In short: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1996)

If were a cynical man, I’d call this, the first cinematic animated outing by the team that brought us the truly classic “Batman: The Animated Series” a low effort film. But that’s mostly because the film aesthetically, in its love for media of the 30s and 40s and in its writing and philosophy as well as in its cast – of course including the Batvoice all Batvoices are measured against, Kevin Conroy and the just as perfect Joker Mark Hamill etc - is pretty much a longer, somewhat more costly episode of the TV show. Of course, in the case of BTAS, that’s more of a compliment than a criticism, unless one wants to complain about there being too many good things in the world when one encounters more than one good thing. Me, I’m rather happy with as many good things as possible existing, so a long, even more intricate version of a B:TAS episode is a perfectly lovely thing to me.

That is, of course, also because this version of the Batman is pretty much a perfect classicist version of the character, moving through an art deco Gotham the intermingles wonderfully with a plot that suggests a meeting of this Batman with various noir films when he comes upon a murderous vigilante (and yes, Batman not killing is important, whatever a certain director thinks or, alas, babbles, as much as is, say, The Punisher, indeed killing) as well as the woman (Dana Delaney) who nearly made him rethink becoming the Dark Knight. There are so many nuances and subtle touches, visually and in the writing, here, the intelligence, the love for classic Hollywood as well as for the Dark Detective himself basically jump off screen in every single scene.


The filmmakers - directing credits go to Eric Radomski, Bruce Timm and Kevin Altieri, and writing to Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko and Michael Reaves – repeat everything they did right with the TV show, make it just a little bigger, and turn out something rather magical.