. Let me make this perfectly clear: Kevin Conroy is the definitive Batman voice. He did the most phenomenal job from "Batman: The Animated Series" all the way to "Justice League: Unlimited," but his voice simply does not fit for this version of the character. He tries to use his Bruce Wayne light voice for the character in one episode but the design looked so unlike Bruce Wayne, it just sounded so awkward. And he was always either rushing his lines spurting out some nonsensical techno jargon or talking very slowly. Nothing seemed to flow in this movie, and frankly I'm surprised he even did it. I thought the whole point of this new series of movies was to create some distance from the established DC Animated Universe. Bringing back Kevin Conroy contradicts that entire objective.
Just like "Justice League: The New Frontier," "Batman: Gotham Knight" has bee issued a two-disc special edition. There's not too many extras packed onto these discs, so it really left be wanting for something more. First up is a commentary track with Senior Vice-President of Creative Affairs for DC Comics, Gregory Noveck; former editor of "Detective Comics," Denny O'Neil; and Batman voice actor, Kevin Conroy. This was a very disappointing track as I didn't find Noveck able to offer anything relatively interesting. Denny O'Neil did manage to provide some quick little tidbits from the comics, but these guys didn't seem like they had anything to talk about, especially Kevin Conroy. "A Mirror for the Bat: The Evil Denizens of Gotham City" is a featurette discussing Batman's extensive rogue's gallery. It's a good watch for awhile, but drags on near the end. It also felt a bit repetitive, especially after we got a similar featurette on "The New Frontier" DVD. However, this one narrows itself to only Batman villains. The best feature on the entire DVD is the superb "Batman and Me, A Devotion of Destiny: The Bob Kane Story" which gives us a lot of fascinating information about Batman's creator, Bob Kane. It really is a must-see for any Batman fan and it such an amazing look at Kane's life. The other good feature is the sneak peak at the upcoming "Wonder Woman" animated movie, which looks to be a hundred times better than this horrible movie. Finally, wrapping up the disc are four episodes from the spectacular "Batman: The Animated Series." Featured are "Legends of the Dark Knight," "Heart of Ice," "Over the Edge," and "I Am the Knight." Out of those four, the only one I don't really like is "Legends of the Dark Knight," an episode I have never grown attached to.
I wouldn't call "Batman: Gotham Knight" a disappointment in any way, whatsoever. I knew it was going to be bad from the first day I head it was coming out. There was virtually nothing I enjoyed about watching this movie. I hated it, I really did, and I usually give comic book and superhero movies the benefit of the doubt when others don't, but I just did not like this. I don't understand how you could call this a tie-in to "Batman Begins" because I certainly did not see a connection in any way. If "Batman Begins" were anything like this movie at all, I would never have liked it as much as I did. This movie is a travesty to everything I believe Batman to be and it's a spit in the face to people like me, who are tired of seeing classic characters transformed and tried to be made into something they're not. Direct-to-video movie tie-ins often have bad luck turning into anything worthwhile. We saw this back in 2006 with "Superman: Brainiac Attacks," which was made to promote "Superman Returns," but even "Brainiac Attacks" was better than this movie. The only thing worthwhile on the entire DVD set is the wonderful Bob Kane documentary and the preview for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie which looks to be a return to the more traditional style and which will definitely be better than this cheap imitation.
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