Batman: Gotham Knight [Blu-ray] [2008] [Region Free]

It is documented fact that the epitome of Batman animation, from an overall standpoint, is, was and forever will be Batman: The Animated Series. With such acclaimed writing, pioneering, great animation, quality music-score, unmatched voice work and overall cinematic presentation, it defined exactly what a superhero cartoon should be.

And then came various animated Batman films, The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League and the godlike Justice League Unlimited, altogether making the Animated DC Universe, which is overall a thing of greatness. But like all greatness, it has to end sometime. So what do you do after that? Go into other areas.

And this, Batman: Gotham Knight, is one of them. Since Justice League Unlimited (and the whole Animated DC Universe) sadly came to its end back in 2006, Warner Bros. have done series like The Batman, films like Superman: Doomsday and various other direct-to-video releases with no continuity linking them together or anything else.

Gotham Knight is the latest original project from Warner Bros. and also does something a little bit different from before. Basically this is a collection of six short films, all produced by different, independent Japanese Manga studios. The premise of the films is that they take place in-between Batman Begins and its sequel The Dark Knight. While no major events happen, the stories are separate, very enjoyable one-offs with a continuity that nicely links them all together.

Right away, the whole thing screams `Animatrix', and like The Animatrix, it gets a lot of stuff right. First of all, is the fact that they've brought in Kevin Conroy to reprise his role as THE voice of Batman. And it's as though nothing's changed at all. Conroy has still got it, the darkness, the brooding, the menace; his Batman remains as perfect as it ever was.

Another merit for Gotham Knight is that they've brought in such acclaimed talent like David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Alan Burnett, Greg Rucka, Josh Olsen and Jordan Goldberg to write the different stories, and they all deliver some cracking stuff, each pinning down the basics of what makes the Batman (and Bruce Wayne) such a fascinating character; the urban myth of the Dark Knight, his relationship with the police, his `mask' as Bruce Wayne, the road he embarked on to become what he is, his war against crime, the developing and refinement of his technology, hard learning curves and his code of honour.

The films also use the continuity established by Batman Begins to great and creative effect. Along the way, we see how great the ramifications of the events in Batman Begins truly are. The Arkham Asylum breakout making the whole Narrows island abandoned to madness is such a haunting premise, along with the Scarecrow's reign of terror and still-at-large threat. The realistic approach established by Batman Begins is also utilised brilliantly, as we get fantastic incarnations of Killer Croc and the assassin Deadshot to provide the Dark Knight a real challenge.

As for the supporting cast, we obviously have our favourites Lt. James Gordon (now in full swing with his alliance to Batman) and Alfred. We also have Detective Crispus Allen (a great favourite of mine from the comics) and Detective Anna Ramirez (a new character that appears in The Dark Knight). Both characters are used very well in the films, becoming nicely established as a result. Lucius Fox also plays a guest role here, and his sardonic friendship with Bruce Wayne is mirrored to great effect. We also have local crime bosses Sal Maroni and The Russsian serving as minor antagonists, with their war acting as a good little sub-plot.

So...writing is excellent, soundtrack is excellent and the voice-work goes without question. But how does the animation fare overall? I have a great deal of respect for Anime and the whole Manga style. While it personally isn't my favourite, it can be truly spectacular, especially when it has the strong story to back it up. It's the same here, more-or-less. Although the animation style in the first film, "Have I Got A Story For You," is the weakest out of the lot, and I dislike how Batman is drawn in "Field Test", it's very, very good indeed overall, capturing the whole feel of the Dark Knight nicely. The presentation is excellent.

For Special Features, you can expect a nifty trailer for the Lego Batman game (that plays as soon as you pop the disc in) and Audio Commentary for the whole feature film, provided by Gregory Noveck (DC Comics Senior Vice President/Creative Affairs), Kevin Conroy and legendary former Batman Editor/Writer, Dennis O' Neil. The commentary is very good, as we get discussions over inspirations for the films, the premises and some interesting outside, real-life stories relating to Batman. It is a shame though that that's all we get. Surely there could've been room for the trailer and documentary on the disc, as that would've rounded everything up rather nicely.

As I said before, the epitome of Batman animation is The Animated Series, Mask of the Phantasm, Return of the Joker etc but this isn't trying to be anything like that. This is something new and while not perfect, it's truly a thing of high-quality. I would really recommend Batman: Gotham Knight to all fans of the Caped Crusader and Japanese animation itself. It's a great tie-in product to the film franchise, and at such a bargain price, there's no real reason NOT to get it. The ideal thing to purchase until The Dark Knight comes out on DVD.

This was an absolutely brilliant experience. I'm not a big fan of japanese animation, but I must say, it was a good addition to setting the mood for the atmosphere set by the writers.

After some of the poor attempts such as "the batman" series, this DVD brought Batman animation back to high standards. I would rate this as being as good as the Batman TAS. Watching this made me proud of being a big fan of the dark knight and gives me hope that "The Dark Knight" movie will be nothing short of spectacular.

Keep up the good work DC, this is the way Batman is meant to be!

Combining some of the greatest writers in the business, Gotham Knight is a 6 story movie that focuses on how Bruce Wayne went from The Batman to The Dark Knight.

Have I Got A Story For You: Starts off the movie with a group of kids telling stories of their encounters of the Batman. They are ranging from him being a shadow creature that can disappear and re-appear at will, to simply a giant bat. This isn't the best start to the movie but it gives us an idea of how Batman is perceived by those in the Gotham world.

Crossfire: Is a story based around two cops, Detectives Ramirez & Allen. Allen & Ramirez are dropping a criminal off at an insane asylum and on the journey we're subjected to the hatred that the man has for the Dark Knight. He doesn't like vigilantes but after being caught in a crossfire between the Russians & the Italians, Allen's mind is changed when the Batman shows up.

Field Test: Is a vision of a young Batman trying out the new gadgets created by Lucius Fox, but after an accident caused as a result of one of the gadgets, Wayne decides towards other means of protection.

In Darkness Dwells: Written by David Goyer, writer of Blade and co-writer of Batman Begins. The Dark Knight finds himself in the sewers of Gotham City where he's forced to take on Killer Croc and once again fight the Scarecrow.

Working Through Pain: This shows us the interesting past of Bruce and how he was taught the skill of handling pain.

Deadshot: The title speaks for itself as in this finale we're shown the real reason why Batman hates guns as he's forced to take on the might of the man that never misses.

I went into this film with a bit of skepticism as I'm not usually a fan of the anime style of animation. However, the short stories featured in this feature length animation are astounding and shed some light on the Batman character. The whole anime style is not for everyone, and I must say before I saw this I hated the style myself. After seeing this I come to realise that this style of animation has a way of showing real emotion through clever imagery. Be warned though, to those parents of children who are fans of the Batman series and are thinking of buying this for their kids, it has its moments of graphic violence and colourful use of language.

Overall this is a great little time waster and something that you can watch and be pleasantly entertained by