DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Batman: Year One (2011)

Written In January 2014

Unpopular Opinion: I like Dark Kniht Returns WAY better than Year One. In fact I find the Batman half of this story is extremely boring, the Gordon half however, that’s where this story REALLY sings!

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City from training abroad in martial arts, man hunting, and science for the past 12 years, and James Gordon moves to Gotham with his pregnant wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corruption and violence of Gotham City, with Gordon witnessing his partner Detective Flass assaulting a teen for fun.

On a surveillance mission in the seedy East End, teenage prostitute Holly Robinsonpropositions a disguised Wayne. He is drawn into a brawl with her pimp and several prostitutes, including dominatrix Selina Kyle. One of the two reporting police officers shoot him without provocation and take him in their squad car, but a dazed and bleeding Bruce maneuvers his handcuffed hands in front of himself, and demands the police get out. The cops try to subdue him, but the ensuing struggle causes the police car to careen out of control, and flips. Bruce flees, but not before dragging the police to a safe distance. He reaches Wayne Manorbarely alive and sits before his father’s bust, requesting guidance in his war on crime. A bat crashes through a window and settles on the bust, giving him inspiration.

Gordon works to rid corruption from the force, but on orders from Commissioner Gillian Loeb, several officers attack him, including Flass, who threatens Gordon’s pregnant wife. In revenge, Gordon tracks Flass down, beats and humiliates him, leaving him naked and handcuffed in the snow.

As Gordon becomes a minor celebrity for several brave acts, Batman strikes for the first time, attacking a group of thieves. Batman soon works up the ladder, even attacking Flass while he was accepting a bribe. After Batman interrupts a dinner party attended by many of Gotham’s corrupt politicians and crime bosses, including Carmine “The Roman” Falcone, Loeb orders Gordon to bring him in by any means necessary.

As Gordon tries in vain to catch him, Batman attacks Falcone, stripping him naked and tying him up in his bed after dumping his car in the river. Assistantdistrict attorneyHarvey Dent becomes Batman’s first ally.

Detective Sarah Essen suggests Wayne as a Batman suspect and she and Gordon witness Batman save an old woman from a runaway truck. Essen holds Batman at gunpoint, but Batman disarms her and flees to an abandoned building. Loeb fraudulently orders a bomb dropped on it, forcing Batman into the fortified basement. A trigger-happy SWAT team led by Branden is sent in, whom Batman attempts to trap in the basement. Branden manages to climb out of the trap through a collapsed chimney, and joins in the gun battle. Enraged as the team’s careless gunfire injures several people outside, Batman beats the team into submission. Using a device to attract the bats of his cave, Batman escapes amid the chaos. Selina Kyle, after witnessing him in action, dons a costume of her own to begin the life as costumed thief Catwoman.

Gordon has a brief affair with Essen, while Batman intimidates a drug dealer for information. The dealer goes to Gordon to testify against Flass, who is brought up on charges. Loeb blackmails Gordon with proof of his affair against pressing charges. After taking Barbara with him to investigate Wayne’s connection to Batman, Gordon confesses the affair to her.

Batman sneaks into Falcone’s manor and overhears a plan against Gordon but is interrupted when Catwoman, hoping to build a reputation after her robberies were pinned on Batman, attacks Falcone and his bodyguards, aided by Batman. Identifying Falcone’s plan as the morning comes, the un-costumed Bruce leaves to help Gordon.

Gordon tries to rebuild the relationships with his family after Essen leaves Gotham. While leaving home, Gordon spots a motorcyclist enter his garage. Suspicious, Gordon enters to see Johnny Vitti (Falcone’s nephew) and his thugs holding his family hostage. Gordon realizes if he lets them go, they will most likely kill his wife and son. Therefore, Gordon shoots the thugs and chases Vitti, who has fled with the baby. Bruce Wayne, on a motorcycle, also rushes to chase Vitti. Gordon blows out Vitti’s car tire on a bridge and the two fights, with Gordon losing his glasses, before Vitti and James Gordon Jr. fall over the side. Bruce leaps over the railing and saves the baby. Gordon realizes that he is standing before an unmasked Batman, but says that he is “practically blind without [his] glasses,” and lets Bruce go.

Gordon and his wife start attending marriage counseling, and he ends with a final monologue: “It turns out that Flass is smarter than he looks, took notes on every little talk he had with Loeb” … “there’s a real panic on, somebody has threatened to poison the Gotham reservoir,” who calls himself “The Joker.” Gordon, standing on a rooftop, anticipates a friend coming, whom he believes able to help, implying it is Batman.

I feel about his movie mostly the same way about the movie as I do the comic it’s based. The Commissioner Gordon storyline is EXCELLENT! If this was just a story about Gordon fighting corruption with appearance of Batman being a minor subplot with no real mention of the secret identity, this movie and the comic it was based on would be FAR better! But no, this is as much a Batman movie as it is a Gordon movie. And the Batman story sucks so much. It’s all about him learning how to make crooks scared of him, and it’s not even like Phantasm where Bruce is frustrated by it, he’s just thinking “Hmmmm, how do I make them scared of me?” Or Batman Begins where getting crooks to be scared of him is secondary only to inspiring the good folks in Gotham to say “Hey! This is bullshit, let’s do something about!” It just comes off as generic undetailed and uninspired. The reason I feel the same way about this movie is because while it follows the same plot exactly, narration included, but it has Bryan Cranston as Gordon! And I fucking love Bryan Cranston! But the actor who plays Batman… Well… I’m sure you’re much better on screen than off it… Let’s just talk about Pros and Cons.

PROS:

• Bryan Cranston as Commissioner (here Detective) Gordon! Fox, I don’t care how much you have to pay, get him to be the Gordon on your Gotham tv series!
• There are no supervillains in this movie, just mob guys and corrupt cops!
• This Jim Gordon is SUUUUUUCH a badass!
• The fights in this movie are spectacular to watch!
• The animation is pretty good.
• The score is pretty cool.
• Eliza Dushku makes for a really good Catwoman!
• Katee Sackoff does good work as Sarah Essen.

CONS:

• Catwoman is shoehorned into this story and unneeded.
• The Sarah Essen story comes out of left field and really pointless.
• The Batman story in here is in no way shape or form improved upon from the comic.
• Ben McKenzie as Batman… I don’t know who this guy is but he should never do voice work again because he is TERRIBLE at it!

Overall, I’m gonna give this one a 6.25 out of 10. If you liked the comic, you’ll really like this movie. If you didn’t, this movie won’t change your mind. If you haven’t read the comic, this movie is a nice alternative to it. Bryan Cranston does great work, but the rest are take it or leave it.