"Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One" Animated Release Talkback (Spoilers)

Rate this movie

  • *****

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • ****1/2

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  • ****

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • ***1/2

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • ***

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • **1/2

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • **

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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Yojimbo

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Atrocious serial killings on holidays in Gotham send The World’s Greatest Detective into action – confronting both organized crime and a mysterious murderer – in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, the next entry in the popular series of the DC Universe Movies.


Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One
Studio:
Warner Bros. Animation
Release Date: June 22, 2021 - Digital and Blu-ray, DVD; TBA HBO Max Streaming Service

Synopsis: Inspired by the iconic mid-1990s DC story from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One begins as a brutal murder on Halloween prompts Gotham’s young vigilante, the Batman, to form a pact with the city’s only two uncorrupt lawmen (Police Captain James Gordan and District Attorney Harvey Dent) in order to take down The Roman, head of the notorious and powerful Falcone Crime Family. But when more deaths occur on Thanksgiving and Christmas, it becomes clear that, instead of ordinary gang violence, they’re also dealing with a serial killer – the identity of whom, with each conflicting clue, grows harder to discern. Few cases have ever tested the wits of the World’s Greatest Detective like the mystery behind the Holiday Killer.

Lauded for his performance as Red Hood/Jason Todd in 2010’s Batman Under the Red Hood, Jensen Ackles returns to the DC Universe Movies as the title character of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The late Naya Rivera, who passed away in 2020, gives one of her final performances as Catwoman/Selina Kyle. The all-star cast includes Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent, Billy Burke as James Gordon, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man, Troy Baker as Joker, Amy Landecker as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore as Solomon Grundy, Jim Pirri as Sal Maroni, and Alastair Duncan as Alfred. Additional voices provided by Frances Callier, Greg Chun and Gary Leroi Gray.

Chris Palmer directs Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One from a screenplay by Tim Sheridan. Producers are Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau. Butch Lukic is Supervising Producer. Executive Producer is Michael Uslan. Sam Register is Executive Producer.

Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One Bonus Content
Blu-ray and Digital

-DC Showcase: The Losers - The legendary rag-tag team of World War II outcasts - Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, "Mile-a Minute" Jones, rookie Gunner and Sarge - find themselves marooned on an uncharted island in the South Pacific that is completely overrun with dinosaurs! Their would-be ally on this deadly mission, the mysterious and beautiful Fan Long of the Chinese Security Agency, tells them their job is to rescue the scientists that have been sent to study the time/space anomaly. Perhaps... but what is her mission?
-Sneak Peak: A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie - An advance look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two.
-From the DC Vault: From the DC Comics Vault: Batman: The Animated Series "Christmas With The Joker" and "It's Never Too Late"
-Look Back: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part One and Batman: Gotham By Gaslight

Discuss the Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One animated release here!

Please note this talkback is for both the Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One animated feature and all aspects of the assorted home media releases. Discussion for both are now housed in one single talkback discussion thread. Spoilers are also allowed, so those who have yet to see the movie may want to avoid this thread until they have.

Related Threads:

-Batman: The Long Halloween News & Discussion Thread (Spoilers)
-Batman: Year One Animated Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Batman: Gotham By Gaslight Animated Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Batman: Hush Animated Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

Note: Remember, we appreciate and encourage discussion, but please keep your posts civil, relevant and insightful. Please do not post any improper or inflammatory material, as we will issue warnings if we believe it necessary. And remember to keep the discussion ON-TOPIC!
 

-batmat-

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Well, that was... dissapointing. So much was changed from the comic I was wondering if I was watching The Long Halloween at all in certain moments.

Let's start with the positives. I really liked the art work. The opening credits with the comic book pictures was great and very ominus. I loved having Alastair Duncan as Alfred. The cast is mostly alright. Honestly, other than a few good lines here and there, that's all I can think about.

The main problem I have with this movie is that it's TOO SLOW. They only adapted 4 issues out of 13 and they padded them out like crazy. On top of that, there's just an inherent problem with the pacing, the dialogue feels so unnatural, its like every time someone says a line, they do a little pause before going on, it's so unnatural and it bothered me so much. Man of Tomorrow had the same problem. I don't recall if Justice Society was like that.

