Batman: Year One (2011)

I've said it many times before but I think it bears repeating here that I'm not a comic book guy. While I enjoy and, in some cases, out and out love a lot of characters who originated from comics, I never got into them myself when I was a kid or even in my teens. Therefore, for much of my life, I've been totally ignorant of the really well-known stories, writers, and artists that have, over the years, helped shape these legendary characters into what they've become, and that includes my personal favorite comic book character, Batman. Case in point: I'd never even heard of Bob Kane until I got back into the Tim Burton Batman movies when I was in my senior year of high school. It was shortly after that, thanks to TV specials and documentaries on the DVD box-set containing those movies, that I learned of people like Frank Miller and Alan Moore, as well as seminal works like The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and Year One. And it just so happened to be the right time for me to learn of and become interested in those stories, as that wasn't too long before Warner Bros. began producing these animated adaptations and original movies like Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Batman: Under the Red Hood, and All-Star Superman (one of the few of these I actually did not care for). When I heard of the Year One movie when it was presented at Comic Con in the summer of 2011, I was interested and got it on Blu-Ray the next year at a now defunct FYE in Chattanooga. Now, remember, this is coming from somebody who's never read the comic and has only seen glimpses of it, but, that said, I thought this was pretty damn good. I think it tells a tight, concise story while also feeling like it gets a lot done, despite being only 64 minutes long, and on top of that, it's very appealing to the eye and has a number of great characters and voice performances. Some may find it disappointing that it focuses much more on James Gordon than it does Batman, and I'm also a bit mixed on Batman/Bruce Wayne himself, but overall, I think this is a really good flick.

Eighteen years after his parents were murdered, Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City after twelve years abroad. The same day, Lieutenant James Gordon arrives along with his wife, Barbara, due to a transference. Immediately, he sees how corruption is everywhere in Gotham, including the police department, with his partner, Detective Flass proving to be a violent, cruel thug who accepts bribes from drug runners, and his superior, Commissioner Gillian Loeb, along with the mayor, being in league with crime boss Carmine Falcone. Upon their first meeting, Loeb advises Gordon to be a "team-player," but Gordon, being the decent, just man he is, is intent on cleaning the department up, putting him at odds with his crooked peers. He's ambushed and attacked by Flass and several other officers, and Flass also threatens Barbara, who's pregnant, but Gordon manages to get revenge on him in a way that ensures her safety, and also becomes a public hero when he saves some orphans from a demented madman. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is inspired to become Batman and begins his crusade against crime, at one point interrupting a dinner party held at the mayor's mansion and warning him, Loeb, Falcone, and the others there that none of them will escape his wrath. With this, Loeb orders Gordon to bring Batman down however he can, and he and Detective Sarah Essen begin working together to try to do so, as well as figure out who he might actually be. But, despite their orders and investigation, Batman may be the only one who can help Gordon stamp out the corruption and, most importantly, help keep his wife and newborn son safe.

Batman: Year One has two directors, both of whom are veterans of these DC animated movies and animation in general. One is Sam Liu, who'd directed Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and All-Star Superman, as well as episodes of Extreme Ghostbusters, Godzilla: The Series, and The Batman, as well as the Marvel animated movie Planet Hulk, beforehand. He's gone on to direct many other of these movies, like Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Batman: The Killing Joke, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, while working on others in various capacities. The other director is Lauren Montgomery, who was one of the three directors on Superman: Doomsday and did one of the segments of Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, as well as Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the 2009 animated Wonder Woman,

and Green Lantern: First Flight. She and Liu had worked together before, co-directing Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and she also did the animated short tie-in to Year One, Catwoman, as well as Justice League: Doom afterward. While she hasn't directed any more of these movies since then (or much else, for that matter, save for episodes of shows like Young Justice, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and Voltron: Legendary Defender), she's still been involved with many of them in various capacities, mainly as a storyboard artist.

The best character in the film by far is James Gordon, and getting Bryan Cranston to voice him was a real coup, as he brings through the notion that this guy is a truly decent human being who's crestfallen and disgusted by the rampant corruption he finds when he's transferred to Gotham City. Though Commissioner Loeb tries to impress upon him the need to play together with the team "in order to win," and Detective Flass also tells him that he and the other cops need to know they can count on him, Gordon is having none of it from the get-go. Nearly two months after his arrival, he's turned down a bribe, lectured his squadron about ethics, and put one of his men on probation, much to Flass' frustration and Loeb's disappointment. This leads to him getting brutally beaten by Flass and some other cops, who then threaten his pregnant wife, Barbara, in order to make him get in line. However, Gordon doesn't take it lying down. He hunts Flass down, runs him off the road, and beats him in a fight, despite giving him a "handicap" in the form of one of the baseball bats they beat him with. From early on, Gordon is shown to be just as intelligent and badass as he is moral. When he sees Flass beating up a teen for no reason, he thinks to himself, "Don't do a damn thing. Be sure of your facts before you bring down another cop. Just watch him. Memorize every move. For future references," a strategy that really pays off when the two of them have their showdown here. Even when Gordon got ambushed four-to-one, he was holding his own and only got beaten because one of the cops knocked his glasses off. He not only beats up Flass but leaves him naked in the snow, his hands tied behind his back, confident that this humiliation will encourage him not to report it and to stay away from Barbara. He also goes on to become a public hero when he stops Lieutenant Branden, a very reckless and trigger-happy SWAT commander, from dealing with a hostage situation, instead taking matters into his own hands and single-handedly saving some orphans from a madman recently released from Arkham. He, again, shows what a good man he is when, once he's incapacitated the man, he kindly offers the frightened orphans some gum.

For all of his accomplishments, Gordon not only admits to himself that he hates his job but also feels a sense of guilt for not only dragging his wife into the corrupt world of Gotham but also for conceiving a child and bringing him into it. He later gives Detective Essen a vague overview of just how he came to be in Gotham, showing how long and deep his guilt has been running: "It's a long, sordid story. The bullet points are police corruption, a cop who wanted to believe the system

works, and one incredibly bad decision. There's a reason everyone hates internal affairs: they dangle the carrot of integrity and honesty but, at the end of the day, when you take down another cop, they treat you like any other lowlife scumbag." But, of course, Gordon soon gains an ally in Batman, whom Commissioner Loeb orders him to take down no matter what. He and Essen start working together to trap and unmask him, but as time goes on and he sees him in action, Gordon, despite

himself, starts to question whether or not he should do so, saying, "He's a criminal. I'm a cop. It's as simple as that. But I'm a cop in a city that uses its cops like hired killers. He saved that old woman. He saved those two cops. What the hell am I doing?" His confusion and inner turmoil is added to further when he and Essen begin having an affair, which comes about due to all of the time he spends away from Barbara and with Essen while trying to catch Batman. While it is morally wrong, you never judge Gordon for it, as you understand

why it happens and also see how guilt-ridden he is about it. He eventually breaks things off with Essen and tells Barbara of the affair, not long after Loeb blackmails him with it when he attempts to make drug dealer Jefferson Skeevers testify against Flass. Even when Skeevers is poisoned, Gordon refuses to back down, telling Loeb to his face that the dealer, who works for Carmine Falcone, survived and is going to testify. But, when Gordon's son is born, Loeb and Falcone target both him and Barbara, Loeb luring Gordon away from his home on orders while Falcone sends his brutish nephew, Johnny Viti, to abduct them.

