Batman Gotham Knight (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

I caught Batman Gotham Knight on Cartoon Network and I was very impressed. Similar to the Animatrix in format, it gives a sample of some of today's top animators' vision of the Dark Knight. More importantly, it echoes the sincerity, psychology and grit of the Nolan films, and that's where the character really shines. Made for promotion of last summer's The Dark Knight, Batman Gotham Knight follows the continuity of Batman Begins, including characters Scarecrow and Jim Gordon (plus a really cool, though brief take on Killer Croc). The return of Kevin Conroy voicing Batman/Bruce Wayne is really the icing on the cake.

The saddest thing about the history of Batman is the seemingly unavoidable marketing campiness that pops up every few years. This set of anime shorts really show what animated Batman should be - a mature, deep psychological analysis of what is essentially a psychopath redeemed only by his unfailing sense of justice. If only Warner would greenlight a serious Batman anime series like this!

The first chapter is a rehash of an old Animated Series episode called "Legends of the Dark Knight." It's worth skipping, but the rest are outstanding. "In Darkness Dwells" and "Working Through Pain" are worth owning this set alone.

Initially I had passed on Batman Gotham Knight when it was released, due to its similarity to the Animatrix. But after watching it last weekend, I have to have this DVD set to add to my collection.

These are my reviews for each segment
HAVE I GOT A STORY FOR YOU 2 Stars out of five **
The weakest of the whole segments, a very strange kind of animation, looks like the Adam west's batman, a little overweight and one thing that bugs me the most is that batman seems to have great difficulty beating one clumsy weak villain during the whole segment

CROSSFIRE 3 and a half Stars out of Five *** ½
Nice visual style, Batman looks more menacing and bulky than ever, great action sequences

FIELD TEST 3 stars out of five ***
Batman looks like the Phantom of the Paradise in this segment, not much to tell about this segment, Lucius gives to batman a new device that can disperse bullets, but batman soon realize the risks of the collateral damage of this new device

IN DARKNESS DWELLS 5 Stars out of five ****
The best segment of all, Batman looks menacing, it shows great detective skills, a fierce attitude, the city looks like blade runner, the sewers are terrific, the story is strong, the action blows your mind, the scarecrow and the killer crook are menacing than ever. And yes Batman looks like the one from the Tim Burton's Movies

WORKING THROUGH PAIN ***
Batman crawling and suffering in deep pain for the whole segment, while he has back flashes about his experiences in India when he was learning how to deal with pain, not my favorite one tough many people like it

DEADSHOT 4 and a Half stars out of five ****1/2
One of the best segments of the bunch, Batman fighting against a merciless sniper, the animation of this segment compete with the "In Darkness dwell" segment, a very frantic confrontation between batman and dead shot.

About the only thing that can be said in favor of this film is that the animation is often striking and beautiful. Otherwise, it suffers from all the defects of the animated series after Warner Bros. decided to turn it into a marketing gimic.

The animated series as developed by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and others was great, but once Warner Bros. realized they had a success they had to milk it for all the money they could: rework it for a younger audience, make it lighter, less dark and less intelligent.

Gotham Knight is dark, but for the most part only in the visual sense. The story line is almost indecipherable -- pointless twists and turns, jumps -- a mess.

The characters are superficial as is the annoying philosophizing.

Someone like Alan Moore can pull this off. But Warner Bros. can destroy his work and they destroy whatever might have been good in Gotham Knight.

WoW.. this series of 6 short, and i mean short cartoons blows..
1 "Have I Got A Story For You"- The animation is equal to the crap you find on cartoon network as of late "Dexter's laboratory" "ed edd and eddie".. that kinda crap. The cgi used for the backgrounds were well done and the sound track was alright. But when I buy an animation I like to enjoy the quality of the artwork.The story line was dumb I thought
2 "Crossfire"- The animation was much much better but the color of the short was so dark it was hard to see the picture even after adjusting the contrast color brightness etc. It gave me the feel from the spawn series from HBO. Good story line but again crappy art. Now do not misunderstand me I know Batman is a "dark" character who creeps in the night. I'm not a major fan but even if it takes place at nite and in shadows the viewer should still be able to see what is happening. There is a big difference between crappy art and being dark art.
3 Field Test" Was probably the best short. With animation similar to the japanimation in my collection I could now focus on the story fully. Again nice backgrounds and an interesting story.
4 "In Darkness Dwells" Was a mildly entertaining short. Again great city scenes and backgrounds. But poor character animation AND it was dark in some parts. Shadows on a persons face shouldn't be giant triangles of pure black.
5 "Working through the Pain"- Had good art work but I found the story line to be less interesting then the others. It was more of a lame flash back character development short.
6 "Deadshot"- This story was among the best on this collection as well. Clean animation with great city scenes and an interesting story to follow.


This title also comes in a 2 disk version and a limited edition Best Buy exclusive steelbook w/ a guide.

The worst version of the Dark Knight every created via animated or live action!! Avoid!!!