Batman: Gotham by
Gaslight – 4 out of 5
I’ve never actually read the graphic novel that Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is based on. I’ve heard of it and learned the basic
storyline but have never actually read it.
It’s always been one of those books I’ve intended to read but just never
got around to it. That being said, I
can’t say I was too interested in actually watching the animated film. I used to rave about how awesome DC animated movies were but the last few have been greatly disappointing. Whether it is because they cram too much stuff into their short running length or the fact that DC just can’t escape
their gross misogyny towards their female characters, lately I’ve felt their
product has been on a very noticeable decline.
Amazingly, this one bucks that trend.
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Batman tries to assure the bad guys that the brown haze he just entered through wasn't his farts. (If you're counting, that's two immature fart jokes I've made in this review...so far.) |
In a Victorian Era Gotham City, women are being murdered by
Jack the Ripper. James Gordon (Scott
Patterson) and the rest of the police force seem to be taking their
investigation of the crimes lightly due to the fact that the victims are
“ladies of the night.” This upsets stage
actor Selina Kyle (Jennifer Carpenter).
Since the police are no help, the wealthy Bruce Wayne (Bruce Greenwood)
has taken to the night as the masked vigilante; Batman. The public fears that Batman and the Ripper
are the same so now it’s up to the hero to calm the citizens and save the city.
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Wait a minute, The Shadow is Jack the Ripper?!? |
Gotham by Gaslight has definitely been one of the better
animated films DC has put out in some time—especially one that is R-rated. After Deadpool’s success, Warner Bros.
operated under the false premise that the reason it was a success was solely
due to its rating and they started to bring out R-rated animated films and even
boasted that their extended cut of Batman v Superman was R-rated. Thinking the rating was some sort of magic
glyph resulted in the exact thing one would expect from this line of
thinking: The movies all felt like
gimmicks. The ratings were never justified
and it seemed it was just there as a marketing ploy to get the money from
people who use ratings to prove they are “big boys.” At its worse, WB used this as an excuse to
treat their female characters even worse and pretend they are just objects to
be lusted after. This time around, the
rating doesn’t feel 100% superfluous or like it’s there just to get their
female characters to be sex dolls. There
is some choice language used but it mostly got the R-rating for its
violence. In my opinion, the violence
isn’t super strong but, in its defense, the feature feels like it isn’t using a
rating as a goal for its violence and, instead, just used its violence for the
purposes of the story—which is, in my opinion, how a rating should be
justified. It’s all gotta come down to what
works for the story, not for a rating.
One thing that hasn’t dipped in the world of DC animated
films is the voice acting. Bruce
Greenwood returns to once again voice Batman (he voiced the B-man in
Batman: Under the Red Hood and in Young
Justice) and he really has a voice to give the hero the life and gruffness he
needs. Jennifer Carpenter is Selina Kyle
(Catwoman) in the film and, even though I couldn’t stand her in Dexter, I
thought she did a terrific job in this role.
There may not have been a lot of big names in this film but there wasn’t
anyone slacking in their job. This
Victorian era Gotham was brought to life fantastically with the cast.
Like I said, I never read the graphic novel this feature was
based upon but I was familiar with its story.
So, naturally, I was a little surprised with the differences this one
brought in. This isn’t a complaint but
rather a nice surprise. This adaptation
brings with it an unexpected twist that was completely different than the book
and this was very shocking to see played out.
It offered up a nice surprise and
a unique take on the source material.
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Some men just want to watch the world burn. In this case, the man is Batman. |
The only thing I didn’t care for with this film was some of
the character designs. Like most DC
animated films, this feature doesn’t look much different from what came before
them and, in this case, what we saw on Batman: The
Animated Series. However, there was
something about the way the females and children were crafted that disappointed
me. There was a simplicity to them that
made their designs feel lazy and kid-like in their creation—which is
exceptionally strange considering this is an R-rated cartoon. I will grant that the male characters
aren’t drawn with tons of detail or complexity but simple clothing, simple
structure and lifeless eyes given to the children and the female characters
were not befitting of this project. For
example, Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy) is a burlesque performer at the beginning of
the film and her design looked almost expressionist because she was so
basically crafted. I expected the
typical look I've seen before but, at the same time, was kinda hoping I’d see something with
some more detail added to it. It might
be time for DC to start to shake things up and try out some new looks.
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I get it that their designs aren't the most detailed but this just feels too simplistic. |
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight is definitely one of the better DC animated films I’ve seen
recently. I like its approach with
adapting the source material, the voice cast is great and it doesn’t feel like
it superfluously has an R-rating but, rather an R-rating that works for the
story. Finally, the story unfolds very
well and the tale never feels rushed or overloaded. I was disappointed with some of the character
designs and feel like this approach might be wearing thin and it’s time for
some new looks but it’s still a very entertaining movie. And, thankfully, there’s no gross treating women like
sex objects—something DC loves to do in their animated films (which is
incredible because this film literally has sex workers in it and I would have
thought DC would have gotten really gross and creepy with that).
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