Batman: Year One (2011) (V)

Directors:

Sam Liu
Lauren Montgomery

Writers:

Bob Kane (creator: Batman)
Tab Murphy (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

18 October 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Crime

Tagline:

A merciless crime - turns a man into an outlaw.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Police | Fear | Obsession | Bribery | Flawed Hero

Cast

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)
Nick Jameson	...	Merkel (voice)
Liliana Mumy	...	Holly Robinson (voice)
Pat Musick	...	Falcone's Wife (voice)
Andrea Romano	...	Obstetrician (voice)
Stephen Root	...	Brendon (voice)
James Patrick Stuart	...	Henchman (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	Detective Flass / Johnny Vitti (voice)
Bruce W. Timm	...	Thug #1 (voice) (as Bruce Timm)
Bruce Wingert	...	Guard (voice)

Directed by
Sam Liu
Lauren Montgomery

Writing credits
Bob Kane		(creator: Batman)
Tab Murphy		(written by)
Frank Miller		(graphic novel) and
David Mazzucchelli		(graphic novel)

Produced by
Alan Burnett	....	co-producer
Michael Macasero	....	associate producer
Benjamin Melniker	....	executive producer
Lauren Montgomery	....	producer
Sam Register	....	executive producer
Bruce W. Timm	....	executive producer (as Bruce Timm)
Michael E. Uslan	....	executive producer (as Michael Uslan)

Original Music by
Christopher Drake

Film Editing by
Margaret Hou

Casting by
Meredith Layne

Production Management
Jeff Adams	....	assistant production manager
Mike Carlin	....	executive in charge of production: DC Comics
Cory Gustke	....	production manager
Ok Kil Lee	....	production manager (as Ok-Ki Lee)
Matthew Mahoney	....	assistant production manager
Bobbie Page	....	production supervisor
Min-Sung Park	....	production manager
Scott Shinick	....	post-production manager
Young-Soo Yu	....	production manager

Art Department
Christopher Berkeley	....	storyboard artist
Eric Canete	....	storyboard artist
Andy Chiang	....	prop designer
Brendan Clogher	....	character clean up
Brendan Clogher	....	storyboard cleanup
Christine Juhl Delk	....	storyboard artist
Kalvin Lee	....	storyboard artist
Sam Liu	....	storyboard artist
Rick Morales	....	storyboard artist
Jay Oliva	....	storyboard artist
Ki Hyun Ryu	....	storyboard artist (as Ki-Hyun Ryu)
Sean Song	....	storyboard artist
Coran Stone	....	storyboard artist
Owen Sullivan	....	storyboard artist
Jon Suzuki	....	character designer
Junpei Takayama	....	character designer
Adam Van Wyk	....	storyboard artist
Alan Wan	....	storyboard artist
Melchior Zwyer	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Sarah Baluch	....	recording machine operator
Jeff O. Collins	....	recording machine operator
Kelly Ann Foley	....	dialogue/adr editor (as Kelly Foley Downs)
Patrick J. Foley	....	dialogue/adr editor
Mike Garcia	....	dialogue/adr editor
Robert Hargreaves	....	sound designer
Robert Hargreaves	....	sound effects editor
Robert Hargreaves	....	sound re-recording engineer
John Hegedes	....	sound re-recording engineer (as John K. Hegedes)
Mark Keatts	....	supervising dialogue & adr editor (as Mark A. Keatts)
Wilson Martinez	....	track reader
Gary Marullo	....	foley artist
Fred Salinas	....	track reader
Bill Devine	....	original dialogue recording engineer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Hyo-Yoon Baek	....	compositor
Kyong Hee Kang	....	compositor (as Kyoung-Hee Kang)
Byoung Ryul Kim	....	compositing director
Byoung Ryul Kim	....	compositor
Gu-Hahn Yoo	....	cgi

Animation Department
Kyung-Ho Choi	....	animation director
Richard Collado	....	animation timer (as Richard Allen Collado)
Annamarie Costa	....	animation checker
Chuck Gefre	....	animation checker
Matthew Girardi	....	effects animator
Jeff Hall	....	animation timer
Sandi Hathcock	....	animation checker
Jay Hong	....	background key designer
Kyung-Po Hong	....	key animator
Margaret Hou	....	animatic
Tae-Sun In	....	key animator
Yang Ho Ji	....	key animator
Hyun Chul Jung	....	layout artist
Hyun-Ho Jung	....	animation director
Sun-Ki Kang	....	key animator
Gordon Kent	....	animation timer
Dong Nam Kim	....	key animator
Hyung-Ki Kim	....	animation director
Jong-keun Kim	....	key animator
Ki-June Kim	....	layout artist
Min-Yi Kim	....	color supervisor
Yang Sook Kim	....	model checker
Yun-Jae Ko	....	key animator
Jung-Kil Lee	....	key animator
Nam-Gyu Lee	....	final checker
Chun Liu	....	background painter
Fred Miller	....	animation timer
Herb Moore	....	animation timer
Ron Myrick	....	animation timer
Bob Nesler	....	animation timer (as Robert Nesler)
Jong-ho Park	....	background director
Ki-Duck Park	....	model checker
James Peters	....	color stylist
Justin Schultz	....	animation checker
Robert Shellhorn	....	animation timer (as Bob Shellhorn)
Jonard Soriano	....	background key designer
James T. Walker	....	animation timer (as James Tim Walker)
James T. Walker	....	animation timing director (as James Tim Walker)
Jung Hee Yang	....	key animator
Wei M. Zhao	....	background painter (as Wei Zhao)

