“I’m Bane. I could kill you, but death would only end your agony and silence your shame. Instead, I will simply break you.”
If there is one arena that I would give DC Comics supremacy over Marvel, it would be with their animated movies. I don’t know why, but when it comes to their cinematic endeavors, DC has not yet broken the mold in the way Marvel has. However, when it comes to their animated endeavors, particularly when it comes to the Batman franchise, DC can’t be touched. And Batman Knightfall Part 1 is no different. As this franchise takes one of the most popular storylines of the series, it perfectly sets the stage for the next installment. However, disappointingly, we won’t get that until late this year, and I predict we will then be craving the final installment, which won’t be expected until 2027. The important thing about the Knightfall storyline is that it introduces two significant characters, Bane (the man who broke the bat) and Jean-Paul Valley, also known as Azrael. This marks the first appearance of Jean-Paul Valley in the DC animated movies. Anson Mount returned to voice Batman for the second time, along with returning Jack Griffo (Tim Drake) and David Dastmalchian (who previously voiced Calendar Man and now voiced the Riddler) and also joined by first-timers Michael Mando (Bane) and Pablo Schreiber (Jean-Paul Valley).
The film drops numerous events from the Knightfall storyline for the sake of pacing, including the other villains who escaped from Arkham, such as Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Two-Face, Amygdala, Film Freak, Abattoir, the Preston Payne version of Clayface, and serial killer Cornelius Stirk. While some of the villains’ escapades were included, such as Firefly setting a boardwalk ablaze and Zsasz holding women hostage at a school, many story beats were dropped. These include Killer Croc being involved in Bane and Robin’s fight in the sewers, Mad Hatter being curious about who attacked Arkham, and mind-controlling Film Freak to spy on Bane, only for the minor villain dispatched by Bane and Joker teaming up with Scarecrow to kidnap the mayor.
“They say you are the world’s greatest detective, and yet you did not see this coming.”
The film does Bane justice, showcasing not only his brute strength, but his razor-sharp-tactician mind. Like in the comics, Bane is aware that in a straight fight, he’d be no match for Batman, who he regards as the king of Gotham. Instead, he applies a war of attrition against the world’s greatest detective, setting the stage for Batman to be worn down by going against waves of his rogue’s gallery before ultimately facing the quote unquote final boss. The conclusion of this battle, which any diehard fan knows did not end in Batman’s favor, led to a long convalescence and Bruce being forced to leave the protection of the city in the hands of someone he couldn’t fully trust.
That is what served as the stopping point for Part 1, which is on par with its comic source material (Knightfall), but let’s back it up a bit to focus on the events that have brought Batman to this point. These elements are mentioned in the film via Bruce Wayne’s session with Dr. Shondra Kinsolving (Toks Olagundoye), who recounts Bruce’s original tragedy but focuses more on his more recent losses such as Dick Grayson walking away and most notably the death of Jason Todd (Death in the Family), which Batman/Bruce considered his greatest failure. During these sessions, the good doctor gives the impression that she may know more than should, such as how the billionaire spends his nights. There is also a rift between Batman and the newest Robin (Tim Drake), as the caped crusader undermines his young apprentice at every turn, most likely in his efforts to avoid losing another protégé. All these events pay a factor in erosion of the character and his ultimate albeit short downfall.
This film does an excellent job showcasing these events and keeping the story going at an exciting pace. Things did slow down a bit in the beginning while revealing Bane’s origins, which was beneficial but possibly could have been reduced by at least ten minutes. And then there is Jean Paul, whose role in this portion was introductory. He is in his rehabilitation phase. Having been brainwashed from an early age to be a killer and agent of a religious order, we see just how deep that programming goes.
Video
Batman: Knightfall Part 1 is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an impressive average bitrate of 85 mbps. For the first time, Warner Brothers has finally added Dolby Vision to its image presentations. The bump is considerable and long overdue. Gotham has always been represented in the comics and Tim Burton’s films in a very stylized and almost film-noir kind of look. With the nice contrast of Dolby Vision, we finally get to experience that highly atmospheric depiction of a Dark Knight animated film. The shadows here are extraordinary and give us a shadow definition long absent in these animated features. Of course there is also the stark contrast of the almost monochromatic world of Batman and the colorful look of his villains. The colors pop vividly with each new villain, and since this story includes pretty much all of them, that’s a nice image presentation, to be sure. Green particularly pops. I did experience a slight bit of animation jitter that I can’t be sure whether it is in the master material or the transfer or even a slight issue with the disc or player. The most prominent comes in the opening shootout in a storage compartment area. When the bad guys move into frame at one point, the image seriously jitters. It repeated in the same area when I rechecked it. Otherwise, this is the best Warner Animation Studios release to date as far as the image is concerned.
Audio
While the image presentation has been upgraded, I’m sorry to say the audio presentation has not been given the Dolby Atmos upgrade. Warner Animation Studios is still using the same DTS-HD MA 5.1 that they have used for quite some time. It’s still a rather sweet surround experience. Dialog cuts through just fine. The score hits just the right emotional beats and stays out of the way most of the time. There are some nice surround moments that are most evident in the many action scenes. I think it’s the subs that suffer the most from the failure to upgrade here. There’s not quite the dynamic feel of the subs here, and there are certainly many scenes that would benefit from it. It’s still a slightly above average mix here. I would really like to see them make the jump before the trilogy is concluded.
Special Features
There is only the UHD discs here. There isn’t much in bonus material, but I’m OK with that. I suspect we’ll get a ton of extras on the 3third film, and that means most of the disc’s bandwidth is used for the film.
Batman Needs Robin: (7:01) We get a little history here from Dick Grayson to Tim Drake, who is the current Robin of this story. There are a lot of comic pages explored here, along with writers from the film. They present Robin as somewhat the conscience of Batman, and in this story that’s very much the case. You get some concept art from the film and some early animated storyboards.
Breaking The Bat – Adapting Knightfall: (10:17) The film’s crew break down what they wanted to achieve with this version of the Batman story. Everything from costume design to production design is broken down for us, with production art and animated storyboards and even some pre-viz. We also get to visit with some of the voice cast. It’s fun to see them recording particular scenes with a split screen showing that scene from the film. It’s always fun to see the level of actual acting these voice actors put into their recordings,. They have to match the energy from the film, and I always love those kinds of extras.
Final Thoughts:
“Now, Gotham, you must do what you haven’t done for a generation. Fend for yourself!”
I am literally itching for the next installment in the trilogy, because first part left us on a fever pitch. And while I am well of the film’s source material and how the story ends, I am eager to see it play out across my television screen. The next film is where I expect we will get a lot more Jean-Paul Valley as he dons the mantle, which if you are familiar with the comic, you know that is a rollercoaster ride full of peaks and valleys. I am also anticipating the reemergence of Dick Grayson, who has a role in this story arc, but I have selfish reasons for that. I am hoping that Knightfall will lead into the “Prodigal” story arc. As for Part 1, it delivered on all the high notes I wanted to see from the comic and served as a solid entry for the trilogy. As I said, I am very much itching for the next installment.
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
