Originally posted at the DL January 2016
In some ways this is a bundle of ideas that doesn't quite tie itself together. Bruce's former lover loses her family and goes down the dark path he himself oh so narrowly avoids. A new Batman-like villain squares off between Bats and the Joker in a tragic three way. Bruce's crusade to protect the knight almost ended before it truly began.
But to large extent I find myself wondering... what's so special about her? It's not that Andrea lacks personality really, but I guess they just failed to capture any real spark between her and Bruce, and without that to push past the sheer coincidences demanded of the story it just doesn't flow as a single coherent plot.
But god damn does the movie sparkle when you take any individual scene or transition and look at it in isolation. The placement of the flashbacks is led into quite nicely, the framing of the major dramatic moments is amazing (in particular: Bruce at the Wayne's tombstone, begging their permission to be happy, storm raging all around). The movie drifted a little more PG-13 than the show could, to generally solid effect. It certainly enhanced the dark mirror aspect of the Phantasm anyway. The bit where the Joker toys with the old gangster is probably on my list of definitive Joker moments now. Alfred has a particular line that's reused in this fan-made Batman vs Superman trialer that seems... just perfect for Batman, and I didn't realize it was actually from this movie.
I overall like the idea of this movie a lot more than the movie as it exist I think. What's there is fine, but this is something that could with just the right chemistry have been the pinnacle of the DCAU. Still, as a collection of moments, it's still reasonably impressive.
Rating- 8/10. Waffling a little but I'll err high today.
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