Casting Department
Liz Carroll	....	casting administrator
Susan Chieco	....	casting administrator

Editorial Department
Christopher D. Lozinski	....	assistant editor
Christopher D. Lozinski	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Francisco Rodriguez	....	music editor
Niki Sherrod	....	executive in charge of music

Other crew
Ed Adams	....	production management
John Michael Beach	....	business and legal affairs
Lori Blackstone	....	business and legal affairs
Luisa Guzman	....	production accountant
Vivian Hernandez	....	production support
Audrey Kim	....	production support
Sharmalee Lall	....	business and legal affairs
Debbie Lindquist	....	production accountant
Nicole Martin	....	production administrator
Tamara Miles	....	production support
Bonnie Negrete	....	business and legal affairs
Seong-mi Park	....	production coordinator
Jenny Pharis	....	production support
Andrea Romano	....	voice director
Hyo-Sun Ryu	....	production coordinator
Maral Simonian	....	production accountant
Joulene St. Catherine	....	business and legal affairs
Kira Tirimacco	....	production support
Renee Toporzysek	....	production support
Athena Wingate	....	production accountant
Janet Yi	....	production support

Production Companies

• Warner Premiere
• DC Entertainment
• Warner Bros. Animation

Distributors

• Home Box Office (HBO) (2012) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Warner Home Video (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2011) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• DigiPost.TV  re-recording facility
• DigiPost.TV  sound effects design and editing
• Moi Animation Studio  animation services

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and some sexual material

Runtime:

USA:64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG13 | Spain:7 | Germany:16

Company:

Warner Premiere

Trivia:

Planned for release in the US on the same day as Batman: Arkham City (2011) (VG).

Goofs:

Factual errors: 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.

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.

Movie Connections:

References Pinocchio (1940)

I'm still a child

The Batman franchise is currently dominating every single form of media there is. From the incredible Arkham Asylum videogames, the Christopher Nolan revamped films, to the recently developed animated sagas, Batman is performing beyond all other comic-book heroes.

Ironically, he is one of the only graphic novel characters I appreciate more in my maturity, due to the story's vast amount of themes and ideas.

Batman: Under the Red Hood 2010 was perhaps the most enthralling animated film since the famous Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm 1993, so I greatly anticipated Batman Year One.

This film retells the story of one of the most famous fictional crime- fighting partnerships ever created. Batman and police official Lieutenant James 'Jim' Gordon.

When I heard Jim Gordon was going to be one of the protagonists, I had my reservations. I should have known better. This movie did not disappoint. In fact, it was far the opposite.

The plot follows both characters with their respective stories: Bruce Wayne, boy billionaire returns to Gotham City after being absent for many years following his parent's murder. He is lost and seeking a path to cope with vengeance. His transformation into the dark avenging angel Batman is the crux of the plot.

Running parallel, Jim Gordon is a honourable police officer joining a corrupt authority in Gotham City's Police Department. His durability in pursuing his career, regardless of the crooked cops he is surrounded by form his intriguing story.

There were specific points that illustrated the relentless will-power of each character. The first sighting of Batman revealed his character defining raison d'etre – his upkeep of justice as opposed to vengeance, and his preservation of human life over killing: He knocks a man off a balcony, but holds onto his leg. The expression of this point emerged from the beating he receives from two other thugs as he maintains his grip of the criminal who could die if he lets go.

Jim Gordon's most challenging moment was his perseverance in the police force, following a remorseless physical attack from his work colleagues.

The professionalism of the directors and producers was shown through their selection in voice actor Ben McKenzie for Batman. The dialogue, inner monologues and delivery portrayed a young Batman just commencing his crusade on crime and it worked.

The film is definitely worth watching if you are a Batman fan, but I would never recommend this as a general crowd pleaser. Animations are often seen as childish cartoons and understandably, they are shunned by adult audiences. If Batman is perceived as a kid's passion, then consider me a big child, because I cannot ever imagine disliking this character nor ignoring any of the films, be it live action or animation.

Nevertheless, if you do like 'the dark knight', then add this to the hit-list.