batman: gotham knight

alright...rented the new batman animated flick off itunes. one word.

hawt.

not too many spoilers, but enough i should at least warn you. to lay the groundwork, this movie is not visionary, but it is sexy as hell. produced by bruce timm, this movie chronicles 6 minisodes (think animatrix) all in different stylizations that chronicle batman's journey between batman begins and the dark knight.

at times the segments are a bit disjointed, but the flow is smooth enough. i really thought i'd be disappointed in some of the art direction, but i really wasn't. each batman brought something amazing to the table, each look excited me. bruce wayne on the other hand wasn't that amazing, but hey, it ain't called bruce: gotham playboy either.

the biggest bonus, aside from an amazing fight sequence with the scarecrow (god it must've taken forever to storyboard out) was having kevin conroy back in the suit. conroy has been the voice of batman since 1991 when batman: the animated series launched and i was just a lad of 9. his voice is so dark, so primal; he's batman. i'm really glad they didn't bring christian bale in (though he did an outstanding job), because honestly it made my night to see conroy's batman as a true heavy hitter. someone that inspired fear. to see him hold a man off a train and watch that man squeal in panic and utter "shoot your mouth off now" is an indescribable dark pleasure.

while i'm no great fan of anime, i completely respect and admire what these folks have been able to do with perhaps one of the greatest literary characters every created. in the end, it doesn't matter how well you're written. comics are a visual media and look is just as important (if not more than!) as story. these directors were truly pushing boundaries and still able to bring the batman to life fantastically. there's even a tribute to jim lee's famous batman #608 cover and it fits so nicely you ALMOST don't catch it.

i'm buying this movie. if you have the chance, rent it or buy it. hell download it. just make sure you watch it.

why so serious?