Fortunately for all of them, Bruce Wayne, having overheard Falcone telling Viti of this as Batman, intervenes and, although Gordon mistakenly shoots Bruce (who's protected because of his armor underneath his clothes), he manages to save Gordon's son while Gordon deals with Viti. Knowing he's met Batman unmasked, Gordon tells him he's practically blind without his glasses, reassuring him that his identity is safe. However, because he still saw him as a potential suspect,

knowing that he was just acting like a carefree, bad-mannered playboy when he interviewed him before, it's not a stretch to imagine that he knows he's Bruce Wayne. Either way, he allows him to escape when the cops show up. By the end of the movie, Gordon has been promoted to captain, while Loeb has been indicted for racketeering after Flass testified against him and supplied evidence to back up his claims. It closes on Gordon waiting for Batman so the two of them can investigate a criminal called the Joker, who's threatening to poison Gotham's reservoir.

As I said, as great as Gordon is, I'm a little more mixed on Bruce Wayne/Batman (voiced by Ben McKenzie) himself. However, it's nothing to do with the characterization, as it's perfectly fine. Like Gordon, you see Bruce arrive home in Gotham on a cold day in early January after being away for twelve years, ready to begin his crusade against crime. Upon arriving back at Wayne Manor, one of the first things he does is visit his parents' grave-site, where he remarks on how he still feels the pain of their loss but adds that he's not looking for closure or healing. That said, he doesn't start right away. Although he's certainly skilled enough thanks to his time abroad, he feels that there's something missing and he must wait until he finds it. In early March, he goes on a surveillance mission in Gotham's seedy east end, disguised as a homeless drifter, not only dressing the part but using makeup to create memorable, fake wounds. He gets into a brawl with a pimp, his prostitutes (one of whom is Selina Kyle), and other hoods, and manages to hold his own, only to get shot in the shoulder when the cops show up. The cops handcuff him and take him away in their squad car, but he manages to escape, as well as prove his morality by getting the officers out of their crashed car before it explodes, saying, "Scum, maybe, but even scum have families." He just barely manages to make it back to his own car and drive home, where he sits in front of a bust of his father in a large, empty room. By this point, his spirit has been virtually shattered, along with his decision to wait until the right moment, as he says, "I've tried to be patient. I've tried to wait. But I have to know. How, Father? How do I do it? What do I use... to make them afraid? If I ring the bell, Alfred will come. Another of your gifts to me, Father. But I'd rather die than wait another hour. I've already waited eighteen years... Eighteen years since all sense left my life." He then remembers the night his parents were murdered, when a bat crashes through the window and sits atop the bust, which he takes as an answer from his father and then rings the bell for Alfred.

Shortly afterward, he first appears as Batman, and while one of his first nights out, where he attempts to stop some punks who are robbing an apartment, goes badly for him, as he gets beaten up, by mid-May, he's worked his way up to dealing with drug lords and crooked cops, beating up Detective Flass when he catches him taking bribes from Jefferson Skeevers and incapacitating everyone else. Shortly afterward, he appears at the mayor's mansion, telling those there, including Commissioner Loeb

and Carmine Falcone, that they will pay for their crimes against the city, ending with the threat, "From this moment on, none of you are safe." He goes on to humiliate Falcone by dumping his Rolls Royce in the river and leaving him naked on his bed, his hands and feet tied together, and begins secretly working with assistant DA Harvey Dent, while continually eluding Gordon and Detective Essen's attempts to catch him, knowing it's a ruse when Essen pretends like she's being mugged.

Even when he finds himself trapped in a condemned building, badly injured, down to just a few gadgets, and hunted by the trigger-happy Lieutenant Branden, Batman manages to escape by using a special device that attracts a huge swarm of bats to his location, fleeing in the chaos. When Gordon, going on Essen's suspicions, interrogates Bruce about possibly being Batman, Bruce acts like a drunken, badly-mannered playboy, as well as explains away his injuries with the story that he

injured himself while skiing in Switzerland, although Gordon isn't truly fooled. Once that's done, Batman sneaks over to Falcone's manor and overhears him talking with his nephew, Johnny Viti, about doing something about Gordon. Although he doesn't get to hear the details because Catwoman shows up and causes a ruckus, he later deduces that Falcone will likely resort to kidnapping to silence Gordon, as he said he didn't want any more bad publicity. That's when Bruce goes to Gordon's home and tries to intervene when

Viti attempts to take Barbara and their newborn son hostage. Though Viti escapes with the baby and Gordon shoots him, mistaking him for one of the thugs, Bruce, having survived due to his body armor, reassures Barbara that he won't let her son die. He keeps his promise, as he saves the baby from falling over the side of a bridge while Gordon struggles with Viti. After returning his son to Gordon, he and Bruce become allies, Gordon telling him his identity is safe since he can't see well without his glasses, and they begin working together.

I like the way Batman looks in this film, as it's a very simple, classic look, with the black cape and cowl, the gray bodysuit with the black bat symbol across the chest, and light-brown utility belt with notable pouches where he keeps his gadgets. Speaking of which, his equipment is very basic: some tranquilizer darts he either flings, shoots from a small gun, or blows from a blowgun, smoke bombs, a special sonic device he uses to attract the bats that help him escape when he's trapped, and a dark glider he uses to reach Falcone's manor without being seen. We don't have the grappling gun (though, to be fair, that didn't become a thing until the first Tim Burton movie) or the Batmobile, and there's only one brief glimpse at the Batcave when Batman summons those bats.

So, yes, it's not the character himself I have a problem with; rather, it's Ben Mackenzie's performance, which is rather monotone and robotic. When he's voicing Batman (who actually doesn't have much real dialogue aside from narration), it's effective, especially in the scene where he tells Gotham's elite and the criminals they're involved with that they won't escape him, and when he intimidates Skeevers into testifying against Flass, and he does okay when Bruce Wayne

puts on an act to try to mislead Gordon, but when he's being Bruce himself, he comes off as flat, for the most part. Trust me, this is not me just being a Kevin Conroy fanboy, as I've enjoyed other people who've voiced the character, like Peter Weller in The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Greenwood in Under the Red Hood and Gotham by Gaslight, and especially Jason O'Mara in the movies based on the New 52, but something about McKenzie's delivery and cadence as Bruce doesn't totally work for me (I do think he does well when he promises Barbara that he'll save her son). In that case, it's fortunate that this story focuses more on Gordon, otherwise my opinion on it might be a few notches lower.

Selina Kyle (voiced by Eliza Dushku) is introduced in this story as a prostitute who works for the same pimp as teenager Holly Robinson (voiced by Liliana Mumy), and they both meet Bruce Wayne when he's on surveillance in Gotham's east end. When Bruce intervenes when the pimp, Stan, starts beating on Holly for her bad performance, he has to fight not only both of them but a bunch of hoods and Selina, who's a tough, muscular dominatrix and more than a match for him. That fight ends in a

stalemate due to the cops showing up but later, when Batman is trapped in the abandoned building by the SWAT team, Selina and Holly, who live together along with the former's many cats, get up early in the morning to see it. After seeing Batman in action, and having to receive rabies shots due to getting bitten by the bats, Selina breaks ties with Stan by decking him in the face, telling Holly, "We're changing our line of work." That's when Selina becomes Catwoman, spending what little money they have on her costume (like Batman's

costume, it's very simple in design and she doesn't have the whip she's well known for, which is surprising considering her former line of work). Her first few outings as Catwoman prove to be a bit frustrating for Selina, as she robs Commissioner Loeb's house and only finds a bunch of plush toys (toys of characters owned by Warner Bros. like Elmer Fudd and Huckleberry Hound), and is even more annoyed when she hears that the police are ready to charge Batman for the burglaries. She then decides to break into Falcone's home and leave her own personal calling card by scratching him across the face. In doing so, she causes Batman to miss crucial information concerning Falcone's plan to stop Gordon's investigations, and while she does get some recognition, there's also speculation that she's Batman's assistant, which doesn't sit any better with her.

