Review: Batman Knightfall Part 1
“Arkham Asylum has been destroyed, and all its inmates have been unleashed upon Gotham City. As Batman races to round up some of his greatest enemies, he is pushed to his physical and mental limits and into a final confrontation with a new threat: the man called Bane!
Based on the iconic DC comic book event, Batman: Knightfall – Part 1: Knightfall tells the story of the breaking of the Bat.”
Thoughts: Believe the hype. Batman: Knightfall Part 1 is the best animated Batman movie we’ve seen in years. It’s dark, it’s brutal, it’s shocking, it’s like you’re watching a 90s comic book come to life. The animation is beautiful, even gives me The Maxx animated series vibes at times. It’s very fluid, very reflective of the gritty, raw comic book era when Knightfall was published. There’s a certain dangerous aspect to this story but despite know what’s going to happen, but the anticipation truly builds in a way that very few Batman animated stories have been able to capture.
The voice acting is aces across the board. Anson Mount dives in head first into the role of Bruce Wayne and Batman and makes it his own. It’s not easy to take up the mantle after the late great Kevin Conroy but he rose to the occasion and put his own spin on it. You can feel the exhaustion, the weakness, the feeling of being so run down that you can barely function the way you used too. I’ve seen many great voice actors and talent come in to voice The Dark Knight but Anson brings a darkness and a very humanistic feel to it. And, there are a few times where he reminded me of Michael Keaton in the delivery and the tone. It’s obvious Anson was inspired by Batman depictions of the past and I salute him for bringing something new and fresh to the cape and cowl.
That brings us to Michael Mando as Bane. Who has always been a favorite character of mine. A villain that no mere mortal man can defeat because the more revved up and pumped full of Venom, the more powerful, quicker, smarter, stronger he becomes. It’s a perfect villain. So I was very excited to see what Michael was going to bring to the table and I can honestly he exceeded any expectations. Much like Anson did for Batman, Michael made it his own and to me that is very important in playing these iconic, larger than life characters. It would be easy to do a carbon copy of Tom Hardy as Bane from The Dark Knight Rises but thankfully that wasn’t the case. Mando breathed an extra evil, dark, unapologetic voice into Bane and makes you truly believe that there is no equal. No one. Not even Superman. A truly brutal, terrifying and memorable performance. The kind of role that nightmares are made of.
And while I’m on the subject of Bane, I believe this to be the most fleshed out and dare I say the best presentation of what his character truly represents. Seeing him as a child of an unfortunate and horrible environment to the hulking beast dead set on revenge and destruction is one of the more intriguing and engaging reasons to watch this.
Verdict: 10/10. I truly believe this is the best animated Batman film since Mask Of The Phantasm. If DC delivers on Part 2&3, I think it could surpass any other animated comic book movie.
