MOVIE REVIEW: BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT

The latest Batman animated adventure is here.Â This time it’s Victorian era Gotham and a killer is stalking the streets of our beloved fictional city and he’s killing ladies of the night.Â They call him Jack.Â Meanwhile a new figure is tackling the crime head on and has become known as Batman.Â It’s not long before the two figures meet head to head and Gotham will never be the same again.

As ever I’ll be upfront with you guys.Â I haven’t read this story of the Batman.Â So unlike The Killing Joke I started this film with no preconceptions as to what I wanted to see.Â That could have been why I didn’t enjoy The Killing Joke adaptation as much as I should, but then, if we’re honest, not many of us did enjoy that as much as we should.Â So this review is basically a review of the film in front of me rather than a lamenting of my expectations of what I really wanted to see.Â I understand though that fans of the original story will be slightly annoyed as I’ve heard through trusted sources that it goes far from the track of that story.

The animation reminds me of the 90’s animation, without the sound being as perfect, but there is certainly a nod to the animated series while creating the Victorian world.Â All the characters that you might expect and some that were a nice addition were here, although not in the way that you think they are going to be presented.Â So don’t think that everything is going to be run of the mill with the character designs or lives.Â The other thing that I have to point out to the more vigilant among you Crusader Readers is that this film is far from one that you show your 8-year-old nephew.Â The action and the violence, along with some choice swearing, all means that this is surely aimed at the more mature audience.Â The story is missing a few tricks though.Â But don’t get me wrong this is DC’s strongest animated feature in years.Â It’s just that something bothered me while watching the film.

If the filmmakers had added 10 minutes of exploration of the world, the start of Bruce’s journey, his travels around the world to become The Bat that would have jumped this up to the levels of brilliance.Â Sadly they just have Bruce make some comments about meeting famous people.Â Also adding another 10 minutes at the end, to open up the world after the finale, which is exciting and a great fight scene, it would have left the door open for future adventures in this beautiful world that they created. Â Taking the running time up closer to the hour and a half mark and placing this in theatres would have made it a no brainer.Â Seeing the old Gotham on the big screen would have made me very happy.

The voice acting, Bruce Greenwood as Batman/Bruce, and Jennifer Carpenter as Selina, is great and when you throw in a script littered with the dialogue of the time it truly takes you to that time and place.Â The time has come now for DC to use the Animated creative teams to create their new cinematic universe.Â Or rather still just give us damn fine animations like this and expand the stories to the point where we can’t turn away.Â Not like The Killing Joke where they threw in extra pieces to just make us see different and pointless sides of the characters, they need to look at natural expansions.Â Gotham by Gaslight could easily have been a 5/5 score folks, and it certainly circled the rim a few times, but it missed the mark.Â It’s still superior to The Killing Joke adaptation for me, but I see so much more that they could have done, and that is a tragedy. 3.9/5

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