As noted, much of the story revolves around how Gordon's peers are as rotten as the criminals they're supposed to bringing in. His assigned partner, Detective Flass (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), is a cruel bully of a man who uses his large size and Green Beret training to prey on the weak. He makes his entrance by tossing aside a man badgering Gordon about selling him a book and later, much to Gordon's disgust, he beats a teen on a corner and throws him into a dumpster. He makes the excuse that the teen had a knife in his pocket, but it turns out to be a comb, to which Flass remarks, "Hey, I'm only human." He and Gordon quickly become enemies due to Gordon's refusal to become as dirty as he and many of the other cops are, and after he reprimands the other members of his squad and puts one on probation, Flass and some others ambush and beat on him, as well as threaten Barbara in order to get him to fall in line. But then, Gordon gets back at Flass by running him off the road and beating him in a one-on-one fight, which ends with Flass being left naked in the snow with his hands tied behind his back. As Gordon says, he won't report it but, rather, will make up some story to make himself look good, and will stay away from Barbara, if nothing else. Flass then has bigger problems when he's targeted by Batman while accepting a bribe from the drug dealer, Jefferson Skeevers, though he claims in his report to have been attempting a bust when the Dark Knight showed up. He also exaggerates Batman's supposed supernatural nature, describing him as a creature that bullets pass through and the like. As a result of this, Gordon begins attempting to bring down Flass through internal affairs, which could lead to Loeb being connected to Carmine Falcone but, in the end, despite Gordon trying to get Skeevers to testify against him, Flass turns on Loeb himself, having taken notes on every meeting the two of them had just in case he ever had to save his own skin.

Another corrupt cop Gordon especially runs afoul of is Lieutenant Branden (voiced by Stephen Root), the head of a SWAT team. The big problem with Branden is that he's horribly violent and trigger-happy, with Gordon telling us through narration that when he and his team went to stop a riot, they basically destroyed the park it was taking place at. Branden, in turn, views Gordon as a wimp who's afraid to take action, and is really steamed when Gordon steps in and takes charge of the hostage situation. However, when Batman becomes trapped in the abandoned building, Branden is personally ordered by Loeb to storm in and kill him, an order he's more than happy to carry out. Although Batman gives him an opportunity to withdraw, Branden instead orders the rest of his squad after him, forcing him to call on the swarm of bats that allows him to escape. At one point, Branden comes face-to-face with Batman, who throws him through a brick wall, severely injuring him. Later, when Loeb blackmails Gordon with proof of his affair with Detective Essen to make him back off Flass, Branden is present and implied to have been the one who took the photos. Also, when Loeb sets up Gordon to where his family can be kidnapped, Branden is more than happy to contact Falcone in order to put their awful plan in motion. But, at the end of the movie, when Loeb is indicted for racketeering, he lets Branden take the fall for him, landing him in prison.

Commissioner Loeb (voiced by Jon Polito) is undoubtedly the worst of them all, as he not only allows this corruption in his department to go on but encourages it, seeing as how he and the mayor are in collusion with Carmine Falcone. When he first meets Gordon, he tells him, "We're delighted to have you on the team, Lieutenant... And we are a team, Gordon. A team, any team, needs to play together in order to win, don't you think? Yes it does." Moreover, when Gordon mentions making mistakes, Loeb assures him that what's most important is that he kept it away from the press, and also says that his honesty was the, "Last thing on my mind. Last thing." But, by late February, Loeb is told by Flass of Gordon's strong moral code, which disappoints him, and while it's not stated, you can bet he probably put Flass and the other cops up to giving Gordon the painful warning to stop rocking the boat. Unfortunately for Loeb, Gordon manages to become a hero to the people when he saves the orphans, and then, Batman shows up. At first, Loeb isn't concerned with the vigilante, figuring that, despite putting a number of their street operators out of business, his making the people of Gotham feel safe will keep them from asking questions. But, when Batman crashes the dinner party with the mayor and specifically targets them, Loeb orders Gordon to bring him down, no matter what. Loeb gets in on the action himself when Batman is cornered in the condemned building, flying in on a helicopter housing a sniper in order to shoot him down when he tries to escape. Following that fiasco, Loeb then deals with Gordon bringing internal affairs down on Flass without telling him, first by blackmailing him about his affair and then attempting to poison Jefferson Skeevers to keep him from testifying, both of which fail. That's when he and Falcone conspire to abduct Gordon's wife and newborn son, which also ends in failure, and by the time the story wraps up, Loeb is under federal indictment.

Mob boss Carmine Falcone (voiced by Alex Rocco), who has the nickname "the Roman," is the first of the elite to be concerned about Batman, as well as Gordon's going after Flass, since it could tie him and Loeb together. Shortly after Loeb orders Gordon to bring Batman in, he directly targets Falcone, dumping his Rolls Royce in a river and leaving him tied up on his bed, naked. Enraged at this, Falcone declares, "He dies!" When he and Loeb fail at this, they focus on Gordon bringing

internal affairs down on Flass, with Falcone hiring his nephew, Johnny Viti (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), to deal with it. Following the appearance of both Batman and Catwoman at Falcone's manor, and his ending up in the hospital as a result, he decides, "All bets are off," and tells Viti to target Gordon directly, telling him, "Once a man becomes a father, he is never truly free." Viti gets the picture and he and some thugs attempt to abduct Barbara and her newborn son. When Gordon comes across this scene, Viti threatens the baby with a knife, ordering Gordon to go his office and wait for their instructions. But when Gordon opts to fight instead, Viti escapes with the baby, forcing Gordon to give chase after he saves his wife. It culminates in a fight on a bridge that ends with Gordon, Viti, and the baby falling over the edge, but Bruce saves the latter, while Viti is knocked unconscious by the fall.

However, not everyone Gordon has to deal with is crooked, chief among them being Detective Sarah Essen (voiced by Katee Sackhoff), who arrives in Gotham shortly after Batman's first appearance to help the police investigate him. She and Gordon begin working together to catch and unmask him, and while Gordon initially suspects Harvey Dent, Essen is the one who fingers Bruce Wayne, citing his wealth as a way he could acquire the gadgets he uses and the motivation of his parents' murder when he was a kid. Following the sequence where Batman is trapped in the abandoned building by the SWAT team, Gordon tells Essen that he spoke with Alfred, who gave an alibi for Bruce, saying he's been skiing in Switzerland and broke both legs and an arm in a fall. Essen, however, believes it to be a ruse, saying the casts on his legs and arm could be used to cover up the bullet wounds he received during the incident. With that, Gordon calls Essen "relentless" and she responds, "Only when I want something." After that is when you start to see that she's developing an interest in Gordon himself, asking if he'd like to share a cab and, later on, the two of them have coffee together. While doing so, Gordon tells Essen why he was transferred to Gotham and she sympathizes with what he went through simply over trying to do the right thing, putting her hand on his and telling him, "I'm sorry." Afterward, while walking home, the two of them are forced to take cover during a thundershower and they kiss, leading to an affair that goes on for almost three months. But, Gordon soon becomes guilt-ridden, given that his wife is about to have a baby, and breaks off the affair. Though Essen is hurt and frustrated, she's good enough to have herself transferred away from Gotham in order to not make things more difficult for him.

