The DC Animated Superhero Movie Retrospective Series - Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Written In December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

10 years before the events of the Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Wayne meets a woman named Andrea Beaumont in a cemetery while visiting his parents’ grave. That night, Bruce foils an armored car robbery while disguised in a black ski-mask and leather jacket. He does succeed but is discouraged to find that the criminals did not fear him. Bruce starts a relationship with Andrea and decides to propose marriage to her rather than become a crime-fighting vigilante.

Unfortunately, Andrea finds out that her father, Carl, owes a large amount of money to crime lord Salvator Valestra. Carl and Andrea flee Gotham City to hide in Europe, with Andrea ending her engagement to Bruce. This rejection spurs him into training to become Batman. Seven years later, Carl is murdered by the assassin, Jack Napier, under orders from the Valestra gang.

Andrea returns to Gotham. During a conference of crime bosses held in a Gotham City skyscraper, a Valestra enforcer, Sol, is killed by a mysterious cloaked figure - the Phantasm. Due to the Phantasm’s resemblance to Batman, the Dark Knight is blamed for Sol’s death. Councillor Arthur Reeves tells the media that Batman is a public menace (despite Commissioner Gordon’s protests), then attends a party at Wayne Manor.

The Phantasm finds and murders another Valestra enforcer, Bronski. Batman soon finds evidence linking Andrea’s father with Valestra. The Phantasm later targets Valestra, who turns to the Joker for help. The Phantasm arrives at Valestra’s house, and finds the gangster already dead at the Joker’s hands; the house then explodes, with the Phantasm barely escaping. Batman pursues the killer, but is interrupted by the police, who believe that Batman is responsible for the murders. Andrea rescues Batman in her car, and they spend the night together. Andrea explains to Bruce why she and her father left Gotham. Batman comes to suspect that Andrea’s father may be the Phantasm, but later gets Reeves (who has been poisoned by the Joker) to confess that he told the Valestra mob where Beaumont was hiding in return for campaign contributions, and that the mob ordered Beaumont’s death.

The Phantasm tracks the Joker to his hideout — an abandoned world’s fair amusement park — and removes its ominous costume: the Phantasm is Andrea, intent on avenging her father’s death at the hands of the Joker, who is revealed to be Jack Napier, who batman dropped into a vat of acid months earlier. Batman arrives and saves Andrea from the Joker, and begs Andrea to give up her quest for revenge. She refuses, stating that the mob ruined her life by taking away her future with him; she then tells Batman that he himself is driven by revenge before disappearing. Batman battles with the Joker, a struggle that ends in stalemate. Moments later, Andrea returns and seizes the Joker, bidding Batman goodbye before vanishing with the maniacally laughing clown in a cloud of smoke as the entire amusement park erupts in a series of rigged explosions. Batman barely escapes by falling into a waterway and being swept away to safety by the current.

Alfred later consoles a heartbroken Bruce, telling him that no one could have helped Andrea. Bruce finds a locket containing a picture of himself and Andrea left behind in the Batcave. Meanwhile, Andrea is shown standing alone on the deck of a departing ocean liner. In the final scene, Batman stands alone on the top of a Gotham building; when the Bat-Signal appears in the sky, he swings off into the night to continue his war on crime.

There are three really great moments in this movie, that hit me right where I live:

1. The scene where Bruce goes to his parents’ grave and begs them to let him walk away from the promise he made, and he explains that he didn’t see himself ever becoming happy enough to not become Batman. Lightning roars as rain pours, you can see that he believes that his mother and father, whom he swore to avenge, are angry with him. And he’s pleading with them, “Can’t I just walk away now? Please I need it to be different now!” Did you hear that sound? It’s the sound of my heart exploding into a million pieces.
2. This scene right here:
   Andrea has left Bruce, it’s official now, he has to become the Batman. He dons the mask, and for the first time (chronologically) we see those intense white slits for eyes. Alfred reacts in shock and discomfort, proclaiming “My God!” And that moment, what he and I had the same realization. Bruce Wayne is dead.
3. And then there’s this scene
   Andrea has fled Gotham and is on a cruise, some guy stumbles out of the party and spots her. He attempts to start flirting with her, but quickly gets the idea, so he politely asks “Did you want to be alone?” Andrea replies with “I am.” Her entire identity was based in the Phantasm, now that she’s lost that and the love of her life, she’s empty inside. And ultimately, as she says, alone.

Now let’s get to the Pros and Cons:

PROS:

• This animation kicks ass, and I won’t hear from anyone who disagrees.
• Kevin Conroy is Batman and Mark  Hamill is The Joker, what more do you need?
• Stacy Keach and Abe Vigoda are in this movie, how does an animated Batman movie based on a kids show get fucking Stacy Keach and Abe Vigoda in it’s cast!?!??!
• Andrea Beaumont is a genuinely interesting character and Bruce Timm & Paul Dini were so impressed by Dana Delany as Andrea, that they cast her as Lois in Superman: TAS
• During the party at the begging of the film Arleen Sorkin (the voice of Harley Quinn) is briefly heard, this made me smile.
• The story has genuinely emotional moments that really made you feel bad for the characters.
• This. Fucking. Score! I’d argue it’s even better than Zimmer and Newton’s score for the Nolan films!

CONS:

• This is a nitpick, but when we first see the Phantasm, they’ve just killed Sol and Bronski, but when we first see Andrea she’s on the plane to Gotham. Those scenes don’t really match up.
• The crime boss in this movie’s name is Salvatore Valestra, wouldn’t just be so easy to just change his last name to Maroni?
• They hint at the Joker’s origin here, and to me, that’s never alright. I like Joker’s backstory to be a point blank mystery that no one can ever really solve.

My ultimate thoughts are… This is REALLY good, but not great. It’s missing something I think, it just feels too cold to me. I’m not sure why. But my overall ranking shall be, an 8.5 out of 10.