Gotham Knight
Gothamite
Posts: 59
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« on: Friday, 1 February 2008, 03:50 PM » |
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As Promised…
I have a theory. I think in 1993, Bruce Timm sat down with WB executives and said in a top secret meeting in regards to Batman MOTP, “You know what. We should never make an animated Batman film as good as this EVER again.” With so many Animated features out there, yet more still on the way, from the upcoming Justice League: The New Frontier (excited about) and The Dark Knight animated Features (not so excited), one tends to look back at Batman: TAS and MOTP and wonder what the hell happened. For a while there, it seemed like the animated features were becoming like Grind house films, being shelled out every five minutes with mediocre plots that, in Batman TAS’ case, resembled the punch heavy, intensity light and drama devoid plunders that popped up every once and awhile between Emmy worthy adventures. Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman and the ambitious, but increasingly dull, Batman: Subzero come to mind. Sure a few sparkled, like Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and World’s Finest, but they still lacked a certain heavy, emotional connection that one gets from MOTP, a feature on par with any live action film of the Batman.
(On a final note before I continue, I liked Superman: Doomsday, but was not overly impressed with it.)
The Review
First of, one notices while its not brutal enough to keep children out of the theatres, this film was not made with kids in mind, always a plus for an adult looking to see a hefty movie, even if it has cartoon people in it. People die allot in gruesome ways. So even as a cartoon its images can shock you without necessarily having an R rating. The plot has many twists and turns that leave you guessing almost until the credits role. While its got the action to satisfy Bat fans and kids, it departs from the actiony cartoon template while engaging in a complex plot circling around revenge, natural justice, and good old murder through flash backs and mystery killings in the present, revealing the Batman Animated Series’ take on his journey to the dark knight, meeting a Jack Napier inspired “pre joker” unnamed hit man (with a nice payoff) and a Bruce Wayne, younger and still mourning his parent’s death in confusion. (No disrespect to the Nolan Franchise, but if you didn’t want Batman to kill and be a concrete no questions hero, THIS was the way to go, instead of over idealizing him and making allusions to him as a Jesus Christ Figure with a bad ass slant.) Big, dramatic, but also subtle (Another lacking factor in the Nolan Vehicle) and genuine, this movie is all aces in my book.
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil, to me, were the last two GREAT portrayals of their respective characters, theoretically on Hamil’s part because we’ve yet to see Ledger’s (RIP) Joker, though I have a sneaky suspicion his performance has been over blown by Nolan Fanatics who are hailing it as an Oscar worthy take and it’s the greatest superhero film ever etc etc… and haven’t even seen TDK yet. And I was never impressed by Bale other than his take on the façade side of Bruce Wayne. Though Jack’s Joker is still my favorite, Hamil’s as a special place in my heart. Twisted, balls out insane, but still holding on to a master wit and humor, he’s awesome, just awesome. Along with Keaton’s, I grew up hearing the often subtle but menacing voice of Kevin Conroy, and as I like to put, he is the Voice of Batman. Period.
Dark and Swooping, unlike so many other scores, the late Shirley Walker’s Composition for this film could rival Elfman’s. Also, the Noir Film style to Gotham City is deeply appreciated.
Is my theory correct? Or is there another Gem like MOTPcoming?
A+
Fin
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