by Erin Hatch, Editor-at-Large

One of the most alluring aspects of Batman comics is the ability for the character to participate in stories that are outlandish and cartoony or somber and grounded and still feel at home with the tone of that arc. Some of the best episodes of the classic Batman: The Animated Series were stories that didn’t focus on exaggerated costumed villains and their insane plots, but stories that stayed rooted in the human drama of organized crime and the quest to stop it. Likewise, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy manages to feature exaggerated blockbuster action without entirely losing touch with reality or succumbing to the bizarre tones surrounding the previous and subsequent films featuring the character.  The Long Halloween Part One follows in the tradition of both of these earlier outings, capturing the spirit and tone of those adventures in its story and appearance: serious and grounded while still being stylish and exciting. This mob murder mystery channels some of the most appealing aspects of Batman’s universe, but doesn’t quite live up to the best some previous adaptations had to offer.

The Long Halloween Part One tells a story reminiscent of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Batman, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and District Attorney Harvey Dent have teamed up to take down organized crime in Gotham but find that the mob has started to push back, specifically targeting Dent as the most public of those figures. In the midst of this campaign, a serial killer later dubbed Holiday begins targeting figures in the Falcone crime family, striking first on Halloween, then on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on, and Batman, Dent and Gordon are left to try to solve the mystery of the Holiday killings while also trying to fight back against the crime families looking to take them down. The Joker eventually gets involved and becomes one of the prime suspects while wreaking havoc on Gotham. Subplots involve exploring Batman’s relationship with Catwoman, Dent’s relationship with his traumatized wife Gilda, and Gordon’s relationship with his increasingly frustrated wife, Barbara, capturing some of the human costs of the crime fighters’ efforts.

For The Long Halloween Part One the execution of this premise is somewhat mixed, but fortunately leans towards the positives. The art style for the backgrounds is captivating, featuring gorgeous shots of the architecture of Gotham City. The character animation isn’t as solid, but also features some striking character designs and animation, though not as consistently impressive as the world around those characters. The voice acting is also great, with Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) capturing Batman’s gritty tone without venturing into the forced gruffness of some other portrayals of the character. Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy), Billy Burke (The Twilight Saga), and Troy Baker (Young Justice) take impressive turns as Harvey Dent, Commissioner Gordon, and Joker respectively, and the late Naya Rivera (Glee) brings just the right mischievous tone for Catwoman, Selena Kyle. The cast is filled out by Jack Quaid (The Boys) and Titus Welliver (Bosch) as Alberto and Carmine Falcone, as well as Julie Nathanson (Elena of Avalor) and Amy Landecker (Doctor Strange) as Dent and Gordon’s long-suffering spouses. The ensemble cast meshes well, and there isn’t really a weak point as the voice actors do great at matching the tone of the story and world.

On the negative end of things, some of the editing is just weird. While most of the film is fine, I found a few sequences muddled, with cuts that left me confused about continuity of actions and the spacing of the characters in the world. The story also doesn’t resolve in a satisfying manner, and while that is to be expected in a film with ‘Part One’ in the title, I felt like this entry did not exactly rise to a particularly satisfying climax before cutting off with a cliffhanger to be resolved in Part Two. I also felt that while The Long Halloween evoked some of the best aspects of past Batman stories, it never entirely lived up to the atmosphere of the best of those older films and episodes. None of these were dealbreakers, but it did subdue my enthusiasm for the film.

Special Features on the The Long Halloween Part One disk include the DC Showcase short: The Losers, previews for the upcoming Long Halloween Part Two as well as the older DC Animated films Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight and two Batman: The Animated Series episodes from the DC Vault: ‘Christmas with the Joker’ and ‘It’s Never Too Late.’ ‘It’s Never Too Late’ is the jewel of these bonuses by far, a moody episode from early in the animated series about an aging mobster haunted by his past in the midst of a mob war that Batman is trying to defuse. It is mature and exciting, and the animation is simply excellent, well worth a watch. ‘Christmas with the Joker’ on the other hand, is corny and cartoonish, a holiday episode with a tone ripped directly from the Adam West Batman era. While the campiness is almost certainly an intentional nod to Batmans past and the holiday theme compliments the gimmick of The Long Halloween, you wouldn’t be missing much (except Mark Hamill’s Joker performance) by skipping it. The DC Showcase: The Losers short is a fun experiment, but a little too brief to fully explore the interesting premise presented despite setting up an interesting world for the story, and the previews, while fun, don’t really do much beyond selling viewers on previous animated titles they might have missed.

Overall, Batman: The Long Halloween Part One is a worthy continuation of the Batman animated canon, despite a few hiccups holding it back from excellence. Long time fans and casual audiences alike should find this story entertaining, and there are some amazing artistic choices baked into the film. Batman can be fun when fighting costumed villains, but stories like this- somber mysteries where the events are mostly grounded in realistic conflicts- are where the character truly shines. Batman: The Long Halloween dives right into the midst of that creative space, and delivers an engaging Batman experience and a fun DC Universe movie.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Batman: The Long Halloween Part One Four out of Five Scenes Foreshadowing that Harvey Dent is Going to Become Two Face Before This is Over.

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