They changed SO MUCH and for no reason. I don't mind some changes if you think its gonna improve the movie, or its as good or better than the comic. But almost everything changed is for the worst, or slows down the movie too much, in my opinion. They padded everything so much , the movie felt like it never took off.

I ended up disliking Batman's voice. All I could hear was Red Hood. Troy Baker's Joker was trying too hard to be Mark Hamill. Had no issues with the rest of the cast, but it felt odd listening to Jack Quaid's Alberto since Im very used to him in The Boys.

I felt the movie didn't let us know very well WHEN things were happening. When Batman goes finding for Mickey, its not until they mention it that we realize it's thanksgiving.

What I missed the most from the comic were Holiday's killings being in black, white and red. Gave it such an awesome ominus feeling, the movie makes them feel less special without it.

There's so much that was changed or added that I could write down a very long list, but the things that bothered me the most were:

-Gilda being a depresive person and making it too obvious that she's a suspect. Her line "I don't want because I can't, and I can't because I don't want to" makes no sense no matter how I look at it. In the comic, she's the one who wants to try to have kids again. She's happy to give kids candy on Halloween, etc.

-Same as Gilda, making Alberto too much of a suspect. Carmine doesn't despise him in the comic as he does in the movie. There's even a thought bubble where he says to himself that Alberto is the only one he can trust. Carmine's speech in the movie where it seems he's talking about him but really it's about Bruce was just too much.

-Mickey and the ninjas. I guess they wanted another action scene, but it felt so out of place. I don't mind making them asian (and ninjas) instead of irish, but I really missed the scene where they all confess when they are led to believe that they actually killed Harvey, which the audience thinks so too for a moment, (while Im talking about that, it makes NO SENSE that they wait for 5 minutes before blowing up his house once Harvey gets home). Also, Mickey's gang ended up being like 7 or 8 people, and they were expert ninjas or something, Holiday killing them all with 1 gun is a bit too much. Mickey's comic gang is 4 men and it's said that they are not very bright, I could excuse Holiday killing them more in that case.

-Harvey's scene where he runs out of the hospital and Gordon founds him. Harvey seems like a clearly mentally unstable man , and what does Gordon do? He gives him a gun!! WHAT!?

-Batman's "I didn't know I'd have to be a detective" line is so weird. I mean, I guess you could argue that he didn't know he'd have to become one, but , isn't he supposed to have travelled the world and trained in every field possible? Or did this version just trained to fight? Felt very odd.

-If you read the first 4 issues again, you'll notice COUNTLESS of little things they changed that serve no purpose and are completely pointless.

-Alberto's death scene. In the comic, nobody sees it. This has a purpose. But now Batman and Selina are right there and see his body fall into the water. Unless they pull a Hush, it will be interesting to see how they manage that.

I think I may have enjoyed it more not having read the comic, maybe. But I was very dissapointed. I thought they would have learn by now after Hush. The Dark Knight Returns is almost the same as the comic and its THE best movie they've done in this line so far. Sometimes the original story is SO GOOD and famous for a reason. Disregarding it is a very risky move.

I am interested in seeing how they manage to do Part 2 after this.
 

Yojimbo

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I felt the movie didn't let us know very well WHEN things were happening. When Batman goes finding for Mickey, its not until they mention it that we realize it's thanksgiving.
You mean you felt, they should have timestamped the holiday at the start of the scenes instead of leaving the audience to pick up on context clues before ultimately having the timestamp at the end point?
What I missed the most from the comic were Holiday's killings being in black, white and red. Gave it such an awesome ominus feeling, the movie makes them feel less special without it.
They sort of homaged that in the Chinese restaurant. He/she was totally black against the red decor.
-Mickey and the ninjas. I guess they wanted another action scene, but it felt so out of place. I don't mind making them asian (and ninjas) instead of irish, but I really missed the scene where they all confess when they are led to believe that they actually killed Harvey, which the audience thinks so too for a moment, (while Im talking about that, it makes NO SENSE that they wait for 5 minutes before blowing up his house once Harvey gets home). Also, Mickey's gang ended up being like 7 or 8 people, and they were expert ninjas or something, Holiday killing them all with 1 gun is a bit too much. Mickey's comic gang is 4 men and it's said that they are not very bright, I could excuse Holiday killing them more in that case.
No, not ninjas. Different ethnicity. They were Chinese triad. Even based on a real life one, "San Ho Hui" is the origin of the word triad. They were using Chinese weaponry, wushu I think. Like a version of the yue that the tattooeed slim triad uses or the spear the big guy uses. But I also didn't agree with the change. I get they thought it would give a great action piece for Part 1 to do martial arts but it felt out of place with the setting of the movie, a dirty brawl fight with the Irish gang could have still worked, imo. Plus, there's also how this change could be taken as offensive i.e. Asians inserted into the movie for "diversity" only for them to be stereotypical gangsters who know martial arts.

