by Greg Uke, Reporter

Genre mashups are always hard. 

When a writer sits down and creates a world, they inevitably develop a paradigm to support it. Sometimes this paradigm is generic enough that it can be shared with others. Alan Quatermain can coexist with Sherlock Holmes, for example. Indiana Jones could share an adventure with Nathan Drake. We like to see this happen because it answers the question of “what if”. How would these two heroes get along if they ran into one another? Sometimes the answer is really awesome. We get to explore one of those scenarios, as Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is now available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Blu-ray. 

The works of H.P. Lovecraft create a very specific paradigm. The theme is “Cosmic Horror”, which means fear of the unknown and the idea that humans have little to no agency when brushing with alien forces. People who do so become unhappy or insane. There are no victors, only desperate individuals who avert doom through sheer luck and personal sacrifice. 

Thrusting Batman into this paradigm is a tall order because Bruce Wayne is nothing like the protagonists in Lovecraft’s stories. He is intelligent, disciplined, powerful, resourceful, and relentless. Can one do cosmic horror while still allowing Batman to showcase all the prowess and brilliance we admire him for? Yes, it is possible, but does it always work.

The plot of Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is fairly straightforward. Mythos cultists (Ras Al-Gul and his daughter Talia) are planning to summon an elder god (Iog-Sothoth) to Gotham and destroy the Earth. This plan was set in motion a long time ago, and there are prophecies and old sins involved. Bruce Wayne is re-cast as a Mythos Investigator with a team of sidekicks, following up on the occult reasons for his parents deaths. 

This doesn’t make it a bad movie by any stretch. To its credit, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham does a good job setting up the 1920’s ambiance most Lovecraft stories take place in. The characters are intelligently recycled to fit into the plot, and David Guintoli voice acts a fine Bruce Wayne. The monsters and magic are appropriately weird and non-generic, hitting the viewer off-center when they appear. Emily O’Brien voices a great Talia al Ghul, and the re-casting of Ras Al-Ghul and his daughter as crazed Mythos cultists tracks well. It was interesting to watch, and once the cosmic horror “stuff” really got underway I was surprised by some of the twists they threw in. 

But as far as Batman himself is concerned, this movie didn’t do him justice. There were no clever moments of sleuthing, no impressive feats of martial arts, and no demonstrations of tactical cunning. The closest we get is Bruce throwing some acid onto Killer Croc. He consistently gets his ass kicked by just about everyone, and the choice to transform him into a supernatural monster at the end made no sense at all. It felt as though the creators didn’t understand the Mythos genre and were just going for shock value at the end. This left me confused and unsatisfied by the conclusion. 

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham features the return of David Giuntoli (Batman: Soul of the Dragon) who reprises his role as the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The cast includes Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope) as Kai Li Cain, Christopher Gorham (The Lincoln Lawyer) as Oliver Queen, Patrick Fabian (Better Call Saul) as Harvey Dent, John DiMaggio (Futurama) as James Gordon, and David Dastmalchian (Dune) as Grendon, Gideon Adlon (Legion of Super-Heroes) as Oracle, Karan Brar (Jessie) as Sanjay “Jay” Tawde, Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) as Kirk Langstrom, Darin De Paul (Mortal Kombat Legends) as Thomas Wayne, Brian George (Seinfeld) as Alfred, Jason Marsden (A Goofy Movie) as Dick Grayson & Young Bruce Wayne, Navid Negahban (Homeland) as Ra’s al Ghul, Emily O’Brien (Days of Our Lives) as Talia al Ghul & Martha Wayne, Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager) as Lucius Fox, William Salyers (The Regular Show) as Cobblepot & Professor Manfurd, and Matthew Waterson (The Croods: Family Tree) as Jason Blood/Etrigan.

The creative team features Sam Liu (The Death and Return of Superman) as both producer and co-director of Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham, along with co-director Christopher Berkeley (Young Justice), screenwriter Jase Ricci (Teen Titans Go!), co-producer Jim Krieg (Batman: Gotham by Gaslight), co-producer Kimberly S. Moreau (Legion of Super-Heroes). Michael Uslan and Sam Register served as executive producers on the project.

Overall

I may be a purist for saying this, but Batman vs. H.P. Lovecraft only looks good if neither party is diminished or dumbed down. The moment you do that Batman ceases to be Batman, and the Mythos ceases to be cosmically horrifying. It can be done, but it requires a very high level of story-craft and extremely intelligent writing. We cheer for Batman because he defies the idea that only “super powered” people can be heroes. Batman overcomes with skill, knowledge, artifice, and cleverness. By taking that away from him, we are left with a mess. “The Doom that Came To Gotham” was a fantastic comic series, but it is substantially different from this animated movie.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham 3/5 genre mash-ups.

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