Batman: Year One (2011)

A wealthy playboy and a Chicago cop both return to Gotham City where their lives will intersect in unexpected ways.

Directors:

Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery

Writers:

Bob Kane (creator), Tab Murphy,

Stars:

Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bryan Cranston	...	Jim Gordon (voice)
Ben McKenzie	...	Bruce Wayne / Batman (voice)
Eliza Dushku	...	Selina Kyle / Catwoman (voice)
Jon Polito	...	Commissioner Loeb (voice)
Alex Rocco	...	Carmine Falcone (voice)
Katee Sackhoff	...	Detective Sarah Essen (voice)
Sara Ballantine	...	Skeevers' Attorney (voice) (as Saratoga Ballantine)
Jeff Bennett	...	Alfred Pennyworth / Falcone Guest (voice)
Steve Blum	...	Stan / News Anchor (voice)
Roark Critchlow	...	Hare Krishna (voice)
Grey DeLisle	...	Barbara Gordon / Vicki Vale (voice)
Robin Atkin Downes	...	Harvey Dent (voice)
Keith Ferguson	...	Jefferson Skeevers (voice)
Michael Gough	...	Driver (voice)
Danny Jacobs	...	Flass' Attorney (voice)

Storyline

Two men come to Gotham City: Bruce Wayne after years abroad feeding his lifelong obsession for justice and Jim Gordon after being too honest a cop with the wrong people elsewhere. After learning painful lessons about the city's corruption on its streets and police department respectively, this pair learn how to fight back their own way. With that, Gotham's evildoers from top to bottom are terrorized by the mysterious Batman and the equally heroic Gordon is assigned to catch him by comrades who both hate and fear him themselves. In the ensuing manhunt, both find much in common as the seeds of an unexpected friendship are laid with additional friends and rivals helping to start the legend.

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Plot Keywords:

police | fear | obsession | bribery | flawed hero | 

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Taglines:

A merciless crime - turns a man into an outlaw.

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and some sexual material

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

18 October 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Batman: Ano Um

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hopper's diner is seen frequently in the movie, and is named for its resemblance to the diner in "Nighthawks", a painting by Edward Hopper.

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Goofs

Propane tanks do not explode instantaneously upon being hit by bullets. In the open air, they do not explode at all unless they first cook for some time in a fire before they rupture. This is called a BLEVE which stands for boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bruce Wayne: Gotham City. Clean shafts of concrete and snowy rooftops. The work of men who died generations ago. From here, it looks like an achievement. From here, you can't see the enemy.

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Connections

References The Godfather (1972)

User Reviews

Solid enjoyable origins story that benefits from having Gordon as the focal point and little extravagance

Two men come to Gotham City. Jim Gordon comes to join the police for a fresh start, having been labelled as a rat for getting convictions against dirty colleagues. Millionaire Bruce Wayne returns from overseas, with a keen sense of justice and a need to take action. Both men want to clean up Gotham and both men find the system to be failing, however, although they want the same thing, both men face threats from criminals and the police alike, as Commissioner Loeb may be the most corrupt of all of them.

I'm not a big fan of animated films but I do love Batman and some of the work of Frank Miller. In this film we take the story right back to the origins (again) but the focus is very much on the parallel fates of Gordon and Wayne and the roots of their working relationship. There are no master villains, not much in the way of elaborate gadgets or excess but instead crime families and corrupt cops terrorising the city. This plot gives the film an accessible and realistic feel that I quite liked even if the downside is that it does rather lack colour and OTT excitement. On the flipside to that though it was fun to enjoy the story set in a semi-real world with the focus on the person rather than the extravagant character – there is a reason why this is as much Gordon's story as it is Wayne's.

Despite being a bit more realistic it does still produce good action and the hour run-time goes by quite quickly and easily. The animation is stylish without ever overdoing it on the design front. The city itself is a little disappointing as it is perhaps too ordinary but otherwise the film looks good and is well directed in terms of "camera" angles and shots. If I had one main complaint it would be the inclusion of Catwoman in the film. She really adds nothing and the film does nothing with her – I'm not sure what happens with her in the source material, but her character seems rushed and included because they felt they had to. You'd not feel her absence if she wasn't there.

The voice work from Cranston is good – not only his distinctive voice but his delivery is roundly good. McKenzie wasn't quite as effective for me, although this is partly because Gordon does seem to have the better of the material in terms of lines. Sackhoff, Dushku and Rocco are all good presences but Polito suffers a bit because his character (Loeb) both looks and sounds like Ed Rothschild Wuncler from The Boondocks. Overall though, a solid Batman origins film that benefits from having the focus as much on Gordon as it is on Wayne.