| Batman: Year One | |
|---|---|
 "A merciless crime - turns a man into an outlaw." | |
| Directed By | Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery |
| Screenplay By | Tab Murphy |
| Cast | Bryan Cranston, Eliza Dushku, Ben McKenzie |
| Produced By | Lauren Montgomery, Alan Burnett |
| Film Editing By | Margaret Hou |
| Music By | Christopher Drake |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment, Warner Premiere |
| Distributed By | Warner Home Video |
| Franchise | Batman Franchise |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | October 18, 2011 |
| Runtime | 64 Minutes |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Budget | $3,500,000 |
Overview[]
Batman: Year One is a 2011 American produced superhero animated feature film with Ben McKenzie and Bryan Cranston contributing as the primary voice actors. It was directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu.
The film is based upon Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's 1987 seminal "Batman: Year One" comic book miniseries. Following DC Comics' epic "Crisis on Infinite Earths" which effectively rebooted the DC Universe in its entirety, it was decided to retool and modernize Batman's origin story which resulted in this miniseries in Batman #404-407. "Batman: Year One" proved so popular that it has resulted in multiple reprints in both comic and graphic novel formats and heavily influenced several movies including the 1993 animated movie Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and the live action 2005 Batman Begins.
A wealthy playboy returns home form years aboard to a place where his childhood was shattered forever. An honest street cop from Chicago struggles to make a new life for himself and his pregnant wife in a new city. And their fateful encounter will forever reshape their lives and destinies and redefine that of Gotham City.
They will be adversaries and enemies and later the very best of allies. As Bruce Wayne will assume the mantle of the relentless Dark Knight known as the Batman and James Gordon will pursue a career that will lead him to becoming the Police Commissioner of Gotham City.
This is how it all began... Batman: Year One.
Plot[]
Twelve years after seeing the brutal and senseless murder of his parents by a common mugger, Bruce Wayne has returned to Gotham intent on fulfilling a childhood vow. Meanwhile Detective James Gordon has voluntarily accepted a transfer to the decaying crime-ridden city after he testified against a corrupt police officer in Chicago. Labeled a turncoat by his fellow police officers, Gordon seeks to make a fresh new start in a new city and vows to keep his head down this time to protect his wife and child.
After his years of training in various martial arts, forensics, sciences, and tracking; Wayne believes that he is finally ready to embark upon his life goal: to wage a private war on the criminal underbelly of Gotham.
Gordon finds himself wallowing in the cesspool of the Gotham City Police Department where vice and graft are the norm instead of the exception. With a pregnant wife, he struggles to swallow his disgust and dismay, particularly against his partner; Detective Flass who is the worst of the worst.
Wayne's first night in action however teaches him a brutal lesson. Seeking to recon the seedy East End, he goes in civilian disguise only to be propositioned by teenage prostitute and rebuffs her. Her pimp accuses him of being undercover police and tries to attack him and is quickly destroyed. But Wayne finds himself attacked by a large unfriendly crowd including prostitute/dominatrix Selina Kyle. The street brawl attracts the attention of the cops and he is shot and narrowly evades capture. Bleeding heavily from his wounds, Wayne begs for guidance from his father. He has the skills and the resources, but there is something missing and he does not know what. And he would rather die than wait any longer. In that moment, a bat comes crashing through the window and Wayne has a revelation that criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot. That he must make them afraid and takes inspiration from the ghastly appearance of the bat. He must become the bat.
Meanwhile in an attempt to intimidate Gordon, he is ambushed and assaulted by several cops including Flass who threatens his pregnant wife if he doesn't play ball. Afterwards, Gordon tracks down Flass and brutally beats him to a pulp as a warning to not even think of threatening his wife and child.
