Batman: Year One

Rating: ***1/2

Before Christopher Nolan spun his own tale of Batman’s origins, Warner Bros was in the process of shepherding an adaptation of Year One, the seminal retelling of Batman’s origins as envisioned by Frank Miller. No less than Darren Aronofsky, then well-known for low budget films like Pi and Requiem for a Dream, signed on to direct as he and Miller collaborated on the script, but sadly it was not meant to be.

Apparently what was meant to be was an animated adaptation courtesy of the crew behind the DC Animated Universe series of movies. Technically, this is only Warner Animation’s second stand-alone Batman story after Under the Red Hood, which is a more recent tale from Batman lore, and maybe not yet as influential as other tales of the Dark Knight. Basically, committing to Year One in animation form is as bold a choice as Zack Snyder adapting Watchmen as his third film, just to put this in context.

Fortunately, director Lauren Montgomery and her all-star voice cast is more than up to the task. The film straightforwardly and faithfully adapts Frank Miller’s story and finds an artful and beautiful blending of the DCAU style and the Year One comic artwork by David Mazzucchelli. For people perhaps unfamiliar with the source material, the movie may feel like a lo-fi version of Nolan’s script in Batman Begins, so the filmmakers deserve a great deal of appreciation for their restraint and their reverence for Year One.

What’s interesting about the story is that is really is as much, if not more, like “Commissioner Gordon Year One.” Much of the story follows Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City and his initial fumbles becoming a costumed avenger, but the balance is how a young Lt. Gordon, fleeing Chicago after breaking police corruption there, arrives in an even more corrupt Gotham and struggles to make some headway in cleaning up both the streets and the halls of power.

Giving the story its proper weight is the casting of Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) as Lt Gordon. There’s such a heavy quality to Cranston’s voice work, you can feel the stress, and the exhaustion, and the concern. Miller can be rather pessimistic in this writing and his worldview, but Cranston manages to find the humanity and make it real. Benjamin McKenzie (The O.C.) is the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne and does an admirable job portraying the young Dark Knight’s inexperience. He’s not the best Batman ever, but he’s not the worst either.

Also joining the cast is Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Dollhouse) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, which is a fitting choice given Dushku’s resume and the type of character she’s well known for, but I don’t feel that the character gets a chance to shine in the film. However, the disc does come with a bonus Catwoman short written by Paul Dini that does sufficiently fill the Cat-quota. Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackoff rounds out the name cast as Sarah Essen, a police detective Gordon becomes romantically involved with while investigating Batman.

If you liked the tone of the film Sin City, or are otherwise familiar with the source material, you’ll easily get into Year One. I think the dialogue, especially the narration and the inner monologues is kind of hard-boiled for the screen, but it’s just the way Miller writes that can be rather difficult to translate to the screen sometimes (see: The Spirit).

Still, for anyone interested in seeing Year One realized off the page, you probably won’t get much better than the fine work by the DCAU team. Year One is probably one of the better DCAU films as well, and considering the quality of the series that’s really saying something.

Also included on the disc is an advanced preview of Justice League: Doom, which reunites many of the favourite voice actors of animated adventures’ past including Tim Daly as Superman (Superman: The Animated Series), Kevin Conroy as Batman (Batman: The Animated Series), Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) and Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash (Justice League). And I’m guessing that unless the filmmakers completely drop the ball, it will be another animated success.

The Dark Knight

Rating: ****

Every so often, a film does actually live up to the hype; just like every so often a film can be nearly three hours long and still leave you wanting more. The Dark Knight is more than a follow-up to the popular revamp of the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins and its more than vessel for the final performance of a highly-talented actor taken before his time. It’s an exceptional film made with tremendous skill and talent; everyone involved in this movie, from the director to the actors to all the behind the scenes talent, gives 100 and 10 per cent, creating not just the best Batman movie ever, but a highly compelling film regardless of genre.

Playing more like an ensemble crime saga like Michael Mann’s Heat, The Dark Knight is a sprawling urban epic that tests the lengths that good people will go to in order to put an end to evil. No one goes uncompromised and no one escapes unscathed, even if they are amongst those that get to live to fight another day. I don’t know about comparisons to The Godfather Part II or The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s certainly surpasses Spider-Man 2 as the superhero sequel of all time. The film that takes the fire that burned so brightly in the original and pours napalm on it.