Another honest person is Harvey Dent (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), Gotham's assistant district attorney. Initially, Gordon suspects him of being Batman, especially after Carmine Falcone is attacked since Dent has been trying to bring Falcone down for years, as well as because he keeps himself in shape with a barbell in his office. Although Gordon, of course, is wrong in his suspicions, after his meeting with Dent, it's revealed that he's working with Batman, who was

sitting outside the window the whole time. And while he doesn't have much screentime, Officer Stan Merkel (voiced by Nick Jameson) proves to be one of the few decent members of the Gotham Police Department, helping Gordon however he can, like trying to keep Branden from going into the hostage situation guns blazing until Gordon arrives on the scene. Other noteworthy characters in the story include Barbara (voiced by Grey DeLisle), Gordon's loving and supporting wife who comes off as very understanding about her

husband's job, as well as showing concern for his physical and mental well-being. While hurt by the news of Gordon's affair with Essen, and distressed by the harassment they receive over it, Barbara appears to handle it really well and, given Gordon's ending narration, it seems as though they're on the road to recovery. Alfred (voiced by Jeff Bennett) is also here and, while he doesn't appear that often either, he's obviously the same old loyal butler he always is. And finally, instead of various reporters who appeared throughout the graphic novel, this movie uses the character of Vicki Vale (voiced by Grey DeLisle) to continually report on the major events that occur throughout the story.

Like just about all of these direct-to-video movies, Batman: Year One is a visually pleasing film. The color palette is vibrant but, at the same time, not overly saturated, with a subtle, muted feel that seems to hearken back to the look of the comic. It manages to make Gotham City come off as an oppressive, uninviting place, with lots of grays, browns, and tans in the color scheme, as well as plenty of stark whites during the movie's first act, which takes place in the dead of winter, adding to the feeling of cold. The most colorful it gets is

during the scenes in Gotham's east end, which is full of all sorts of tacky reds, pinks, purples, and oranges from the neon signs and the interiors of the bars and strip clubs that dot the place. There are also some very deep colors to be found in the nighttime exteriors, which often have a dark blue sky, and the winter ones also have a cold color scheme and the whites from all the snow as a bonus. The character designs aren't exactly copied from the comic's artwork but they're close enough, while also being retooled aesthetically for the

purposes of animation. I especially like how the women look, as they're drawn to be beautiful and appealing but have enough of an edge to their faces where they don't look overly cutesy (Selina is a prime example of that). The animation itself is good, with some nice instances of camera movement, like during Bruce's street brawl with Selina, and there is some digital work used for shots of the vehicles, aircraft, and the swarm of bats, but it's never to the point where it becomes

distracting. Besides its actual look, the movie is full of many memorable images and shots, most taken directly from the comic, like the iconic one of young Bruce Wayne slumped down amid his fallen parents in the center of what appears to be a spotlight, the moment when Bruce gets his inspiration when the bat smashes through the window and is briefly silhouetted against the rising sun in the background, the shot of an exhausted Gordon lying in bed with his wife with a full moon

outside the window, a close-up of a troubled Gordon's face as he holds his revolver while in the midst of target practice, Batman being almost completely black when he appears to those at the dinner party, and his cloaking himself with his cape as the bats smash through the windows around him. Although, as well shaded and "lit" as these shots are, sometimes it comes off as contrived, like how Bruce's face is kept in shadow when he reassures Barbara that he won't let anything happen to her baby. I actually thought he was wearing some sort of mask because of how unnatural the shadowing there looked.

As is often the case, Gotham is portrayed as a violent and decadent city, one that, as Bruce notes at the very beginning, looks somewhat beautiful and even magnificent from the air, but then, the camera pans down to show how dirty, rundown, and seedy it is, with horrible slums, abandoned and condemned buildings where winos, orphans, and the homeless take refuge, and an east end that's as sleazy and reprehensible a red light district as one can get, with bars, strip clubs, and prostitutes who work for abusive, knife-wielding pimps. The

suburbs seem a little more inviting, but at the same time, it's where at least one of the corrupt cops lives and has the others over for a poker night every week. Speaking of which, not only is street crime rampant in Gotham but almost all of the cops and officials are crooked, with the former ranging from trigger-happy psychos like Lieutenant Branden and one of the cops who confront Bruce Wayne in the east end to big bullies like Flass, who beats on a teenager on a street corner just because he can, while the latter, including the mayor, are in

business with crime bosses like Carmine Falcone and constantly stifle attempts to bring them to justice by either buying off or having witnesses murdered. While many of the people are stuck in living situations that can't be called ideal, the elite live in big, glamorous manors where they have every luxury they could ask for, luxuries possible because of the money they suck from the city due to their criminal enterprises. One the flip side of that is Wayne Manor, which is still big and fancy but,

because Bruce has been away for so long, and also because of his tortured mindset, has a dark emptiness to it, both figuratively and literally. We don't see much of it, save for this enormous library where the center is empty save for a bust of Bruce's father and a chair, another, smaller room where Bruce puts on the slovenly, drunken playboy act for Gordon, and a room where he's seen working out while Alfred reads the paper, but it really feels like Bruce's return has done little to bring life back into the place.

Going back to what I said about Vicki Vale being used in place of various reporters in the comic, from what I understand, that's one of the few deviations. After looking at many pages and panels from the comic, it does seem as though this movie is more or less what Frank Miller wrote back in the 80's, with Bruce Timm himself saying that adapting this story was very easy because it was already cinematic. Obviously, they don't copy every single shot or word (there's a lot more narration in the comic that they wisely left out), but

it does still appear to be as faithful as possible. For some, though, that's not necessarily a good thing, as I've read criticisms that the narrative was more effective in the comic and comes off as disjointed when put in motion, as well as that the faithfulness to the dialogue, including the narration, slows down the story. Again, keep in mind that I've never read the comic and experienced the story exclusively through this film (as I have many others), but I think it all works perfectly well.

Rather than disjointed, I would call the narrative "multi-leveled," with several storylines going on at once, chief among them the Gordon and Batman arcs, with a little bit of Selina Kyle and Catwoman thrown in for good measure. Granted, other than her inadvertently causing Batman to miss hearing the details of Falcone's plan to silence Gordon, Catwoman has no real significance in this story, and you could've easily just had Batman get spotted by Falcone's guards and have to get out of

there, but I don't find her inclusion to be that much of a distraction. As for the dialogue and the narration, I have no qualms with it, either. It can come off as a bit melodramatic and overly serious, especially when it's Bruce Wayne's narration, but it's good dialogue, regardless, and I feel like it gives the scenes even more dramatic weight.

Another criticism I've heard is the movie's very short running time: 64 minutes, with credits. Specifically, a writer for the site Cinemacrazed said it made it impossible for the movie to delve into the characters more and thus, Catwoman's presence took more away from Gordon and Batman's story. Again, while I do agree a bit with his criticism about Catwoman, I thought the movie managed to accomplish a lot in just over an hour. As you saw earlier, I thought the characters were fleshed out really well, especially Gordon, and while I wasn't

totally in love with the vocal performance, I felt the same about Bruce Wayne/Batman. But what really impresses me is how it takes a story that has several different lines going through it and makes it come off as very tight and concise, showing the respective arcs' progression without one coming off as diluted in favor of another and also without overwhelming the viewer with too much to keep up with, ultimately tying everything up in a nice, neat bow while, at the same time, setting up for major,

inevitable events in the characters' histories, i.e. the first appearance of the Joker. So, in short, I don't know what there is to complain about, except maybe the notion that the movie didn't live up to what people who'd read the comic had imagined in their heads, or that some may have wanted more than just a literal transition from comic to film. Who knows? It's become clear to me over the years that comic book fans are very fickle about film and television adaptations.