Even as Gordon begins defying the corrupt cops and becomes a minor celebrity for his heroics, he finds an ally against Gotham PD corruption in the form of Detective Sarah Essen; Wayne assumes the costume and identity of the Batman and begins making his dark presence felt in Gotham City, moving from street thug to several corrupt cops and then threatening several of the corrupt politicians, high level officials, and other important and influential individuals at a banquet including Crime Boss Carmine Falcone which prompts the corrupt Police Commissioner Gillian Loeb to assign Gordon with the unenviable task of apprehending the masked vigilante. The long stakeouts with him alone with the attractive Detective Essen however leads the pair to having a brief affair.
While being pursued by several police officers, Batman is forced to take refuge in an abandoned building. Rushing to take advantage of this, Loeb has a bomb detonated to destroy the building and Dark Knight with it and then sends in Lt. Brenden, well known as the heavy handed, trigger-happy SWAT Commander and his team to "apprehend" him if the Batman managed to survive.
However, Batman swiftly overpowers the team and becomes enraged when the careless SWAT officers unleash machine-gun bursts through windows, injuring innocent bystanders outside and proceeds to pummel them into unconsciousness. Using a high-tech bat signaler to summon the multitude of bats in the caverns beneath Wayne Manor, Batman uses clouds of his winged brethren to confuse the police and cause chaos to mask his escape and inadvertently inspires Selina Kyle to subsequently take on the identity of Catwoman.
Shortly afterwards, Batman finds a high ranking member of the criminal underworld, Jefferson Skeevers and intimidates him into testifying against Flass and sends him to Gordon who hastily rushes Skeevers into protective custody, bypassing Loeb. In an attempt to force Gordon into complicity, Loeb reveals that he has photographic evidence of his extramarital affair with Sarah Essen. Torn at first, Gordon eventually confesses his infidelity to his wife and ends his affair with Essen who decides to accept a transfer out of Gotham City.
Learning of a kidnap plot by Carmine Falcone against Gordon's wife and child, Wayne is forced to operate during the daytime and thus out of his Batman regalia, dresses in motorcycle helmet and leathers to intervene. Leaving for work, Gordon notices the strange motorcyclist and becomes suspicious; returns home to find Carmine Falcon's henchmen holding his wife and newborn son hostage. Knowing that if he lets them go, his wife and son will be killed; Gordon engages in a fierce gun battle against the would-be kidnappers and manages to kill his wife's kidnapper although his glasses are lost. As Gordon chases down the last fleeing thug with his son, Wayne manages to barely save Gordon's child from a fatal fall. Realizing that the man who saved his child is in fact the maskless Batman, Gordon professes that he is "practically blind without his glasses" and lets him go.
Several months later, the newly promoted Captain Gordon and his wife are busy attending marriage counseling while in exchange for plea bargain, Detective Arnold Flass is now testifying against ex-Commissioner Loeb even as Gordon hopes that his new friend will stop by who will be able to help against a psychopath calling himself the Joker who is threatening to poison Gotham Reservoir.
Cast[]
- Ben McKenzie as Batman
- Eliza Dushku as Catwoman
- Bryan Cranston as James Gordon
- Katee Sackhoff as Detective Sarah Essen
- Alex Rocco as Carmine Falcone
- Jon Polito as Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb
- Jeff Bennett as Alfred Pennyworth
- Grey DeLisle as Barbara Eileen-Gordon
- Keith Ferguson as Jefferson Skeevers
- Nick Jameson as Officer Stanley "Stan" Merkel
- Liliana Mumy as Holly Robinson
- Robin Atkin Downes as Harvey Dent
- Pat Musick as Louisa Falcone
- Stephen Root as Lt. Brendan
- Fred Tatasciore as Arnold John Flass
Production[]
Reception[]
Batman: Year One was a direct-to-video film that was released on October 18, 2011 on DVD and Blu-Ray and had sales reported at $5,251,108.
Trivia[]
- Voice actor Ben McKenzie who portrayed Bruce Wayne/Batman for this feature film would go on to portray James Gordon in the Gotham TV series in 2014.