Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

I loved Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. I found the concept of Batman in the 18th Century to be intriguing and the story line was excellent. The characters are all names that a Batman fan would be familiar with, but it is the way the characters are worked into the story that makes this a great animated film. The settings felt a bit like London in the 18th Century, and it could have well been London, I noticed that they seemed to be a reference to the Charles Dickens character Bill Sykes, along with a bit of mixture of Sherlock Holmes as well. All in all, a great movie and worth purchasing if you are a animated Batman fan like me.

As a stand alone movie, this is a fun ride. It is beautiful, chock full of Easter Eggs, actual historical references, and has a good pace. Unfortunately, they chose to make some rather bizarre changes to the original story that I just can't quite stomach. If they hadn't messed with such pertinent aspects of the story, this would have gotten close to a ten. It is metal, truly R and that makes it very awesome. But, if you are a fan of the original source materials, be prepared to walk away a bit disappointed.

How much you like this film will definitely depend on how much you are into the Victorian/Steampunk aesthetic, as well as the murder mystery genre in general. There is definitely nothing bad to report about this movie, it is a decent little crime noir set in the early 1900s.

If there is a problem it is that it has no connection to the greater Batman/DC animated universe and could easily not be a Batman film at all, since outside of the character names themselves there is little to link the two. Batman only vaguely 'Batmans' outside of some grappling-hook action and minor detecting. It is certainly not one for those who like outlandish superhero action.

Overall if you see this as a short murder mystery there is little to be disappointed by here, and if you crave a more down-to-earth Batman then this will be great for you. In my opinion you might as well just watch something like Zorro or Lone Ranger, or any other masked vigilante that Batman was based on as for me its 'back to basics' tone is just a little too basic, but it is certainly a matter of personal opinion in this regard.

Thoroughly enjoyed this 'Elseworlds' tale. Bruce Greenwood is a great Batman and I loved Anthony Head as Alfred - hope he gets to do more. Fight choreography in DC's animated Batman movies has improved hugely in recent years and Batman's battles with the Ripper here are as exciting as anything seen in his live-action - in some cases more so. Several nods to established Batman mythology/continuity for fans, plus a nice callback to Tim Burton's Batman '89 movie in the first few minutes. Quite a few Sherlock Holmes references too (might need to be a real Holmes buff to catch some). Definitely one for rewatches.

8/10

I gave it a 6 mostly for the concept of the film and the atmosphere which was really great but when the movie ended it still felt like something was really missing and I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was until a few hours later... It was the actual detective work.

Before the film started my greatest question was how the hell is he going to solve any mysteries without his super powerful bat-computer and I was looking forward to see how it will play out. It turns out there was little to none of that detective work and the Bat figures out who the killer is by pure luck and nothing else, which is really a shame for the world's greatest detective.

I did enjoy other parts of the movie, but, I cannot tell you what without giving any spoilers. You should watch it yourself and you will know what I'm talking about just don't put your expectations too high for the general outcome, it's definitely not a 10 or a 9.