Batman: The Long Halloween - Review
I love animated movies, and I love DC.
So, naturally, I love the DC Animated movies. All of them? No. But most of what I've seen are pretty good. And I had heard about the adaptation of the famous comic book, "The Long Halloween", so I was obviously interested. Plus, DC's animated line up was impressive.
After watching it, I can say that it's really good. Firstly, since Batman is known to be "The World's Greatest Detective", this film is slightly different. In this story, Batman isn't quite a "detective" yet. And the situations he faces forces him to up his game in this field. I find this very interesting as it shows Batman as flawed on some level, and he has improve himself to get to the bottom of the case.
The external plot is simple. A series of murders take place on each holiday, and Gordon, Batman and Harvey Dent are trying to catch him. There's a scene where this trio are talking about the case in a rooftop, and it was a nice parallel to a scene in "The Dark Knight" where the same 3 characters are in the same location.
It manages to feel "comic book-y" despite it's grim tone, and I like that. Some of the antagonists are this mob family, that is clearly a reference to the godfather. Not only in style, but in also how they speak. But the thing I love about this is that, the Godfather says the word "family" so many times, but the irony is how dysfunctional it really is. His son even calls his father, "Mr. Family."
The Godfather has one particular son "Alberto Falcone" who doesn't treat well, mainly because he went abroad, fell in love, and went against the family's traditions. It shows us the flaws of the family's beliefs, and also gives us a character to empathise for. Because I felt for him, and it's also relatable on some level.
One more aspect I particularly enjoy is the cost of being a busy person, and how it affects the loved ones around you. Reminiscent of Spider-Man 2, Jim Gordon and Harvey's wives know the repercussions of their respective husbands' jobs, but there's still a small level of disappointment present. Gordon has to go help with the case, when he was going to help his children with trick or treating. Dent has to leave his lonely wife when he was supposed to watch a movie with her. It's melancholic and I love it.
The relationship between Batman and Selina is also beautiful. There is an aura of romantic tension, and sometimes they do embrace it by kissing, but also the lack of it makes it more magnetic. Since they know each others' identities, they understand each other on a deeper level, and have respect for each other. They know each others' internal struggles, and are empathetic with each other.
Even all the voice actors do a fantastic job as they made me believe in each character.
(SPOILERS)
It isn't a huge spoiler to say that Harvey becomes Two Face in this film. But the way it executes is genius. In a scene where we grow to care about the relationship between Harvey, and his wife Gilda, their house blows up, and the film knows that we expect Harvey to burn half of his face. So the film hides one of half of his face for a while, until it reveals that... he's just fine.
But then later in one scene, in a courtroom it finally happens, as I expected it to, because that's how it happened in the comics. The reason Two Face kind of works for me as a villain is because you can clearly see he has moral beliefs, and also has a terrifying presence. But the aspect he doesn't work is this; but for that, we're going to have to look at Two Face in "The Dark Knight."
In that film, he works because Harvey Dent and Two Face are the same, except that Two Face is just an extension of Harvey. Dent is a man seeking justice, and taking action against crime. Two Face is basically a man with the same want, but with a twisted sense of justice.
In this film, Two Face is treated as a completely different character, because Harvey has multiple personality disorder. So since they're 2 different people, Two Face isn't an extension of Harvey, but a different character of whose beliefs we have to get introduced way later in the film.
Now, talking about the animation. It's fantastic. The characters have a thick black outline that makes them standout more visually speaking, from their background. Even the use of colours and shading gives a sense of depth to the look of the characters. Even many of the backgrounds look stellar. In one scene where Batman chases and catches a mob member in an alley, it's lit by red lights that make the dark knight feel more menacing.
The film certainly isn't perfect. One thing that didn't work for me is Catwoman being the daughter of the Godfather. Is it interesting? Definitely. But they don't do much with it. She says it once, without any context, and then sees him when he dies... and leaves. The film had potential to have some emotional conflict with this revelation, but it does nothing interesting with it.
Now, without Spoiling, we figure out the identity of the killer, and it works, for me. Because there was a mild set-up for it, and it makes sense from the point of view of the killer. There's an emotional motivation behind it, and it works really well.
Overall, both the parts of Batman: The Long Halloween are really solid films with characters I cared about, and that gave us a look into Gotham and it's people, and it's social hierarchy. It's not the best Batman movie, but has great animation and a visually distinct character design that makes them look great.
Thank Your for Reading
I hope you liked this blog review, please make sure to comment about your thoughts on the film, or on how I could possibly improve. Also follow my YouTube Channel "Detox with P-Talks Official" where I analyse movies and do other movie related content along with short films, etc.
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