One of the greatest DC Animated Films Yet!
Batman Year One was released digitally on October 11, 2011 (yesterday, if you are reading this on the day it is published). Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano and company join back once again to retell one of the most memorable stories of DC Universe continuity, or old continuity (prior to the events of Flashpoint and New 52). The Batman Year One takes place in the corrupted city of Gotham, eighteen years passed the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, Thomas and Martha. Having left to travel the world and hone his skills, Bruce is ready to become the protector of Gotham City, but that isn't all that is happening in Gotham. A Chicago cop gets transferred to Gotham City where he begins to start his life over again with his wife and new baby boy on the way, this cop is James Gordon! How will the duo of Batman and Jim Gordon meet, and what is in the future for Gotham? All this and more as Year One tells Batman's story all over again!
It's something about this story that no matter how old you are, you've got to respect how much time was actually put in the comic when it was released over 20 years ago. Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli did an outstanding job working on the series and it turned out to be one of the grinding points of Batman's continuity. With the DC Animated team, they saw a challenge with Year One and put every ounce of the comic into the film, which is strange to see that past films they had to edit much of the material out, however Year One gets the full treatment. Which is a great change every now and then. As most know, Batman: Year One is not about Batman, it's about Jim Gordon, as most of the story is told from his perspective. It does sound weird once thinking about it, but Jim is in his prime and out in the field as a lieutenant, not as the Commissioner of Gotham.
What about action, violence, fighting?! Well there is plenty of that! What did you expect, Batman: Year One to be violentless? I think two of the most fast paced Batman/Bruce fights that I personally enjoyed was the Bruce Wayne street fight against Selina Kyle and also near the end of the building scene with Batman. While the building scene with Batman doesn't have the most consecutive violent/fighting moments, it is the Selina Kyle fight that Bruce had in the streets. Great choreography on the part of the DC animated team, I salute you! There were also lots of broken bones that added to the great fight scenes of this film, Ben also adds his sense of humor to Batman when he makes a visit to a drug lord "...I know pain, sometimes I share my pain..." Trust me it sounds funnier than what you just read.
The tone of the movie is perfect. From the music to the artwork, Bruce Timm has created a masterpiece that fans will truly be proud of. Seeing that nothing was edited out of the film, we still get to see the affair that Jim Gordon had with Detective Sarah Essen. This is one of the moments of Gordon's life that he could've handled differently, however when Frank Miller originally wrote the story it showed that Jim Gordon might be this great figure in Batman's life, but that still makes him human. While the mistake should not be praised whatsoever, I do enjoy seeing how the DC animated team put together this fine piece of art. This film mainly being about Jim Gordon, you can really appreciate the transition from Jim to Bruce, showing how the two of them are really different however it shows that the two's differences make them one of the most memorable partners in comic book history.
Unlike most Kevin Conroy fans, I do enjoy seeing another person play Batman. He's not the only Batman out there. He is one of the best currently portraying Batman/Bruce, seeing that Year One has Batman being a more of a cocky hero, Ben McKenzie makes a good first impression at being the voice of Bruce/Batman. It is always good to see that Andrea Romano is looking at other people who can voice Batman, she is a real professional at picking who will actually get to be Batman. This being Ben's first time being Batman, he really had the billionaire playboy and avenging crusader voice down. His own little twist to Bruce's comedic side was very funny as you can tell that McKenzie had a lot of fun playing Batman in this film. I hope to see more of him in more animated Batman film. To those who were wondering, Kevin will be Batman in the next DC film, Justice League: Legion of Doom.
Bryan Cranston playing as Jim Gordon was outstanding. I was really captured by how he took to the character so well, making Jim Gordon a very interesting and somewhat like Han Solo or Indiana Jones. That's what it seemed to me.
This is near the best of the best DC animated films. It is out today on Xbox Live Market Place, Playstation.Store and also iTunes, if you want the actual disk then you'll get it on Oct.18 (10/18/11) next week, but if you are reading this by that time, it means it's already out. Hoped you enjoyed this film as much as me, and also this review. See you at the next film!