They were all drunk presumably before Mickey showed up and their guards were down. And Mickey still badly injured. Easy pickings.
-Harvey's scene where he runs out of the hospital and Gordon founds him. Harvey seems like a clearly mentally unstable man , and what does Gordon do? He gives him a gun!! WHAT!?
I can kind of see it as laying pipeline for Part 2 when Jim and Batman realize they made a terrible mistake in allying with Harvey when they realize who and what he really is. They were so intent on taking down the Falcone Crime Family, they had their blinders on. Even Alfred points out in the Batcave when Batman goes over his suspects. But this scene is kinda suspect, as you say. If Harvey uses that gun, it would be traced back to Jim wouldn't it? Not sure what the justification is, because it would be questionable i.e. Jim has his blinders on, working long hours with little sleep, felt bad because it's the same night the Dent house was blown up, etc. It's all really grounds for Jim to be dismissed, you don't had anyone your issued gun, even if he's a civil servant.
-Batman's "I didn't know I'd have to be a detective" line is so weird. I mean, I guess you could argue that he didn't know he'd have to become one, but , isn't he supposed to have travelled the world and trained in every field possible? Or did this version just trained to fight? Felt very odd.
I took as he expected he would only be beating up criminals and not solving mysteries. In the context of this being Year 2 for him, I took it he never had to deal with solving cases like this and the ones he's been putting away were more direct like Penguin, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Calendar Man, Joker, etc.
-If you read the first 4 issues again, you'll notice COUNTLESS of little things they changed that serve no purpose and are completely pointless.
Idk, there were just things in the first 4 issues, if they directly adapted everything, it would be even slower than you say.
-Alberto's death scene. In the comic, nobody sees it. This has a purpose. But now Batman and Selina are right there and see his body fall into the water. Unless they pull a Hush, it will be interesting to see how they manage that.
That was a surprise at how much more definitive they made that death. It felt like they're setting up this to be third Batman adaptation for the villain's identity to be changed. I'm leaning towards it being Two-Face taking control of Harvey's body and him not having an memory of what he does. Similar to Batman vs. Two-Face but not entirely.
I am interested in seeing how they manage to do Part 2 after this.
Sheridan is on the record saying Part 2 is totally different than Part 1 and is a 180 and faster terms of pacing. The comic had the benefit of being 13 issues and month to month. We kind of have that here with the release dates being so close but having not seen Part 2 yet, it seems like this could have easily been a 3, maybe even a 4 part movie, or even a mini-series. Obviously, the entirety of the remaining 9 issues aren't going to be fully adapted in Part 2 so we'll see...
 

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There is definitely something odd with the pacing of the dialogue, like said above. I'm not sure what it is, but it's almost like everyone is talking in slow motion? And then the awkward pauses when one character stops speaking waiting for the next character to talk...why does it seem so weird? It's definitely something I noticed. The movie as a whole had pacing problems because some parts felt way too slow especially all the Harvey/Gilda scenes and all the mobsters scenes.

As someone who never read the comic the story seems serviceable although a bit generic. The holiday killer wants to kill Falcone and there's the mystery who he is...and Joker is basically doing what Joker does...and Catwoman basically does...what Catwoman does. There's nothing new or surprising. Everyone is going through the motions.

Grodd in the sewers was funny and I thought it was Croc before we saw his hand. I'm not sure where that will go.

Also both Catwoman and Batman seem kinda...dumb here? I know this is set early in the timeline, but Catwoman just blurting out "Bruce" in front of everyone because Batman lands down on the ship is odd. And then Batman not catching the killer after he escapes by boat, when he could have just used his grappling hooks on the surrounding boats and caught up? Not to mention Batman telling Alfred he didn't think he would have to be a detective.

