"batman: year one"

this DC animated original was based on the graphic novels by frank miller and david mazzucchelli.  the comics take place in the first year that bruce wayne began stalking the streets of gotham.  it also happens to be the same year that a down-trodden police lieutenant named james gordon transferred to gotham city.

batman is seeking revenge against the criminal element that took his mother and father 18 years ago.  gordon is just trying to survive in one of the most corrupt police departments in the world.  much like the graphic novel the movie tends to focus more on gordon's story.  we see the batman through his eyes and how batman's emergence effects the city and the GCPD.

we all know batman's story from countless retellings of his origin story over the years.  both tim burton's "batman" and chris nolan's "batman begins" deal heavily with this topic but (even though there is much more of gordon in nolan's batman films) we've never really seen gordon's back story.

in "batman: year one" we learn that gordon ratted out a fellow officer and either moved on his own or was transferred to gotham against his will.  gordon learns almost immediately that the GCPD is a corrupt organization from the top to the bottom.  everyone is either in the pocket of the mob or working hand in hand with drug dealers.  gordon is a good cop that detests the corruption and wants nothing to do with it.  this gets him into a lot of trouble with his fellow officers but he is a hit with the media and labeled as a "hero cop".  this protects him for a bit but not for long.  his fellow cops turn on him and gordon takes matters into his own hands to protect himself and his growing family.  it doesn't help that there's a developing love interest with a detective sarah essen that could threaten his marriage as well.

bryan cranston ("malcolm in the middle", "breaking bad") voices james gordon

ben mckenzie ("the OC", "southLAnd") portrays batman/bruce wayne

as far as the movie itself goes:  the cast is good with cranston and mckenzie doing very good jobs.  eliza dushku ("dollhouse", "buffy the vampire slayer") voices selina kyle/catwoman and katee sackhoff ("battlestar: galactica") is sarah essen.  they all do a pretty good job here.  


the animation is fluid and looks great.  they try to follow mazzucchelli's lead and they do it well.  


overall, it's a pretty good flick.  the story is good and i would love to see a follow-up version of "the man who laughs" that brings us the joker which is hinted at at the end of "year one".


bottomline:
3.5 outta 5