Review of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) by Mike G — 03 Jan 2009

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best movie you've either never bothered watching or never really considered a movie. Before Dark Knight and Batman Begins, the best representation of the Batman character and mythos was this animated feature from the early 90's, by the creators of the brilliant animated Batman television show (honestly, buy the DVD's. It really is one of the greatest shows ever made). Its incredibly well written, voiced well, great old-school animation, and has a mysterious storyline that has actually managed to remain both suspenseful and surprising to myself and a few other adults who I've forced to watch it (and every time, they have to admit how right I was about this flick). You'll be surprised how operatic and deadly serious Mask of Phantasm is.

It was easy to forget about the film, in terms of audiences both then and now. It didn't make a whole lot of money at the box office, mostly because, I suspect, no one wanted to see a Batman movie without Michael Keaton in it. It's incredibly serious, dramatic, and operatic - couple that with some surprisingly intense themes and frightening scenes, and it was one of the few cartoons I can think of that got a PG rating with no mild swears or sexually suggestive material. I remember it scaring me as a child, and I also remember being antsy in the many scenes of something called "character development" and "plot revelations", when really all I used to want to see was stuff blow up. How wrong we all were.

The story is rather ingenious in the way it slips around through time and manages to hide most of its mysteries adeptly, using a bunch of red herrings to throw the viewers off. It even keeps its most famous villain hidden from the film until the halfway mark - how often has THAT happened? The action scenes, when they do arrive, are really quite awesome, and although you may find it difficult watching an animated feature with no computer generated imagery, I found nothing flat or two-dimensional about this flick at all. The artwork is beautiful, in its own kinda way, and works in the universe of the film. The plot juggles a slight re-telling of Batman's origins, beginning as a man with a ski mask trying to scare villains, to the stunning reveal of the actual Batman character himself. Surprisingly, this plotline ties into the one set in the present as well, where a terrifying new guy called Phantasm is killing off mob leaders and blaming it on Batman. The dialogue may surprise you by being so intelligent, sophisticated, and often quite poetic - sure, we're used to that now with Heath Ledger's proclamations of chaos in Dark Knight, but back then, this was pretty new stuff to see in a Bats flick. The music also deserves a special mention; it opens the movie not with a quick and action-packed flurry of heroics, but dark and troubled choir, and at one point near the end the operatic chorus is so violent and dramatic, that you'll think you're watching the latest Ridley Scott historical epic.

Several scenes stand out as some of the very best animated films have ever offered (indeed, this is now one of my favourite animations of all time). When Bruce Wayne first puts on the Batman suit, and Alfred exclaims "Oh my God". When Batman is chased by the cops and doesn't escape cleanly, and instead is bruised, broken, and bloody. When the main bad guy finally appears and gruesomely kills a gangster - oh, don't worry, the death is off camera, but the body itself, with his smile twisted wide open and a musical stinger making you crap your pants, is definitely there. And the flick manages to contain one of the best scenes of any Batman flick - Bruce Wayne, having been discouraged with his attempts to scare criminals and finally finding love, confronts his parents grave and simply says "I know I made a vow to you - but I never expected to be happy". What a brilliant idea, never before shown in any superhero film. We've all seen Batman make his vow to his parents and wage a war against criminals, but think about it logically. How many times has something so deeply upset you as a child that you are still brutally angry and intense about it DECADES later? When a loved one dies, we often find ourselves moving on within a year or two, but Batman, before Mask of Phantasm, has always maintained his anger and power no matter what. Not here. He's given a humanity, allowed to rethink his mission, and can even say "It just doesn't hurt as much anymore". Absolutely fantastic.

Long story short, this is a great movie, one of the most underrated and forgotten masterpieces of the 90?s. Its easy to find in HMV's and Wal-Marts for around 5 bucks, and yet for years I fear all of us have been glossing over it, shrugging our shoulders in thinking its just another superhero cartoon. Trust me - its not.