Again I never read the comics so I have no idea if this is just accurate to the original story, but to a new viewer it's just kind of an odd story. I enjoyed the movie, I'd give it 3/5. I hope the second part picks up.
 

Otaku-sempai

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There is definitely something odd with the pacing of the dialogue, like said above. I'm not sure what it is, but it's almost like everyone is talking in slow motion? And then the awkward pauses when one character stops speaking waiting for the next character to talk...why does it seem so weird? It's definitely something I noticed. The movie as a whole had pacing problems because some parts felt way too slow especially all the Harvey/Gilda scenes and all the mobsters scenes.

As someone who never read the comic the story seems serviceable although a bit generic. The holiday killer wants to kill Falcone and there's the mystery who he is...and Joker is basically doing what Joker does...and Catwoman basically does...what Catwoman does. There's nothing new or surprising. Everyone is going through the motions.

Grodd in the sewers was funny and I thought it was Croc before we saw his hand. I'm not sure where that will go.

Also both Catwoman and Batman seem kinda...dumb here? I know this is set early in the timeline, but Catwoman just blurting out "Bruce" in front of everyone because Batman lands down on the ship is odd. And then Batman not catching the killer after he escapes by boat, when he could have just used his grappling hooks on the surrounding boats and caught up? Not to mention Batman telling Alfred he didn't think he would have to be a detective.

Again I never read the comics so I have no idea if this is just accurate to the original story, but to a new viewer it's just kind of an odd story. I enjoyed the movie, I'd give it 3/5. I hope the second part picks up.
Gorilla Grodd is in the sewers? I don't think so; I'm pretty sure it's Solomon Grundy.
 

Yojimbo

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and Catwoman basically does...what Catwoman does.
Actually, no. They've laid down some hints there's more to why Catwoman is doing certain things.
That she suspects Carmine is her biological father, hence adds to why she paused during Carmine's speech and why she rejected Alberto's kiss.
 

-batmat-

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You mean you felt, they should have timestamped the holiday at the start of the scenes instead of leaving the audience to pick up on context clues before ultimately having the timestamp at the end point?
Well, either that , or make it known to the audience at the beginning of the scene, and not middway through it. I can't remember exactly how it went in that scene, but it did make me go ''oh, so its thanksgiving now''. I understand the comic wouldn't have to deal with this since its clearly separated by chapters and there's also time stamps in between holidays. It's a minor thing though.
They sort of homaged that in the Chinese restaurant. He/she was totally black against the red decor.
Yeah, would have been cool to have something like that in every Holiday killing.
No, not ninjas. Different ethnicity. They were Chinese triad. Even based on a real life one, "San Ho Hui" is the origin of the word triad. They were using Chinese weaponry, wushu I think. Like a version of the yue that the tattooeed slim triad uses or the spear the big guy uses. But I also didn't agree with the change. I get they thought it would give a great action piece for Part 1 to do martial arts but it felt out of place with the setting of the movie, a dirty brawl fight with the Irish gang could have still worked, imo. Plus, there's also how this change could be taken as offensive i.e. Asians inserted into the movie for "diversity" only for them to be stereotypical gangsters who know martial arts.

They were all drunk presumably before Mickey showed up and their guards were down. And Mickey still badly injured. Easy pickings.
Thanks for the info! Im not very knowledgeable about such things. They had some type of bodyguard, and even drunk its seems a bit much, but still a minor thing.
I took as he expected he would only be beating up criminals and not solving mysteries. In the context of this being Year 2 for him, I took it he never had to deal with solving cases like this and the ones he's been putting away were more direct like Penguin, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Calendar Man, Joker, etc.
Yes, but it still feels very odd to hear Batman say something like that.
Idk, there were just things in the first 4 issues, if they directly adapted everything, it would be even slower than you say.
I disagree. The issues are fast paced, I read them today in 15-20 minutes or so, and there's a lot of new scenes , and the scenes from the comic feel like they take much longer to go through in the movie. I mean, more than they should.
Sheridan is on the record saying Part 2 is totally different than Part 1 and is a 180 and faster terms of pacing. The comic had the benefit of being 13 issues and month to month. We kind of have that here with the release dates being so close but having not seen Part 2 yet, it seems like this could have easily been a 3, maybe even a 4 part movie, or even a mini-series. Obviously, the entirety of the remaining 9 issues aren't going to be fully adapted in Part 2 so we'll see...
I disagree about making it a 3 or 4 part movie. Part 1 felt very padded and slow to me. But Im no expert... guess we have to wait and see how Part 2 turns out.