Knight follows the thread left off in Begins: the notion of escalation. A man in a mask and cape becomes the boogeyman of Gotham City’s underworld; the criminals that once ruled the streets with impunity now look up at the sky at night and run scared at the site of a floodlight-projected bat insignia. Batman’s (Christian Bale) plan is working: his example has spurned others to act as Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) wields great clout as the head of GCPD’s Major Crimes Unit and a new firebrand District Attorney named Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) fearlessly faces down assassins in court. If anything, things are going too well as Batman easily apprehends Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) at the beginning of the film.

But enter into this scenario the Joker (Heath Ledger). He has no name, no origin, no rhyme or reason. He’s a berserker, just a dog chasing cars with no idea what he’d do with one if he caught it, as he explains later. He comes to the mob with a modest proposal: give me half your money and I’ll kill the Batman. But is that what the Joker really wants? Of course not. “Some men aren't looking for anything logical,” as Batman’s trusty butler Alfred (Michael Caine) explains. “They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” And the Joker’s reign of terror ends up pushing all of Gotham’s protectors to their breaking point.

Key to the film’s success is its understanding of character. These Batman films are unusual because they have so many characters and plots going on that you’d something would get lost in the shuffle. But these films are so meticulously scripted it seems like everyone and everything is balance. This is less a Batman movie than it is an ensemble drama starring Batman. Some would intuit that as to mean that Batman is once again overshadowed in his movie, just as he was with the 90s films. But no, it just means that everybody is so universally strong and that no one character or personality overpowers the others. Gordon isn’t some guy that’s standing in the corner giving Batman a thumbs up. The mobsters aren’t faceless punching bags that get in Batman’s way. And the Joker isn’t so insanely over the top that he draws attention to himself at every opportunity.

Obviously, Ledger is key. His performance is so dynamic, so unrestrained, so pitch perfect for the part that he disappears into the Joker. Seeing the finished film, it’s almost easy to believe those rumours that said he was haunted by the part, he invests himself so completely in it. This Joker doesn’t kid around; his punchlines are someone’s death or dismemberment. Ledger understands the chaotic drive of the villain and his adversarial attraction to Batman. “You complete me,” he says to Batman with a bitter sincerity, “Why would I want to kill you?” Thanks to co-writer/director Christopher Nolan, we finally get, and we finally “get,” the complex connectivity between the two characters we’ve seen in the comics for years.

Also worthy of high praise is Eckhart’s turn as Harvey Dent, which is a performance of such heartbreak it’s of Greek tragedy proportions. Eckhart, who normally plays such scoundrels, is so utterly believable as the white knight you’re not waiting with glee for his decent into Two-Face, you’re dreading it. So much of The Dark Knight’s torment comes from Dent’s arc it almost steals the action away from the Batman/Joker conflict. Like everything else in the Begins universe, this Two-Face is stripped down, sympathetic and realistic. There’s no neon-coloured costume or hot pink make-up or vaguely Jokerish mannerisms, this Two-Face dispenses quick, cold justice with a flip of his coin, and in the end you can barely blame him.

But all in all, there’s not a single misfire in the cast. Oldman also disappears into his part and it’s a testament to how well the role is written as you forget its Gary Oldman behind Jim Gordon’s glasses. Bale does good work as the main character, fitting in nicely with the ensemble and not getting overshadowed by the new additions. I will say though that Bale’s “Batman voice” grated after a while. His gruff, deep throat tones are great for threatening criminals but not for carrying on conversations with. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are also great in what limited screen time they get for their returning roles, while Maggie Gyllenhaal gives bounce and substance to Rachel Dawes in a way that failed her predecessor, Katie Holmes.

I don’t want to give too much more away because I think a lot of the appeal in The Dark Knight is in the discovery and I’m going to go out on a limb and assume rediscovery as people will inevitably not want to limit themselves to one viewing. If there’s to be third film in this series, it’s going to face the same uphill battle Spider-Man 3 did, hopefully without the somewhat expected bitter payoff. Where will Nolan go after this, presuming he’ll be returning to the franchise at all? I don’t know but I hope he does return because I want to see other Batman characters get this kind of justice, and I think Nolan is far too made for this material to give up now. But hey, we could just die happy; we finally got the Batman movie we all knew was out there, waiting to be made.