The Film
Similar to what they did with The Animatrix, the anime take on The Wachowskis Matrix universe as the sequels approached, Warner has tendered Batman: Gotham Knight, comprised of five interlocking segments from a quintet of different directors. The story fits neatly into that gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight in several subtle ways: Bruce Wayne continues his education, Lucius Fox is still hooking him up with gadgets, and The Narrows district of Gotham City has been consumed by the insanity unleashed by The Scarecrow, who remains at large.
These stories play into The Batman's mystique, his perception in his hometown, even while the timeline hops around in a Tarantino-esque fashion We see him in several highly stylized incarnations, some unique to this direct-to-video movie. The voice of star Kevin Conroy, who has been playing Batman/Bruce Wayne since 1992, holds all the disparate styles together. The movie is rated PG-13 for some choice words and violence, including frequent blood.
The Picture
The 1.85:1 image has apparently been matted down to widescreen from standard TV's 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The video quality too suggests that it was not produced to true high-definition standards. Beginning with the first segment, "Have I Got a Story For You," a layer of hazy pixels serves to obscure the animation, which is a blend of traditional and digital techniques. "Crossfire" suffers from some ringing in the skies and the shadows, like many discs, but even faces are affected here. "Field Test" has the most high-tech look, with awesome detail at times. The animated rain is the real villain of "In Darkness Dwells," bringing with it a distracting rainbow artifacting. Ironically, all of the dark scenes have the same problem, which varies from shot to shot, or even within different areas of the same shot. "Deadshot" is nigh-perfect, the best-looking of the bunch.
Each new story brings with it a new palette, and the color is consistently the strongpoint of the video throughout.
The Sound
Previous-generation Dolby Digital 5.1 is as good as it gets here, in English and Japanese, plus 2.0 for Spanish and German. (They don't like L'Homme du Bat up in Quebec?) "Story" displays some nice directionality and a touch of bass when a rocket man flies through town, even more low-end when an oversized Batcopter arrives. "Crossfire" gives us an offscreen voice in a rear channel, cars racing all around the speakers, and distinct presence to gunshots, an explosion, and a massive drawbridge. "Working Through Pain" is more subtle, with its atmospheric insects, while "Deadshot" made me sit up and take notice when Batman fires his grappling gun.
It's a fine track, not stellar, and I have to wonder if a higher bitrate would have made a significant improvement.
The Extras
In the commentary track, DC Comics Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs Gregory Noveck puts it best when he describes Batman, now 70, as "infinitely interpretable." He is joined by Conroy and revered comic book writer/editor Denny O'Neil. "A Mirror for the Bat: The Evil Denizens of Gotham City" assembles a team of informed voices, people who worked on Gotham Knight plus others, to focus for 36 minutes on Batman's fabled gallery of rogues. It exposes a remarkable complexity to these characters, but it is slightly redundant to someone like me who has seen a lot of these home video documentaries.
"Batman and Me, A Devotion of Destiny: The Bob Kane Story" finally summarizes the life and work of The Dark Knight's creator in 38 brilliantly-researched minutes. Kane was a fascinating man and this is a must-watch story for anyone interested in the legacy of The Caped Crusader. Four episodes of The Animated Series, hand-picked by writer/producer/director Bruce Timm, are presented here, all tied into the themes of Gotham Knights: "Heart of Ice," "I Am the Night," "Legends of the Dark Knight," and "Over the Edge." ("I Am the Night" and "Legends" in particular are not to be missed.)
Last up is a ten-and-a-half-minute preview of next year's animated feature, Wonder Woman, who hasn't been receiving nearly enough love from Hollywood. The voices of Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion will be starring: a Waitress reunion! These are all the same extras as on the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD, and in both cases all are presented in standard definition.
Final Thoughts
With each of these elaborately produced movies from the DC Universe--Superman: Doomsday, Justice League: The New Frontier, Wonder Woman coming soon--Warner is delivering juicy, well-crafted stories complemented by bonus features that really speak to the interests of fans. Batman: Gotham Knight is another volume that belongs on collectors' shelves, and in their Blu-ray players.
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