Also both Catwoman and Batman seem kinda...dumb here? I know this is set early in the timeline, but Catwoman just blurting out "Bruce" in front of everyone because Batman lands down on the ship is odd.

Again I never read the comics so I have no idea if this is just accurate to the original story, but to a new viewer it's just kind of an odd story. I enjoyed the movie, I'd give it 3/5. I hope the second part picks up.
Yes, that was an extremely dumb thing to do and very uncharacteristic of Catwoman. Forgot to mention that on my original post.

You should read the comic. It feels very different compared to the movie (well, the first 4 issues of it and part 1) It's one of Batman's best graphic novels.

And yes, as mentioned above, its Grundy.
 

Yojimbo

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Looking at some differences (correct me if I goofed, as I didn't reread the comic since it first came out):
The whole opening Viti wedding scene in the comic is replaced with a brief cold open of Bruce Wayne refusing Carmine Falcone's request, what this request exactly was is kept vague, and a title sequence with bits of new scenes that sets things up nicely. The death of Johnny Viti is rearranged to post-title and a new scene of Alfred and Bruce talking about "security" augments the initial rooftop meeting between Batman, Gordon, and Dent. Catwoman informing Batman is then expanded on with an innocent chase that informs us on her character and relationship with Batman, as well as taking us to Falcone's dirty money in a more entertaining way in the animated medium. Batman's introduction of the two-faced coin to trick Dent into destroying the money was also a great nuance that adds to Dent's arc and foreshadows his future. Likewise, the history between Harvey and Gilda and their hidden duality is highlighted by the subtle difference of Harvey carrying Gilda back into their home only for it to blow up, a symbol of their deteriorating marriage which comes to head in the later part of the movie on New Year's Eve.

Instead of starting out in Gordon's office and recalling past events which would kill the pacing and heightened milieu from the explosion, the movie has a better chronological flow of it continuing right away with Batman chasing after the bomber Mickey, having a fight in Chinatown, chasing Mickey into the sewers, and defusing a situation with Solomon Grundy. The ruse of Dent trying to impersonate Mickey to get a confession is thrown out in place of two scenes that better gel together and are so much more evocative: Alberto sends flowers to Dent's hospital room on his own accord and totally sets off Carmine, highlighting their relationship, and then the flower delivery, Dent eavesdropping on Gilda's discussion with Nurse Tamara, his subsequent escape to Gordon finding him staring at Falcone's foreboding high rise building in his hospital gown. It all ends with a much more impactful and perhaps cynical take on Thanksgiving. Harvey and Gilda go their own ways, Carmine and Falcone are in the same room but miles apart from each other, Gordon comes home to dinner wrapped for him and everyone else fast asleep, Batman steals a turkey leg on the sly to feed Solomon Grundy while Alfred and Selina ponder what happened. And like in the comic, Holiday Killer murders the gang hired to bump off Dent and leaves behind a cornucopia with the gun.

The third issue is perhaps the most shaved down. The Joker's reign of terror on families is cut down to a brief line later on and instead focuses on the lauded scene with Calendar Man at Arkham Asylum and a perfectly haunting performance by David Dastmalchian and the Joker's confrontations with Harvey Dent and Carmine Falcone. Gilda is omitted, presumably to focus on just the interplay between Harvey and Joker. Sal Maroni's scene is cut down to in media res of him putting his Jokerized henchman Frankie in his trunk and Batman inquires what happened, highlighting Batman's lack of detective experience and foreshadowing a tipping point between the mob and the super criminal fringe. In contrast, a larger action scene of Joker being pursued by Milos only to be killed by Holiday like in the comic.

