So before you write it off completely, look at who is involved. Gotham Knight is divided into six stories that are tied together. Segmens have been written by David Goyer (who wrote a little movie called Batman Begins), Josh Olson (writer of A History of Violence and probably the "funnest" segment here), Alan Burnett (who worked on Batman: TAS and wrote the Deadshot segment here), Jordan Goldberg (producer on The Dark Knight and The Prestige) and also a couple guys that have written comics: Greg Rucka and Brian Azzarello.
Also, let's not forget Batman is voiced by the one and only Kevin Conroy. Bruce Timm was the executive producer. DC didn't skimp on talent. And this is rated PG-13. The kid gloves are off.
Let me start out with the animation. The backgrounds were amazing. Check out these shots:
The lighting effects were pretty cool. The animation and characters had very fluid motion. There was nice use of shadows in different scenes. I also liked little details like the movement of characters hair or the way their clothes moved when they walked. There were a couple times when the characters seemed...less detailed. And can anyone tell me why in animes characters often have little beads of sweat just sitting on their face in a certain place? They never trickle down. It's like they're glued in place.
What did I think of each segment?
Have I Got A Story For You
This was the one that felt fun. I know Batman and fun don't usually go together unless maybe if Adam West is involved. This story dealt with some kids telling each other about their experience in seeing the Batman. Each kid thinks they can top each other. As can be expected, there may been a little stretching of the facts involved. I've posted these images before so they're not really spoilers but check them out.
As I mentioned before, the shadows and lighting were pretty cool here. I think it was during the Manbat part where I noticed a shaky-camera approach. That made it feel more...real. I really enjoyed this segment. A good way to start the movie.
Crossfire
This story focused more on the police officers' view of Batman. One officer in particular. He's not crazy about the fact that Gordon allows a vigilante to run free. He feels like he's just there to clean up after him. There's a lot of interaction between him and his partner, Officer Ramirez (voiced by Ana Ortiz, whose interview you can read in the interview section). I think because Batman wasn't a major player in this segment, I lost a little interest. It does pay off in the end. The fire sequence with Batman walking through flames was awesome.
Field Test
Here we get what seems like a younger Bruce Wayne trying out some gadgets for the first time. I have to say that Bruce looks a little too...manga. The character design was nice but it just felt a little off with Kevin Conroy's voice coming from him. I also have to say that I didn't really like Batman's cowl in this segment. He looked almost more birdlike. But we see more of Bruce Wayne in action and the development of Batman.
In Darkness Dwells
This segment had Scarecrow and Killer Croc. Maybe it was the drug induced hallucinations but this was my least favorite segment. Sorry.
Working Through The Pain
This might have been my favorite segment. It's a tough call. We see Bruce volunteering at a relief effort and getting some hands on experience in surgery. We also see his task on becoming enlightened. As Batman, he gets a bad injury and flashes back to his learning to deal with the pain. Hence the title.
Besides the training and fight sequences, there were some beautiful scenes. There's actually some scenes of blue skies, flowers, and butterflies. The cool effects are here, the wind blowing, flowers in the foreground and background, hair blowing, etc. Seeing Bruce's final test is pretty darn cool.
Deadshot
This is my other conteder for favorite segment. You may have seen Deadshot in the comics. He's a skilled guy you don't want to mess with. A couple parts where he was on "assignment" reminded me of some scenes from Wanted. You get a lot of bullet-cams. I don't want to give away too much about this segment but you can imagine what it must be like when Batman finally comes face-to-face with Deadshot. The scene on the train was just great.
DC has a hit here. Get over the fact that the art looks different. The stories here really define who Batman is and how he got there. You'll definitely want to watch this movie. Probably more than once. There's three versions. A single dvd version. A two disc version with a Bob Kane documentary, a featurette about the bad guys in Gotham, and four Batman: TAS episodes selected by Bruce Timm (Heart of Ice, I Am The Night, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Over the Edge). Then there's the hi-def Blu-ray version where your eyes can really feast on the beauty of the backgrounds (and contains the same bonus features as the two disc version). There's also a trailer "sneak peak" at DC's Wonder Woman dvd movie with voices by Keri Russel, Nathan Fillion, Rosario Dawsen and Virginia Madsen.