Of course, if you're talking about anything having to do with Frank Miller, you have to touch on some of the less admirable aspects of his writing, and while Batman: Year One is, thankfully, nowhere near as bad as some of his other works in terms of apparent racism, homophobia, and misogyny, it still has the plotline of Selina Kyle starting out not just as a hooker but a dominatrix. I don't mind there being prostitutes in Gotham's east end, as it shows what an awful, sleazy place it is, but at the same time, I'm kind of like, "Really, Miller? You

had to make Selina one?" I'm glad she's tough, looks out for Holly Robinson, and, when she's inspired by Batman, leaves her pimp by decking him in the face, but still. Fortunately, it's not dwelt upon that much but, knowing what I know about Miller, I can't help but notice and think about it.

Action-wise, the first major sequence of events happens early on, starting on February 12th. Gordon and Flass are in a high speed chase, but Flass is more interested in telling Gordon that the others are "worried" about him, given how he has a baby on the way (he also ignores Gordon asking him to call him Lieutenant rather than Jimmy, as he does throughout the movie). He goes on to say that they have their own way of dealing with things in Gotham City, and proves his point by hitting the

car's rear end, causing it hit the curb and flip, bouncing along the road ahead of them and skidding along on its roof before coming to a stop. Before the two of them get out, Flass tells Gordon they need to stick together, and when he goes to get out, he puts his hand on his shoulder and asks, "We can count on you, right?" Flass then draws his weapon and gets out of the car ahead of Gordon. Later, on March 11th, after Flass has told Commissioner Loeb that Gordon isn't exactly

fitting in, Gordon is ambushed while in a parking garage. Flass and three other cops, dressed in dark clothes, wearing ski masks, and wielding baseball bats, approach him, Flass telling him, "Goin' to work Lieutenant? You're gonna be a little late. May have to skip the whole night." Despite being outnumbered and unarmed, Gordon proves to be no pushover. When one of the men attempts to jump him from behind, he swings around, blocks the bat with his briefcase, and uppercuts the guy with it. He ducks another one who comes at him from

behind and elbows him aside, and when a third tries to get him from his right, he dodges the bat, punches him in the cheek, and knees him in the gut. In the scuffle, he grabs the bat and uses it to fend off another who attacks him from behind. Unfortunately, one of them gets a cheap shot that knocks his glasses off and, as it lies on the ground, a closeup of its lens shows him getting pummeled as he lies helplessly. Once the beating is done, Flass tells him, "Consider this a warning. Be smart. Think of that pregnant wife of yours, Jimmy." He then tosses the bloody bat on the ground in front of Gordon as they leave.

Later that same night, Bruce Wayne goes on his surveillance mission in Gotham's east end, putting on different clothes and makeup to disguise his identity. As he walks down the street, he's approached by Holly Robinson, asking if she can "cheer him up." Before he can even turn her down, her pimp, Stan, shows up, grabs her by the hair, and tells her she's doing it wrong, before tossing her aside. Bruce tells Stan he's finished doing business with her, but Stan isn't intimidated,

especially when he says he's not a cop. Selina Kyle is introduced as she watches what's happening from a motel window, ignoring her client, as a group of other hoods starts surrounding Bruce. Stan whips out a knife and lunges at him, but Bruce easily dodges him, knees him in the gut, and then kicks him in the chin when he recoils in pain, sending his knife flying through the air. Suddenly, Holly stabs him in the side of his left thigh and tells the others to get Bruce. But, as they rush at

him, he easily fends them off, punching one guy in the face, kicking down a woman who comes at him from the opposite side, and when Holly comes at him again with her knife, he grabs her wrist and throws her aside, causing her to skin her knee. Seeing this angers Selina, who jumps out of the window and lands on the roof of a car directly behind Bruce, who fends off more hoods who come at him. She throws a jump-kick and goes for a punch, only for him to dodge it and elbow her in the small of her back. She manages to come back

at him with another kick to the face and then a punch, which he blocks. He comes at her with some punches, only for her to block them and go for another kick. He dodges said kick and sweeps her other leg out from under her, but she quickly gets back up, punches him in the jaw, and then delivers one to the gut. He blocks the next one and gets her with a bad uppercut and a kick to the back of her ankle. They trade blows and end up kicking each other at the same time, sending them both stumbling backwards. Once they get their bearings,

they're more than ready to keep going, when the police show up and disembark from their car. The cops pull their weapons and point at them, telling them both to freeze. Suddenly, one of the cops shoots Bruce without any provocation, shocking Selina. The other cop asks him why he did that, saying, "He didn't move," to which he answers, "He was going to." It fades to black on a shot of Bruce lying on the street, bleeding from his left shoulder.

He awakens in the back of the squad car, the cops talking about if he had any money in his wallet and noting that if he dies, he'll just be, "One less mouth to feed at the soup kitchen." Bruce sits up in the seat and orders the cops to stop the car and get out, but they just ignore him, one of them commenting he's probably one some kind of drug. He then manages to get his handcuffed hands up under his legs and around to his front and uses them to grab the cop who's driving around the neck from behind.

As the car skids back and forth on the road, he slams his head into the window, and when the other cop pulls his weapon, Bruce grabs it and the two of them struggle with it, when it fires through the windshield. The car veers into the path of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler and hits the corner of its backside, causing the car to flip over on its side and spin around before coming to a halt. The rear end catches fire in the process and, inside, as it fills up with smoke, Bruce awakens and smashes off the door above him. As he's climbing out, he looks

back at the unconscious cops and does the right thing by pulling them both out and carrying them to safety in an alleyway across from the car, right before it explodes. He then walks away, as other drivers are forced to stop on the other side of the crash and watch as it explodes again. Tired and still bleeding from his shoulder, he manages to make it back to his own car, with barely enough strength to put the key in the ignition and turn the engine over.

Gordon, meanwhile, learns that Flass is at a weekly poker party they have at one cop's house. With a baseball bat in the passenger seat, Gordon drives out of the city and into the suburbs, nearly getting hit by another car coming at him on the wrong side of the road. He swerves to miss it and drives on to Gotham Estates, where he parks and waits until he sees Flass leave a house. He gets into his car and drives off down the road, with Gordon following after him. He drives up alongside him in a wooded

area and slams into his side, sending him careening off the road and smashing into a tree. Flass stumbles out of the car and is about to pull his gun, when Gordon gets out of his own car and approaches, gun drawn in one hand and the bat in another. Recognizing him, Flass stands up with his hands in the air and tosses away his own gun. Though he has him dead to rights, Gordon decides to give him a handicap and tosses him the bat while holstering his gun. Despite this, Gordon easily

dodges Flass' swing, blocks him when he comes in for another, and decks him twice in the face and once in the gut, disarming him. Flass tries to punch back but Gordon blocks it, elbows him in the chin, and smashes him in the face with his knee. Flass is knocked on his back and, as seen in shadow and in a distant shot where they're illuminated by his car's headlights, Gordon gets on him and beats him senseless. Once it's over, Gordon goes back to his car, figuring, "He'll never report it. Not Flass. He'll make up some story that involves at least ten attackers." As he drives away, leaving Flass naked in the snow, with his hands tied behind his back, he then adds, "But he'll know, and he'll stay away from Barbara."

The movie switches to Wayne Manor, where a shot of his car against the side of the building and footprints in the snow leading inside, along with a trail of blood, reveal that Bruce just barely made it home. The blood trail leads through the hallways and to a large room, where Bruce is slumped in a chair in front of a bust of his father. As the sun rises outside the large window, he asks him for guidance in fighting crime and flashes back to the night his parents were murdered. Done in black-

and-white, it's the classic scenario of young Bruce walking home from the movies with his parents, when they go down an alleyway and a mugger steps out of the shadows and pulls a gun on them. Thomas Wayne tries to intervene and shield his family, only to get shot in the process, followed immediately by Martha when she makes a move. They both collapse around the shocked Bruce, with Martha's pearls drifting down in front of his face like snow, and, as the mugger flees the scene, we get the classic shot of Bruce on his knees amid his

parents' bodies. It then transitions back to the present, when a bat suddenly smashes through the window and, as Bruce watches in shock, lands atop the bust and screeches at him. Taking this as a sign, Bruce says, "Yes, father," and grabs the bell at his side to ring for Alfred.

