BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHT
2008
Written by Josh Olson, Jordan Goldberg, Greg Rucka, Brian Azzarello, Alan Burnett, and David S. Goyer
Directed by Yasuhiro Aoki, Futosi Higashide, Toshiyushi Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, Jong-Sik Nam, and Shoujirou Nishimi
Released a scant ten days before The Dark Knight, inarguably the phenomenon of the summer (both financially and creatively), it would be easy to dismiss the animated DVD anthology film Batman: Gotham Knight as a mere cash-in, especially because most of it is not very good. But that would be simpler than the truth: Batman: Gotham Knight may not be very good, but it was an ambitious undertaking and everyone involved seems to have tried rather hard. I would call it a failed experiment had The Animatrix not proven five years ago that this exact same concept and format can work very well.
As it is, though, we've got on our hands a semi-interesting attempt to bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. There's really not much story that needs to be filled in, nor are there that many truly compelling avenues outside of the main story that are worth exploring (unlike in The Animatrix, where various worlds and realities were open to the filmmakers' imaginations). The film opens up with the worst of the six interlocking anime sequences, "Have I Got a Story for You," where kids talk about their largely exaggerated Batman sightings, which is basically there to illustrate the fact that the Gotham citizenry still don't know what to think of the Batman (Kevin Conroy). Is he a monster or a man, a beast or a hero? I'll let you decide what conclusion the characters reach. It's a good idea, taking a page from Frank Robbins' comic story "The Batman Nobody Knows," but it's executed poorly, Shoujirou Nishimi's idiosyncratic animation style proving more of a distraction than anything else. Pretty much all of the characters have big heads, skinny limbs, and wacky-ass big bodies. It's weird seeing a Batman who looks more geriatric than heroic.
The second short, "Crossfire," focuses on two Gotham City police detectives hand-picked by Lieutenant James Gordon (Jim Meskimen), Crispus Allen (Gary Dourdan) and Anna Ramirez (Ana Ortiz); Allen believes that Batman is vigilante scum while Ramirez thinks he's the savior Gotham's been waiting for. Assumptions are challenged, lives are changed, etc. The short brings in mob boss Maroni (Rob Paulsen) as the replacement for Batman Begins' Carmine Falcone, and sets up the conflict between he and the Russian (Corey Burton), but it's pretty dull stuff. The gangland shoot-out, in an area of the city still overrun by escaped Arkham inmates from the first film, mostly consists of lots of bright flashes and explosions. All of this is surprising given that it was written by acclaimed comics veteran Greg Rucka.
"Field Test" is the next story, and it brings in Lucius Fox (Kevin Michael Richardson), who gives Batman a new device which acts as some kind of force field to deflect bullets. (Never mind that this is totally impractical since his suit is already nigh impenetrable.) This is the first short where we get to see Bruce Wayne himself, and the lackluster quality of Kevin Conroy's voicework is shocking. Conroy, who has been voicing Bruce/Batman for 16 years in various animated series, has become one of the franchise's best Batmen despite never appearing onscreen. Yet in keeping with the film continuity, where Bruce affects a deep growl as Batman, Conroy's voice for Bruce is much higher and never convincing. Director Hiroshi Morioka's bizarre Batsuit design is off-putting as well, though there's some decent excitement to be wrung out of the adventure.
David S. Goyer, co-writer of both of the current live-action Batman films, takes over writing duties on "In Darkness Dwells," a generally terrible story in which Batman gets trapped in the sewers and must face off against mutant lizard man Killer Croc while hopped up on the Scarecrow's (Corey Burton again) fear toxin. Why the Scarecrow is given an actual costume instead of the disturbing burlap mask worn by Cillian Murphy in the movies is never explained. The fight against Killer Croc is sluggish, its conclusion strikingly abrupt (and totally lame). I would've figured Goyer for the writer of the next segment, "Working Through Pain," which is by far the best of the bunch and the one which most closely resembles the movies. But no, it was written by comics scribe Brian Azzarello, and cuts through two different time periods. In the present, Batman deals with trying to get home from the Killer Croc fight after suffering a gunshot wound, while in the past, a still-in-training Bruce learns how to work through pain from an Indian woman. It continues the gun theme in "Field Test," and its structure reminded me somewhat of the Firefly episode "Out of Gas," which is always a good thing. It's a complex, clever bit of work, and while nothing groundbreaking, is definitely the highlight of Gotham Knight.
The last short is entitled "Deadshot," and features the baddie of the same name (voiced by Jim Meskimen), a marksman with deadly efficiency. The "Batman good, guns bad" throughline is again evident in another largely unexciting story. Deadshot is hired to kill Batman, Batman inevitably takes him out, nothing is gained. What Gotham Knight really needs--and really lacks--is some Joker. Yeah, Heath Ledger's dead and it would be wrong to ask anyone else to take the reigns, but there aren't even any hints of some looming threat. I'm sure that DC and Warner Bros. wanted to keep the Clown Prince of Crime under wraps until The Dark Knight hit theaters, but there are no truly formidable villains or obstacles present in Gotham Knight, and think how much more interesting the film would have been had the running theme been about the Joker making a name for himself and coming to prominence instead of the tired anti-gun shtick.
I've mostly discussed the story aspects of the film, but there's some intriguing stuff going on in the rest of the movie. The animation, when it's not totally ill-fit for Batman's world (as in "Have I Got a Story for You" and portions of "In Darkness Dwells"), is decent as far as anime goes, and the score by Christopher Drake, Robert J. Kral, and Kevin Manthei is admirably true to the spirit of the Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard score heard in the Christopher Nolan films. Batman: Gotham Knight works better as an overall experience than it does in pieces, and though I don't think it's quite as bad as I've made it sound, it's a far cry from The Animatrix or the other recent animated superhero DVD titles. What little reason there existed to see the film has now evaporated considering that The Dark Knight came out a month-and-a-half ago and is still on screens. Go buy a ticket if you haven't already. That's all the Batman you'll need in 2008.
- Arlo J. Wiley
September 3, 2008
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