The adaptation of the fourth issue is also shaved down, rearranged, and added on for a better narrative flow. It instead begins with Alfred reminding Bruce of the need for him to maintain his dual life, convincing him to go to Falcone's charity event on his yacht. Falcone's speech about family underscores the grip and influence he has on the city with all of its elites gathered in one room - his rival Maroni, the Mayor, the Bishop, Bruce as well as puts an exclamation point on the divide between himself and his son when he calls Bruce the son he never had. The divides continue when Jim and Barbara witness the tension and bickering between Harvey and Gilda, ending in them going their separate ways (and essentially exit the movie) then Selina decides to break up with Bruce. Then the big set piece of the final act is Joker attempting to gas Gotham Square on New Year's Eve because it is a 50:50 shot at killing the Holiday Killer. While all that is happening, the greater intrigue is when Alberto meets Selina and he feels compelled to vent his frustrations on her and leans in to kiss her only for Selina to awkwardly reject him (perhaps hinting at the sometimes used element of Selina being a daughter of Carmine) and Batman arriving to accuse Alberto of being the Holiday Killer. His reasoning is somewhat sound but he watches in horror as the Holiday Killer takes out the next target. Also stay for the credits or fast forward, because there's one more scene to leave the audience on a "Oh No!" and likely again to provide a better narrative flow, in this case into Part Two.

Voice cast:
Had no issues with anyone in the voice cast. The late Naya Rivera's Catwoman is mercurial and playful and adds a tone of levity to the movie. Titus Welliver's Carmine Falcone is intimidating and imposing worthy of "The Godfather." David Dastmalchian chews up every second of the movie with Calendar Man. Alastair Duncan reprises Alfred from "The Batman" and it feels like no time has passed since that animated series.

Animation:
In what is edging slowly towards ubiquitous, The Long Halloween - Part One was animated by three studios based in South Korea: Edge Animation, Studio Grida, and Maven Image Platform. I think the most obvious tell of when another studio took over is Catwoman's looks. At the beginning vs. in Chinatown, she looked like different teams animated her.

One of the stand outs is Gotham City itself. In contrast to "Superman: Man of Tomorrow" and even "Justice Society: World War II," the city is appropriately gilded. A lot of black and gray buildings with splashes of gold. I think even an attempt to mimic the hand painted background art of old seen in classics like "Batman: The Animated Series" to capture that dark deco/crime noir sensibility.

The 'unconventional' camera angles that follow Catwoman when she's in action, specifically the early chase across the roofs when she jumps to the clock tower then dives down to the train were surreal. Or some shots feel like they've been ripped out a classic noir movie such as the death pose of Antoni at the bottom of the art deco stairwell visualizing the imposing scale and power of Carmine Falcone. Also loved all the use of dark and shadows.

Special features:
The overall special features were sparse. No commentary. No roundtable. Not even a 10 minute featurette about the history and legacy of the original "Batman: The Long Halloween" comic book series. Sure, the DC Vault classics have surface level parallels with aspects of Part One. Either bare bones is what we can expect from now on or the good stuff is only on the 2022 deluxe edition.

I disagree. The issues are fast paced, I read them today in 15-20 minutes or so, and there's a lot of new scenes , and the scenes from the comic feel like they take much longer to go through in the movie. I mean, more than they should.

I disagree about making it a 3 or 4 part movie. Part 1 felt very padded and slow to me. But Im no expert... guess we have to wait and see how Part 2 turns out.
Fair enough. I'm of the opinion that certain writer/artists' works are better suited to be translated without much change like Frank Miller's Year One and most of TDKR vs. Loeb/Sale's TLH.

Another thing consider is the Deluxe edition that comes out next year that will combine both into 1 movie. It might play better because on one hand, Part 1 is half a story.
 
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-batmat-

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Fair enough. I'm of the opinion that certain writer/artists' works are better suited to be translated without much change like Frank Miller's Year One and most of TDKR vs. Loeb/Sale's TLH.

Another thing consider is the Deluxe edition that comes out next year that will combine both into 1 movie. It might play better because on one hand, Part 1 is half a story.
That could very well may be the case. But what can I say... the movie as a whole just didn't really work for me.

Yes, but it's a bit of a Snyder cut situation. The second half of it may be better, but the first half is still unnecesary long and padded out (in my opinion).

If I'm correct though, they did this movie BEFORE Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society and it got shelved , right? That would explain the weird slow dialogue pacing coming back for this one, since they must have figured it out by the time they were doing JS?
 

