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REVIEW: Batman: Gotham Knight


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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:16 pm Reply with quote
Well, that's really disappointing. I have my copy coming from Netflix today, and I was hoping to like it as much as B:TAS. I did watch the preview clip, and I believe it was from the Crossfire episode, and I wasn't impressed with the voice acting, even with the usually awesome Kevin Conroy Batman VA.

Oh well. I'll at least be entertained briefly by bishie Bruce Wayne, I guess.

I'll just save my money to put towards more B:TAS collection sets.
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Alucalb



Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 171
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:36 pm Reply with quote
I bought this movie just to see some cool fights and to hear Kevin Conroy again (he even makes generic bishie Bruce sound GAR), and I wasn't disappointed in that regard. I'd say it's a solid rental if you're not a huge Batfan.
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Roy9076



Joined: 06 Jan 2006
Posts: 286
Location: California
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:44 pm Reply with quote
Solid review. I got the movie because the animation and art looks nice. Story is all right, but they should really add more depth for the animators. I bet that the Japanese version might have something on documentary, but for now, it's a solid purchase for Batman fans.
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:17 pm Reply with quote
Ah, how disappointing! I was really hoping this would have storytelling more along the lines of B:TAS in terms of the quality, but I suppose not. Once my funds sort themselves out I might rent it, though...admittedly, I would like to see a bishounen Bruce Wayne. We all have our vices?
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15604
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:31 pm Reply with quote
Scott @ AICN seemed underwhelmed, too. I just hope this doesn't reflect badly on the movie.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6235
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:33 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Scott @ AICN seemed underwhelmed, too. I just hope this doesn't reflect badly on the movie.


i really don't think anyone will draw a connection between the two.
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:23 pm Reply with quote
The movie got a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, so the answer is "no." Razz
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1603
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:43 pm Reply with quote
Ironic that they'd include episodes of The Animated Series on the Blu-Ray set, since the premise to "Have I Got a Story For You" is identical to one of that show's episodes, right down to the idea of each storyteller perceiving Batman differently.
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minakichan





PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:03 pm Reply with quote
I love that ANN can be holding a Batman Gotham Knight promotion and still blast it in a review. A good review wouldn't have been proof of bias or sell-out, but this really only confirms to me that ANN is a pretty dang honest newssource.
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kyokun703



Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 2505
Location: Orgrimmar
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:12 pm Reply with quote
Okay, I finished watching it and it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it was going to be. The second story though was pretty awful, and I definitely will be skipping that over any rewatches. But it was fun listening to Kevin Conroy again, and the VAing also wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared (since the preview I watched was the weak second story).

The bishie Batman cracked me up though. That was so not my idea of Bruce Wayne.

I think I probably will end up buying this, on a sale.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8503
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:18 pm Reply with quote
Wyvern wrote:
Ironic that they'd include episodes of The Animated Series on the Blu-Ray set, since the premise to "Have I Got a Story For You" is identical to one of that show's episodes, right down to the idea of each storyteller perceiving Batman differently.


I'm pretty sure that it was intentional, and therefore, not ironic whatsoever.

Anyway, I was a lot more impressed with Gotham Knight than with The Animatrix, though they're both similar. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge Batman fan and enjoyed this as a series of little experiments, some a little more successful than others. Also, I thought the voice acting was solid and the atmosphere was perfect. It really was an interesting group of interepretations of the world of Batman.
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:22 pm Reply with quote
minakichan wrote:
I love that ANN can be holding a Batman Gotham Knight promotion and still blast it in a review. A good review wouldn't have been proof of bias or sell-out, but this really only confirms to me that ANN is a pretty dang honest newssource.


I doubt they advertise things based on how much they like it.
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noobles
Subscriber



Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 20
Location: Sri Lanka
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:42 pm Reply with quote
Pretty disappointing from a story and writing perspective - given how Warner emphasized its writers, I was actually hoping this would surprise me and be good.
But I don't regret buying it anyway, because it looks so pretty and the "Working through Pain" segment was excellent.
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TheVok



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 613
Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:50 pm Reply with quote
I rented it. Zip somehow delivered it early ... about four days before release date! I'm watching it with a friend at work during our lunch breaks; we're through the first four.

With all due respect to the reviewer, anyone who prefers 'Field Test'--wherein almost nothing happens--to the much more kinetic 'In Darkness Dwells' loses a lot of legitimacy in discussing animation. It would be one thing if 'Field Test' had a compelling story, but really it's just the dullest sort of tech talk. Yes, there are anime shows like that, but that doesn't make it okay.

Animation needs to move.
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rhetoricalnoise



Joined: 30 Apr 2007
Posts: 41
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:22 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for the review Zac.

I've been a fan of this website for a while, you guys have some excellent writers, and the encyclopedia is indispensable. But I can't ever seem to make time to visit the forum. Well, I'm here now to weigh in with some thoughts!

They were definitely aiming for an anthology release similar to the Animatrix. I'm totally nuts for the Animatrix, so it should come as no surprise that I've been very eager to see how this project would turn out. Sadly, what we ended up with was really underwhelming, and on the whole much weaker then the Animatrix.

I also noticed that there was always a greater emphasis on the western talent involved with the project. Early on they disclosed which Japanese studios were contributing shorts, but it has been frustrating that they've been rather tightlipped about the directors and other creative staff on the Japanese side. I've been passively keeping tabs on this project, and at one point I saw a trailer that actually said the directors were some of Japans most "revered" anime filmmakers, but neglected to say who they were. I think that tagline is appropriate for the titles like Robot Carnival and the Animatrix, but misleading here.

Not until I actually put the DVD into my player to look at the credits, was I able to finally confirm that Kawajiri was not one of the directors. There's been alot of confusion over that.

It turns out that many of the directors here have little to no prior experience directing. Many of them are very talented animators, with prolific careers as animation directors and in character design (two roles that often go hand in hand). Although I'm all for giving new talent the chance to develop, a practice that Studio 4°C and MADHOUSE in particular are really good about.

I was excited to see what Production IG would contribute to the project, as they missed out on the Animatrix. Unfortunately their short, Crossfire was the worst of the bunch. The concept was insipid, and poorly executed. It, suffered from terrible animation, and a weak script that wasn't helped at all by the mediocre acting. I'm a forgiving guy, if you can excel in just one area, I may walk away satisfied, but this thing failed on all fronts.

Due to the poor animation, at first I actually thought this was the work of Bee Train. However their short FIELD TEST plays next, and it wasn't that bad. They rendered Bruce Wayne as a bishounen looking character, which I found rather amusing.

The highlight for me was WORKING THROUGH THE PAIN. The difference in the writing and production quality on this compared to CROSSFIRE is like night and day. The thematic development, helped to make the story especially poignant.

HAVE I GOT A STORY FOR YOU & IN DARKNESS DWELLS were the other two pieces that I thought were really interesting. I'll have to sit down with these two again to try and figure out if they work.

Yasuhiro AOKI, by the way, is a guy that's been nurtured mostly at Studio 4°C. I think this was his first project at Madhouse.

DEADSHOT - The Internet heresy is that Yoshiaki Kawajiri was signed on for this short, and even did some work on it with his crew at Madhouse, but for some reason dropped out. Some have pointed out that there's an odd gap in the film credits for this short, that isn't present for the other shorts.

http://www.catsuka.com/interf/tmp/batman_madhouse.jpg

Anyways, I thought that it turned out okay, but as Zac said, it was hardly the centerpiece that the packaging suggests.
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