We next cut to April 4th, as Gordon is driving through the city on a rainy night, when he hears of a hostage situation involving a man with a history of mental illness, as well as that Lieutenant Branden's SWAT team has arrived on the scene. Gordon is horrified at this, knowing that the situation will turn into an awful disaster if Branden gets involved, and in order to get there in time, he gets out of the traffic jam he's stuck in by driving along the sidewalk until he reaches a street that's

clear. At the scene, the gunman is holding a pistol to a little girl's head, yelling, "No! Don't want! Isn't blank!" Officer Merkel, meanwhile, tries to tell Branden to wait until Gordon arrives but Branden, craving action, ignores him and he and his team begin heading towards the building. Just then, Gordon smashes through the barricades and stops right in front of the SWAT team. Getting out, he tells Branden to get lost and that he'll handle it. Approaching the building, he shows the gunman

that he's coming in unarmed, taking out his gun and placing it on the sidewalk. On TV at their home, Barbara sees news coverage of the situation and gasps when she sees Gordon going into the building. Gordon heads up the stairs to the apartment, watched intensely by a cat on another stairwell. He reaches the door and the man opens it and, still holding the little girl with his other arm, points his gun at Gordon, incoherently yelling, "No! Defibrillate! No lunch! No lunch!" Gordon tries to placate the man by saying they'll order out

but he isn't having it. The cat snarls, distracting the man and giving Gordon the opening to grab the gun and fling him backwards into the room, punching him out on the floor. The little girl he was holding hostage runs to join the other orphans in the room and Gordon calms the frightened kids down by offering them gum. This leads to him becoming a public hero, much to Commissioner Loeb's frustration.

As time passes and Gordon becomes despondent over his job and the fact that his son is going to be born in "a city without hope," we get our first glimpse of Batman as he runs across the rooftops in silhouette against the full moon. On April 9th, while Gordon gets a call from Merkel about a "giant bat," Batman is leaping across the buildings, when he comes upon some young punks stealing a television from an apartment. He leaps and lands amongst them on the outside balcony, rising up to

intimidate the one in front of him. Unfortunately, it works too well, as the guy backs up and falls over the railing. Batman quickly grabs his foot, dangling him high above the ground, when one of the other punks, obviously not caring about his friend, kicks Batman in the side and face, causing his grip to loosen. Another one behind him smashes a TV set over his head but he kicks him up against the wall, then swings around and grab the other guy's foot when he goes in for another kick, causing him to

fall and bang his head on the railing, knocking him out. Batman then pulls the other kid back up onto the balcony and sits there, panting hard and thinking to himself, "Amateur. Lucky amateur." It then cuts to May 15th, when Gordon introduces Detective Sarah Essen to the other cops and tells them what they know about Batman so far, including that he's working his way up the criminal ladder and that not even cops are safe. Flass is shown sitting in a chair with a neck brace and his left arm in a sling, insisting that Batman isn't

human. Gordon asks Flass to tell them what happened and, while he says he received a tip that led to a cocaine delivery in the east end, the flashback shows him being paid off by Jefferson Skeevers while the cocaine is transferred from the trunk of a car to the back of a truck. Batman appears and jumps down at them from above, with Flass saying it was a creature with a wingspan of thirty feet. He lands on the trunk of the car and Skeevers promptly pulls out a gun and fires. Batman ducks and the bullet goes through his cape,

which Flass describes as having passed through him. He then produces some darts and uses them to incapacitate the other thugs as they attempt to flee. Flass ends his story by saying Batman singled him out, although the others laugh at him, save for Gordon, who says, "Gentlemen, please."

Four nights later, at the mayor's mansion, Batman shows up and uses a dart-gun to incapacitate and then disarm the drivers as they sit outside, waiting for their employers who are attending a dinner party inside. There, the conversation turns to Batman, whom Carmine Falcone is concerned about, while the mayor mentions the positive effect he's having, with street crime having gone down. Though Commissioner Loeb is confident that Batman's influence could work for them,

insinuating that now that the people of Gotham feel safe, they won't worry about the conspiracies about their being mixed up with the criminals, Falcone remains worried. Outside the window, Batman sets up a device, then pulls the pin on a smoke bomb and tosses it through the window. It lands on the table and fills the whole room up, as Batman then cuts the power cable outside, plunging it into darkness. Everyone starts to panic from this, when an explosion blows through the wall housing the window and, as

they watch, Batman appears out of the smoke, telling them, "Ladies, gentlemen, you've eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. Its spirit. But your feast is nearly over." He then puts the lid back on a flaming pot, extinguishing the only light left, and as he does, he tells them that none of them will escape his wrath. The very next day, Loeb orders Gordon to bring Batman in or else, he'll be out of a job. On the night of June 2nd, Gordon and Essen attempt to trap him, the latter acting as though she's being mugged and running down the street, the

"mugger" chasing after her with a knife. Though Batman is lurking in a nearby alley, he knows it's a setup and doesn't appear, commenting, "Gordon's wasting a lot of manpower on these traps." When they reach the end of the street, they realize they've failed again. Gordon appears out of a car parked across from them, saying, "We'll try again tomorrow night." Three days later, one of Falcone's men finds the Rolls Royce missing from the mansion's garage, and when he and another one of his men enter his bedroom to tell him, they find

him naked on the bed, his hands and feet tied together behind his back (they don't immediately react to this, instead focusing on telling him about the Rolls). He growls that Batman said he dumped it in the river and orders him dead. The next night, Gordon meets with Harvey Dent to talk with him about Batman, asking him where he was on the dates he appeared. Dent's alibis check out and, after Gordon leaves, Dent allows Batman into his office through the window.

Gordon and Essen drive off following the meeting, discussing whether or not Dent could be Batman, when Gordon has to slam on the brakes to avoid missing a truck that comes barreling through an intersection. When it passes by, he sees that the driver is unconscious at the wheel and pursues him. Getting alongside the truck, Gordon has Essen take the wheel as he gets out and jumps onto the side of the truck. Batman hears the commotion as the truck barrels towards an old homeless lady walking

down the street. Before it can hit her, he swoops in and tackles her out of the way. The truck then hits the cart she was pushing, bouncing up, throwing Gordon off the side, and skidding before smacking into a streetlight and stopping. Lying in the street, Gordon slowly gets his wits about him and hears the sounds of approaching sirens. He sees that Essen has Batman at gunpoint, and she tells Gordon that she called for backup. When she takes her eyes off him, Batman quickly shoves her to the

ground and rushes down an alleyway across from them. Gordon pulls his gun and tries to yell for him to stop, but he's still too dazed from the fall to do anything. The reinforcements show up and he points them in the direction Batman went. Two cops run to the head of the alley and fire at him, grazing him in the right leg. He rounds a corner and dives through the boarded-up window of an abandoned building. Gordon orders the building's front covered, tells Merkel to take a squad up to the roof, and makes it clear that no one is to fire until

he says so. Inside the building, Batman's leg bleeds badly as he makes his way up a staircase, passing by an unconscious drunkard, while outside, Gordon insists there's no need for Branden and his SWAT team. A helicopter then appears and heads for the building, carrying a firebomb on its underside. Horrified, he orders his men to get back, as the bomb is dropped, blowing out the inside of the building's top floors and sending Batman flying backwards. He gets to his feet amid the burning rubble, when the rotten wood below him gives way

and he falls through it, landing on the floor below. He quickly tumbles to dodge some beams that fall and then, seeing that his utility belt has been ignited and is sparking, he pulls it off and tosses it away. A burning beam falls in front of him as he sees the scorched body of a vagrant and he then quickly runs and tumbles to dodge more burning beams that come tumbling down. He spots a hatch that has "DANGER. ELECTRICITY. 80,000 WATTS" written on it and gets an idea.

