Batman: Year One...

[Admiral_Young]

I managed to see it a couple of nights ago and thought it was great. It's Batman: Year One though as the poster above me states. Going go into this thinking or looking for more. If you have read the graphic novel then that is exactly what we're getting with the film. Bryan Cranston nails Jim Gordon's voice, he essentially becomes him. Ben McKenzie did a good job as Batman but I didn't really buy him as Bruce Wayne. The animation made Bruce look older than Ben voiced him if that makes sense. Eliza Dushku is awesome as Selina Kyle who has a reduced role in the movie (which is why I assume they made the short). It's extremely faithful to the graphic novel, taking panel after panel, the end credits has a comparison. I am still ranking Under the Red Hood my favourite of the DTV's but this was right up there. You really get to see where Chris Nolan and David Goyer took their source material from for "Batman Begins" while watching this as well and perhaps some clues regarding how Selina will be introduced/used in "The Dark Knight Rises". Either way a decent film that I would recommend seeing.

 

[Warped9]

I just saw this this evening. I thought it was very well done. It really is faithful to the original source materiel and manages to bring it alive.

I also quite liked the Catwoman short. Makes me want to see more.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I also finally saw the Catwoman short and while I enjoyed it...that had to be the most mature themed DC animated project that we've ever seen mostly due to content. I didn't mind it personally but it did feel awkward. I hope they make "Catwoman: When in Rome" but I guess we won't be seeing any female characters with their own DTV given the recent embargo that was discussed in a thread a while ago.

 

[Warped9]

...that had to be the most mature themed DC animated project that we've ever seen mostly due to content. I didn't mind it personally but it did feel awkward.

I thought the same at first, but then I got into it and quite liked it. Actually as the stripper was dancing when Rough Cut enters the club I actually wondered if she would lose the top...which she did.

...I guess we won't be seeing any female characters with their own DTV given the recent embargo that was discussed in a thread a while ago.

Oh? I must have missed that.

 

[JD]

I don't remember exactly, but apparently the Wonder Woman movie (which I've seen and loved) didn't do as well as they hoped they hoped, so they decided not to do anymore movies based around women. It's also why "The Supergirl From Krypton" story arc became Apocalypse when it was turned into a movie.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yep.

 

[Captain Qwert Jr]

It wasn't bad, but it copied the book too closely.
What works on screen does not always work in sequential art and vice versa. ON screen the narration is too curt, flat and often not necessary (Sin City had a similar problem), and the visuals didn't have the surreal coloring and shadows of the book. It was very bright.

I thought the meeting with the Gordans and Wayne was improved upon, though.

 

[Admiral_Young]

They copied the book as close as they did because they wanted to please the hardcore Miller fans and make sure they were as faithful as they could be. There was no need to add anything to the film and they didn't have the time to any extra.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The aniation didn't convey enough filth grit and grime.

In contrast, that floozy draping over Bruce when he met the Goerdons didn't wear enough glitter.

 

[davejames]

I'm ashamed to say I've never read the book, but the movie I thought was FANTASTIC. Everything from the animation to the music to the great sense of atmosphere was just spot on.

I've always had a hard time caring about Gordon for whatever reason, but this movie had me rooting for both him and Bruce in a way that Batman Begins never did. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was McKenzie as Bruce. He definitely had that film noir sound to him, but he frankly sounded more like a PI with a fedora than a dark and tortured vigilante.

And if I want to be really nitpicky, I found the Batman design in this to be a bit boring and generic as well (didn't seem to translate well from the comic). Seems like the story maybe called for something a bit more frightening and mythic.

Still though, solid A from me.

 

[RandyS]

I'm ashamed to say I've never read the book, but the movie I thought was FANTASTIC.

I saw it yesterday morning, and agree, it was really good. I have never read the book either, but want to now.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Well having read the book the film is a very faithful adaption with some nice sort of extended scenes thrown in.

 

[drychlick]

it was a little too dark for me! but it was still good !

 

[Captaindemotion]

Bump! Having seen TDKR last Thursday, I impulse-bought a collection of 5 animated Batman movies for £17 in my local HMV last week (if I'd bought this DVD on its own, it would have cost £14) and watched this on Friday night, along with Under the Red Hood.

I thought this was good, if not great. It's been years since I read the original graphic novel, but I do recall scenes with him touring the world and learning his skills, much like the start of Batman Begins. This omitted it, starting with him back in Gotham.

The cast was very good, especially Bryan Cranston as Gordon and the artwork was a nice replication of the original graphic novel. Cranston would make a good live-action Jim, though the Gordon here was arguably more robust and tough-guy than Gary Oldman's take. But he'd need to have Wolverine-like healing skills to recover so quickly from the beating the corrupt cops gave him.

I enjoyed it but it seemed to end quite quickly (then again, seeing as I'd seen TDKR the night before and it's nearly 3 hours long!) and without any great climax. Which, to be fair, is perhaps a criticism that ought to be levelled at the source material. Having said that, when this was at its best, it was very good; the scene where Batman used sonar to attract bats to save him, when surrounded by cops, bore comparison with the similar scene in Begins and held up nearly as well.

 

[Mike Farley]

The Batman: Year One comic series doesn't show Bruce traveling the world either. It begins, just like the movie, with Bruce and Gordon arriving in Gotham.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^Oh. I don't know where I've seen that story line then. (Other than Batman Begins, obviously)

 

[Lapis Exilis]

^^ The Man Who Falls was a 1989 comic that was a major inspiration for the training section of Batman Begins - maybe there? Various other stories from the 70s onward featured aspects of Bruce Wayne's training years.

I just watched the animated Year One - can't say I cared for it much. The comic worked so well because of the thought bubble narration which gave so much insight into the two main characters. The animated version took that out, though I understand why - internal monologue tends to be awkward in moving pictures.

But I may be overly critical - I think Year One is the single bet Batman comic ever written.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I think you may well be right about The Man Who Falls, that rings a bell and fits the timeframe.

I'd forgotten just how much Year One is Gordon's story, as much as Bruce Wayne's.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

^ I think you may well be right about The Man Who Falls, that rings a bell and fits the timeframe.

It was included as a mini-comic with the Batman Begins deluxe edition DVD. It was a pretty decent read.