Review of Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) by Harrison M — 18 May 2012

In the vein of The Animatrix comes Batman: Gotham Knight, a film (yes, that's singular, but we'll get to that in a minute) originally released to coincide with the premiere of The Dark Knight. "Why is it a singular 'film'," you might ask. The Animatrix was definately a collection of shorts, but Gotham Knight tries to blur the line with each 'short' telling part of a longer story involving a gang war. Does it work? Well, not really. The story feels disjointed and can be a tad difficult to follow. The film is at it's best when Batman's cracking skulls, but in about a third of the shorts he only shows up in the end as a deus ex machina to save whatever characters the writers cooked up. Only two of the six shorts have Batman fighting any major 'supervillains', and only one of these shorts feature villains I myself recognize. The dubbing is also nothing to write home about (though Kevin Conroy still is fantastic as Batman), and the writing ranges from decent to lousy.

The real reason to invest in this set is the presentation. The budget for this set is estimated at around $3,500,000, and it shows. Every single one of these shorts is beautiful, featuring immense levels of detail and astonishing levels of fluidity, with 'Field Test' and 'Deadshot' probably being the best. The musical score is also a rousing return to the style of Batman: The Animated Series, and it's never sounded better.

Unless you're a die-hard Batman or animation junkie, this set's a toufh sell. It's not terrible by any stretch, but it's a shame they had to try and tie all of these shorts together, rather than use the Animatrix style of multiple unconnected shorts, as it really limits what the studios were able to do. All-in-all, maybe give it a look if the premise and style intrigue you.

OVERALL: 6.0/10.