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If I'm correct though, they did this movie BEFORE Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society and it got shelved , right? That would explain the weird slow dialogue pacing coming back for this one, since they must have figured it out by the time they were doing JS?
Yes, writing, recording, etc. was originally done before Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society (but ADR was done during the quarantine in 2019 so some actors did it home using various methods) then shelved because Warner thought Matt Reeves was also adapting TLH for The Batman but Reeves ended up going in a different direction anyway so the delay was for nothing.
 

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I thought the pacing was a little off here and there and the animation continues to be mostlly cookie-cutter except for some of the action scenes but overall I thought this was a good movie. I didn't enjoy as much as many seem to be but I still found it a good movie and I am looking forward to the conclusion. I just wish the animation was better. There were times when it looked no better than a motion comic and I'm getting increasingly disappointed when watching these movies where almost all of it is great but the animation is just subpar. Maybe its because I've been heavy into cartoons for over 30 years and my expectations might be too high for current shows and movies. I understand why those younger might find this to be good animation in comparison to other current 2D stuff out there, but compared to even DC DTVs five years ago the animation is getting worse and worse. I thought the animation here was a noticeable step down from JSA: WW2. The bad animation is really making these movies seem more and more cookie-cutter or give the impression of its being just another movie off the assembly line. These should be special but they're becoming more and more run of the mill.
 

Yojimbo

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It's hard to get consistency because, imo, this and JSWWII were using three animation studios (Man of Tomorrow used two) instead on one and most if not all were pretty new to animating for an American animated movie and/or a new studio (but made of some experienced animators).

Man of Tomorrow had Answer Studio and Studio Grida, JSWWII had Edge Animation, LTD, Studio Grida, and Digital eMation, and TLH Part One had Maven Image Platform, Edge Animation Co., Ltd, and Studio Grida (whereas Timm's Soul of the Dragon was Studio Mir). eMation is the only 'old' one I believe, founded in the early 90s and Answer Studio in 2004. The rest I think came up around 2010.
 

Classic Speedy

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(skimming criticisms while being careful to avoid spoilers) Huh. Well, I liked it. The movie did its job of wanting me to tune into part 2 to find out who's behind these murders, and I like the gimmick that each murder takes place on a different holiday. It's also interesting that this seems to be an "origin story" of sorts because Batman hasn't yet realized how much of his job involves flat-out detective work. Maybe I'm easy to please but I stayed interested.

The pauses in the dialogue didn't bother me. It let the lines breathe and I just took it to mean the characters were thinking and contemplating what to say before responding. It's not like this timing is new to DC movies anyway.

While I agree with the animation being mostly perfunctory outside of the action scenes, I loved the varied look of the film, certainly because of the aforementioned "changing seasons" motif. The New Year's scene in particular, with the light snowfall, was just beautiful. The only thing I was kind of not crazy about was how the character outlines fluctuated from scene to scene. There's a moment early in the film when Harvey and Gilda Dent share the same frame but they have two completely different outline, um, "densities". It looked weird.

Anyway, glad it's only a month or two wait for part 2!
 
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Stu

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An enjoyable opening to the story, the slow burn doesn’t feel too far off the pace, despite many of these DTVs suffering in this aspect previously.

While the story is slow, the animation seems to have been rushed out. The whole thing moved so slow unless it was an action sequence, I can only assume the budgets for these features are shrinking quite dramatically, sadly.

I liked the cast, I thought everyone pretty much nailed their parts, but I can’t get along with Troy Baker’s Joker. As with everyone else I hear Baker voice, he sound likes he’s doing an impression of someone who did the role better before him… being a poor man’s Mark Hamill didn’t work out too well in Arkham Origins and it still doesn’t here. It’s a shame, he has some cracking lines.

I did enjoy the story and won’t hesitate to pick up part 2. I’m thankful the wait isn’t too long!
 

Frontier

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Troy Baker's Joker is obviously very evocative of Mark Hamill but I feel like, on a performance level, his Joker comes off far better than, say, Tara Strong riffing on Arlene Sorkin's Harley. Like, it still sounds like Joker and it's not like it's grating or anything, so I don't really have a problem with it.
 

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