As another explosion rocks the Gotham skyline, Holly Robinson watches what's going on from her and Selina's apartment window and wakes her up. Selina, who's surrounded in bed by her many cats, isn't thrilled when she looks at her clock and sees it's 5:02 AM, and when Holly tells her what's going on, she figures that Branden has probably cornered a jaywalker. She has her flip on the TV to see if there's any news coverage about it. At that moment, Branden and his SWAT team arrive at the scene. They prepare to enter the building, and

when Gordon tells him that no one is to fire until he gives the word, Branden tells him that Loeb wants Batman dead. They head inside, while Holly and Selina learn what's going on from the news and decide to go see for themselves. Inside the building, Branden gets reports from his other units, who find nothing other than a dead wino. Spotting the electric hatch, Branden immediately shoots through it and investigates to see if Batman's down there. He leaves two men up top as a guard, only for Batman to appear behind them and smash their

heads together. He then closes the hatch on the others, and when Branden runs up the stairs and bangs on the hatch, Batman contacts him using one of the guards' walkie-talkie, telling him, "I like you right where you are, Branden. Too many people have already died. Order your squads to withdraw. I can't guarantee their safety." Branden, instead, orders his other units to converge on the lobby. As they move in, Batman gasses one unit with a smoke bomb. They try to contact the outside for

help, but when a cop tells Gordon, he stands by, saying, "Wish I could help but orders are orders. Breaks my heart." Selina and Holly arrive at the scene, while up above, another helicopter flies in, this one with Loeb onboard. The pilot tells him that Batman has taken out Unit 3 and Loeb tells a sniper in the back, "You better shoot straight, son," as he has the building's main door in his sights. Back in the building, Batman takes cover under a staircase and wraps up the wound in his leg, saying

he's let things get out of hand. The other unit descends the staircase, when a cat that's hiding with Batman runs out, startling one of the officers and causing him to shoot wildly, until his superior stops him. With little else to work with, Batman activates a sonic device that he hasn't tested from such a great distance. However, the frequency it lets out does reach across a great distance and, deep within a cavern, it begins to get a reaction.

The SWAT unit searches the place, when Batman rustles slightly beneath the staircase. This is enough to get one officer's attention and he approaches with his gun drawn. Batman quickly shoots him in the deck with a dart and, when he drops, the others swing around and fire. Batman leaps out from under the staircase and runs past the backsides of some wooden pillars, at one point grabbing the cat from before and tossing it out a window to safety. The cat runs to the crowd and is drawn right to Selina, as the shots fly outside.

Gordon angrily tells the unit to stop shooting, but they, instead, continue firing on Batman. At that moment, Branden himself manages to make his way up there, intent on joining the assault. They approach the pillar Batman is behind, continuously firing on it, when he kicks it and it collapses from the damage inflicted on it. Everyone scatters amid the dust, and when Branden tries to get back to shooting, Batman disarms him and grabs him by the collar before throwing him through the weakened brick wall, right in front of Gordon. The two of

them exchange glances before Batman retreats back into the darkness, as the crowd cheers on him. Just as Gordon notes that they've made a real hero out of him, a huge swarm of bats appears, heading right for the building, as the onlookers either scatter or duck down. Inside, Batman fights off more SWAT officers, uppercutting one, grabbing his weapon and smashing another in the face with it, punching out two in a row, and though he gets whacked in the back of the head by another, he quickly grabs a brick and hits him in the face with

it. Another officer charges at him with a riot stick but he gets his arm broken and kicked away, only for two others to come at Batman and knock him to the ground. The officers left standing approach him, with two still wielding their assault rifles, but just when it seems like they've got him, the bats burst through the boarded up windows and immediately overwhelm them. Outside, Gordon pulls an injured officer into a squad car, when Batman leaps onto the windshield and across the

roof. Up in his helicopter, Loeb spots him escaping on a motorcycle and he and two police cars give chase. The helicopter swoops in above him and the sniper prepares to take him down, when the bats swarm the helicopter and get inside, forcing the pilot to withdraw. They also swarm the police cars, blocking their views and causing them to drive off a pier and into the bay. By the time the bats disperse, Batman is gone. Gordon tells us that everyone received vaccinations for their bat-bites, adding, "Never have so many had so much trouble sitting down." Four of Branden's men had broken bones, Branden himself had five broken ribs and internal bleeding, and the winos who were killed in the firebombing had no relatives.

Things then slow down for a while, with Selina and Holly leaving their pimp, Gordon and Essen beginning their affair, Selina becoming Catwoman for the first time, and Gordon, by early September, breaking things off with Essen. He then attempts to get Skeevers to testify against Flass in exchange for no jail-time but Skeevers' attorney stops his interrogation when he posts bail. Later, in his hotel room, Skeevers receives payment for not mentioning Flass during the upcoming inquest, but after his attorney leaves him alone, Batman appears

through the window. He slams Skeevers' head against the glass coffee table, then throws him through it and pins him to the floor with his weight. He tells him, "You can never escape me," and when he pulls a gun, he grabs his hand and slams it against the floor, instantly disarming him. Cracking his hand, Batman tells him, "Nothing harms me, but I know pain. I know pain. Sometimes I share it with someone like you." There's a close-up of Skeevers' wide, terrified eye as Batman's shadow falls over him, and when it

cuts to black, you hear him let out an agonized scream. The following day, Skeevers comes to Gordon, telling him he'll give him Flass. Gordon has an officer notify the DA, as well as to not let Loeb know. The next day, it's in the media, much to Loeb's anger, and that's when he shows Gordon photos confirming his affair with Essen, as a recovered Branden tells him, "Walls have ears, Jimmy." Nearly two weeks later, after Gordon takes Barbara to her final checkup before their child is born, he's contacted and told that Bruce

Wayne is available for an interview at the moment. Gordon accepts and he and Barbara drive to Wayne Manor. When they meet with Bruce, they find him wearing a robe, walking with a cane, and apparently drunk, having partied with a woman who's also there. Having them sit down and pouring himself a drink, he exacerbates his already bad first impression with Barbara by crossing legs and, given her reaction, it's obvious he's not wearing anything beneath the robe. The woman

then starts kissing the side of his face and Bruce says, "Pardon me. Where are my manners? I neglected to introduce my friend. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what her name is. She doesn't speak any language that I know... except one." Following the interview, as they drive away, Barbara calls Bruce a "sleazy, womanizing scumbag," prompting Gordon to stop the car and reveal his affair to her. The actual conversation isn't shown, but Bruce gets nervous when he sees the car sitting there for ten minutes. He's then relieved when it does drive away, when the woman complains, "Grape-juice and small-talk? That is not my idea of a party, Mr. Wayne." Bruce tells her, "What are you complaining about? Easiest five grand you ever made."

After Flass makes a threat against Skeevers when Gordon tells him of the charges against him, and following a failed attempt to make Gordon back down by calling Barbara and telling her about the affair, Skeevers ends up in the hospital after being poisoned, although he's saved in time to where he's still going to testify against Flass. Gordon decides to tell Loeb that to his face, angering the corrupt commissioner all the more. On October 12th, Gordon's son is born, while at the same time, it's reported that Loeb fell prey to a certain cat burglar.

