Directed By – Sam Liu
Starring (Voiced By) – Bruce Greenwood; Jennifer Carpenter; Scott Patterson; Anthony Head; Yuri Lowenthal; John DiMaggio; William Salyers; Grey Griffin.
In recent straight-to-DVD DC Animation films history they've been both hit and miss with films like Teen Titans: Judas Contact and Justice League Dark receiving decent reactions. Yet Batman: The Killing Joke was quite bad and Batman & Harley Quin was a comedy that seemingly forgotten.
Now Warner Bros and DC Entertainment have brought to life probably one of the most beloved one-shot Batman stories and the story that kickstarted the DC Elseworlds, Gotham By Gaslight.
 |
| IMAGE VIA DC COMICS |
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight takes place in Victorian Gotham City as they’re about to showcase the World’s Fair, but there’s a killer on the loose preying on the cities women and has been regarded by fearful Gotham citizens as Jack the Ripper and it’s down to the Dark Knight to stop the Ripper’s murderous spree.
This is one of DC Animations best since two-part The Dark Knight Returns and Justice League: Gods and Monsters with brilliant performances, story and animation.
It’s great to see Greenwood return to vice the Dark Knight after doing such a great job in possibly my favourite DCA movie, Batman: Under The Red Hood. Another standout was Jennifer Carpenter as Selina Kyle, who turns out was never in the graphic novel but makes a great addition to the story. Carpenter could make a case to become the live-action Selina in the DCU.
The graphic novel and this adaptation are different stories, for example, Kyle now being apart and an important one considering Bruce’s and Selina’s connection throughout comic history. Throughout the film, there are other Batman characters that make an appearance and its organic to the film.
Additionally, this is a murder mystery just within a Batman film and it does keep you guessing who is Jack the Ripper and the biggest worry it was going to be super obvious and cheesy but I’m glad it didn’t go that way. However, even though we the greatest detective at work, I personally would’ve liked a little bit more.
The animation, the clear stable of these films was superb, as always. It kept faith with Mike Mignola’s artwork with the use of blacks and muted colours, there was always a hint of darkness even in the sunlight.
The Blu-ray bonus features are brilliant too with a featurette on the backstory of this Elseworlds story, commentary, a BTS look at the next DC Universe movie - Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay and two animated Batman episodes.
The Blu-ray bonus features are brilliant too with a featurette on the backstory of this Elseworlds story, commentary, a BTS look at the next DC Universe movie - Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay and two animated Batman episodes.
Verdict
One of DC Entertainment’s best for a little while. Gotham By Gaslight is a faithful, yet new adaptation of this beloved story with brilliant performances from Greenwood and Carpenter.
No comments:
Post a Comment