Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s modern classic story comes home in a Film Noir movie.
The Long Halloween was originally a comic series that ran fro 1996 to 1997. It was a nice and tight mystery staring Batman during his early years. The storyline really kept you guessing and just drew you in all the way to the end. When I heard that it was going to released as an animated feature, I was very curious.
In the story, there is a new killer in Gotham that kills members of mob families on holidays. Batman teams up with Captain Jim Gordon and DA Harvey Dent to solve the mystery and capture Holiday.
I was truly enthralled by this film. There are so many twists and turns, when you thinking it’s going in one direction, it goes in another. Even if you are familiar with the comic, this movie goes another way. Writer Tim Sheridan did a great job adapting this story. Just enough familiarity to satisfy the fans, but enough changes so you don’t see it coming. The story takes place during Batman’s early days and he’s not fully developed in his detective skills. We start to see Batman trying to solve this mystery.
Directed by Chris Palmer, Palmer does a great job setting this up in the new animated universe that’s we’ve seen so far with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society: World War II. Palmer also sets Gotham in the same type of world like how it was in Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series. We see 1940’s machines along with modern technology. It really works for this film.
The voice cast is absolutely solid here. Jensen Ackles really knocks it out of the park here. Ackles voiced Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood and he was much younger. He plays a more mature character here. He’s able to separate Bruce Wayne from Batman.
Josh Duhamel plays Harvey Dent. An extremely driven District Attorney. In the film, we see his drive is slowly spiraling him down.
Billy Burke voices Captain Gordon. He does a great job as Gordon. Still getting used to working with Batman and trying to balance his own family life.
Naya Rivera plays Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Rivera breathes new life into her character. It’s really is a shame that this was Rivera’s final performance. I wish could have gotten more from her.
Titus Welliver voices mob boss Carmine Falcone. Welliver really has a commanding performance in every scene he’s in.
Troy Baker and Alastair Duncan revive their roles as the Joker and Alfred Pennyworth. It’s always great to hear these 2 voice these roles. I’ve always enjoyed them and thought they were both good fits.
Bonus content includes DC Showcase – The Losers animated short. I’ve always been a fan of the Losers so it was really cool to see them in an animated short. This is really well-done cartoon that moves at a fast pace all the way to the end.
A sneak peek at the next animated feature which is part 2 of the Long Halloween storyline.
Finally, 2 animated shorts from the Batman: The Animated series, “Christmas With The Joker” and “It’s Never Too Late”.
Bottom line, I really love this film and it does end on a cliffhanger so I can’t wait until part two comes out to see how this all plays out.
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One is now available on Blu-Ray and Digital Download. You need to go out and get it now!
Many thanks to Warner Bros Home Entertainment for allow me to check this out.
Newsdesk