Selina, however, isn't happy about this, first because Loeb had nothing to steal but a bunch of plush toys, and also because the media assumes the burglary was Batman's doing. Deciding to next target Falcone, she comes up with a signature calling card to leave behind. On November 2nd, Batman uses a glider to swoop in on Falcone's penthouse in the city. Falcone is meeting with his nephew, Johnny Viti, at the indoor swimming pool and Batman records their conversation, as Falcone tells Viti, "You see, Johnny, there are too many people

in this world who ask questions, and far, far too many who give answers... We must avoid more bad publicity, Johnny... Here's what I need done." But, before he can continue, one of the guards outside yells and it's revealed that Catwoman has appeared and is wiping the floor with Falcone's men. One gets gut-punched and then clawed across the face, another gets leapt onto and his neck twisted between her knees, and another gets his legs swept out from under him while his partner's face is also clawed. Falcone and Viti run outside to find

Catwoman is being held at gunpoint by those she hasn't attacked. Falcone accuses her of working with Batman, while Viti pulls a knife and approaches Catwoman. Before he can do anything, he and the others are quickly incapacitated by Batman's tranquilizer darts. Batman growls, "Thanks for wasting my time," and leaves, while Catwoman decides to make good on leaving Falcone with her calling card. The next day, while exercising, Bruce listens to what he managed to tape

before Catwoman's interference and decides that, if Falcone doesn't want bad publicity, he won't murder anyone. After running through some options, he realizes he might resort to kidnapping and leaves the room. Alfred asks if he should fetch his "tights" and Bruce answers, "Never during the day, Alfred." While Selina deals with being labeled as Batman's assistant, Viti visits Falcone in the hospital, where his uncle tells him to take down Gordon, giving him the idea to use his family as bait.

In the early morning hours of November 4th, Gordon and Barbara's newborn son wakes them up with hungry crying. Gordon opts to give him his bottle but, as he's waiting for it to warm up on the stove, he gets a phone-call where Loeb calls him into work. Reluctantly, he agrees to come in; unbeknownst to him, Loeb then tells Branden to tell Falcone that Gordon's about to leave his apartment. When Gordon pulls out of his building's parking garage and heads down the street, a motorcycle crosses right in front of him at an

intersection and swerves around to his other side. At first, Gordon thinks it's just a really crappy driver, but he becomes suspicious when he sees him go into the parking garage. He turns around and heads back there, disembarking at the entrance. Walking into the garage with his gun drawn, he comes across Viti and his men, who've taken Barbara and the baby hostage. Viti himself is threatening the baby with a knife in the back of his car and orders Gordon to go to his office and wait for them to call. Gordon, knowing they'll probably

kill them both no matter what, fires, taking out the two men holding Barbara hostage outside the car, but getting shot in the left shoulder in the process. Viti and his driver flee the garage, backing up and nearly hitting Gordon, who dives out of the way. Gordon watches as the car leaves the garage, when the motorcycle from before appears behind him. Gordon promptly shoots, knocking the man off his bike, and commandeers it for himself, telling Barbara to call Merkel. He drives out of the garage

and chases after Viti's car, while Barbara takes one of the discarded guns and points at the cyclist, who gets up and removes his helmet. She warns him that she'll shoot if he tries anything, when he says, "Mrs. Gordon, I won't let your son die. Trust me." He then gets to his feet and runs out of the garage.

Out on the street, Bruce sees that the chase has left him behind, so he decides to take a quicker route to catch up. He runs down an alley to a street on the other side and, seeing the two vehicles zipping down a road that's down the street from him, he jumps up onto a parked truck, grabs onto a pole sticking out of the side of a building, swings himself to where he's on top of it, and jumps up to a small ladder that leads him to the roof. He runs across it and several other rooftops, while down on the street, Viti's car and Gordon's motorcycle fly past a truck

that then heads out into the street. Seeing it from the rooftop, Bruce jumps for the truck, lands on its roof, then tumbles and grabs onto the edge of the container while lying flat against it. Gordon fires on the car, which, in turn, drives down the sidewalk and smashes into a pile of trash, flinging it in his way. Though it causes him to fall back momentarily, Gordon continues the chase, with Bruce hanging onto the back of the truck, which is right behind them. Viti's car head towards a bridge and Gordon chases them onto it, with Bruce

hopping off the truck and continuing on foot, running up across its beams. Gordon manages to shoot the car's back left tire, sending it slamming into one side of the bridge and crashing into the other side, where it comes to a halt. Gordon gets off the bike and heads to the car, gun drawn, but he only finds the driver, who's knocked out. Suddenly, Viti flings open the back left door, knocking Gordon to the ground and causing him to drop his gun, as well as his glasses. Severely handicapped, Gordon is unable to stop Viti, who's still holding

his baby, from kicking the gun away, and when he gets up, Viti punches him against the car's smashed front. Viti then hits him again, and while Gordon manages to get a couple of hits in, he's kicked up against the railing on the side of the bridge. Viti pulls out his knife and lunges at Gordon, who just manages to keep him at bay with one hand on his face and the other on the hand with the knife. He tries to push him back but Viti is too large and strong, pushing the knife closer to his face. When

he's close enough, he slices at Gordon, but while he misses, he drops the baby over the edge of the bridge, the two of them then falling over with him. Bruce then dives in and grabs the baby, and when Barbara arrives at the scene via a cab, she looks over the railing and sees Gordon standing in the shallows of the river, with Bruce holding the baby, and Viti lying on the ground, unconscious. Bruce hands Gordon his son, then confirms he's right when he says he's wearing armor under his jacket. Gordon

tells Bruce he's virtually blind without his glasses, prompting him to smile, and when he hears the sound of the police approaching, he advises him to leave, before thanking him. Bruce runs for it, and the movie then quickly wraps up with Flass testifying against Loeb, Loeb being indicted for racketeering, and Gordon, now captain, waiting to meet with Batman on a snowy rooftop.

Christopher Drake was the composer on a number of the first batch of these DC animated movies and his scores were almost always a home run. His music for Batman: Year One is most definitely so, as it's never intrusive or overbearing, but always accentuates the emotion of the action really well, like this really tense, subtle beating piece of music or this particularly haunting theme that plays when Bruce Wayne first arrives back home at the manor, hinting at both his return and the storm that's to come now that he is back. Speaking of Bruce, Drake's best music is what he writes for him, as he manages to really get into his tortured mindset using somber strings for when he visits his parents' graves and when he sits in front of his father's bust, while the flashback to his parents' murder is scored in an almost operatic style that touches on the tragedy that it is. But the piece that plays when the bat comes through the window, giving him his inspiration, really takes the cake, coming off as epic, profound, and a bit creepy all at the same time. A bigger, slightly faster-paced version of that last piece plays when the swarm of bats helps Batman escape when he's trapped, and there's plenty of action-oriented music throughout the movie, with my personal favorite being the simple but effective one that plays during the climactic chase. And while she doesn't have a lot of screentime, Drake does give Catwoman something of a motif, with high strings that are a bit reminiscent of Danny Elfman's music for her in Batman Returns.

Some may disagree but, for my money, Batman: Year One is an awesome animated movie, with a lot of stuff going for it. Among that is a great voice cast for some very memorable characters, both good and bad, a well-done visual aesthetic, a really good music score, and a well-told, multi-faceted story that sticks very close to its source material without missing any important details or dragging out to be an overlong bore. While some may find it to be too literal a translation of the comic and feel that it's not long enough, I think the only major hiccups are Ben McKenzie's so-so performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Catwoman's presence hardly being essential. Again, I've never read the comic, so keep that in my mind, but, regardless, I feel confident in rating this very highly and recommending it to those interested.