Batman: Gotham Knight Blu-ray Disc Review

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Title: Batman: Gotham Knight

Media: Blu-ray Disc

Region: A

Genre: Animated Comic Book Action Drama

Starring The Voice Talents Of: Kevin Conroy, Gary Dourdan, David McCallum, Parminda Nagra, and Ana Ortiz

Writers: Brian Azzarello, Alan Burnett, Jordan Goldberg, David Goyer, Josh Olson, and Greg Rucka

Based On The DC Comics Characters

Batman Created By Bob Kane

Casting and Voice Director: Andrea Romano

Feature length: 76 minutes

Extras: Batman And Me: The Bob Kane Story Documentary, A Mirror For The Bat Featurette, Audio Commentary By DC Comics Senior Vice President/Creative Affairs Gregory Noveck, Former Batman Editor Dennis O’Neil, and Voice Of Batman Kevin Conroy, Exclusive Sneak Peek At DC Universe’s Wonder Woman, Bruce Timm Presents Four Bonus Batman: The Animated Series Episodes

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dutch and Spanish Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and Dutch and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Elite Blue BD Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 7

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Home Video Distributor: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera AKA The Brooklyn Critic

Sort of like The Animatrix released on DVD to coincide with the theatrical releases of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions back in 2003, Batman: Gotham Knight is a collection of six interlocking anime shorts from acclaimed artists overseas with scripts by highly praised comic book and screenwriters to present a stand alone companion to both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight that serves to fill in some of the space between the two films and evolve the character of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman closer to what he becomes in The Dark Knight. However seeing this animated feature is by no means a requirement to enjoy both films and fans of the comics and animated programs do not have to be familiar with the live action feature films in order to enjoy this feature. In fact the six shorts can be watched individually and stand alone pretty well too though obviously seeing the entire film as well as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight only serves to create a richer tapestry for them all since the cartoons are set in the same world as Batman Begins and take place in between the two films.

Batman: Gotham Knight also focuses on more personal elements related to Bruce Wayne and Batman that a feature film cannot always explore in quite the same detail. So we get a story that focuses largely on points of view whether it is kids all talking about seeing the Batman while we as the viewer see their imaginary depictions of him and then contrast that to how police Detectives feel about him in dialogue while we also see the view of the criminals that encounter him and how they are in some ways a reflection of his own angst. More importantly Batman: Gotham Knight explores Wayne’s only personal view as we see him do detective work both in and out of costume and flashback to Wayne’s self exploratory journey before the events of Batman Begins.

There are images in this feature that truly evoke great emotion without any action or little to no dialogue. While in the film Batman faces Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Deadshot, the appearance of these characters never overshadow the focus on the hero and his journey. Batman: Gotham Knight also has a quality about it that with repeated viewings it grows on you and makes one appreciate the efforts of all involved to bring this animated companion film to fruition. I like it better know even in hindsight than I did the first time I sat down and watched it.

Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray Disc edition presents Batman: Gotham Knight in a beautiful 1080p where available high definition widescreen aspect ratio of (1.85:1). The work of the various artists and their contrasting styles mesmerizes the viewer and serves as a great demo of how even animation looks much better in high definition even when compared against the available clarity of standard definition DVD. While back of the packaging states the existence of German and Japanese language tracks and subtitles, I did not find them on my copy and in fact found different language options than what is noted on the packaging. English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound as well as Dutch and Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks are provided as options along with English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired as well as Dutch and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded as options onto the disc too. There is also an informative and retrospective feature length audio commentary track by DC Comics Senior Vice President/Creative Affairs Gregory Noveck, former Batman Editor Dennis O’Neil, and Voice of Batman Kevin Conroy, who shares an interesting story regarding his post September 11, 2001 volunteer efforts and his notoriety as the voice of Batman in the animated series and programs over the years. Collectively I found the speakers brought some light about the role of Batman as both a caped crusader and crime fighter and what are some of the internal psychological underpinnings to the character and this helped me to gain a better understanding of Batman and appreciate it as a piece of contemporary mythology as much as I would appreciate classics from antiquity.

The commentary is supported by the documentaries A Mirror For The Bat (35:47), which goes into great detail regarding the origins of the villains and how they each reflect back upon elements of Batman’s psyche. Batman And Me: The Bob Kane Story (38:45) features interview clips with Bob Kane as well as a retrospective look at the evolution of both Kane and the Batman series with videotaped commentators that include Stan Lee, and Mark Hamill. Both of these documentaries are presented in 16 by 9 widescreen standard definition.

A preview of the animated DC Universe feature Wonder Woman (10:29) with interview clips from voice cast members Kerri Russell, Nathan Fillon, Virginia Madsen, Alfred Molina, and Rosario Dawson is also included. The animated Wonder Woman release is set to debut in spring, 2009. Finally there are four episodes of Batman: The Animated Series (1:27) handpicked by series Executive Producer Bruce Timm that wrap up the bonus features on this Blu-ray Disc.

Batman: Gotham Knight is available on both Blu-ray Disc and on DVD at retailers on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video.

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