Batman: Gotham Knight
2008 animated film by Bruce Timm
Batman: Gotham Knight is a collection of six animated short films that make up a 76 minute movie. Similar to the Animatrix, Gotham Knight utilizes the talents of six different anime directors, while the stories themselves were written by acclaimed screenwriters and graphic novel authors. The movie is set in between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and portrays Batman's transition from novice vigilante to crime-fighting superhero.
- It works too well. I'm willing to put my life on the line to do what I have to. But it has to be mine. No one else's.
- You're MCU, aren't you? Gordon's squad? Lieutenant Gordon is a good judge of character.
- Maybe next time.
- It was just like that night in the alley, Alfred... the closeness of the walls, the gunfire. It seems I've been trying to stop those two bullets all my life.
- Nice work, kid. Looks like I owe you one.
- Now why would someone want to shoot me, Mr. Fox?
- Shoot your mouth off now, Deadshot.
- (sarcastically) I admire a man who vows to rebuild the neighborhood and starts by building a golf course.
- (to The Russian) You get the docks. (to Maroni) You stay in the slums. That's the arrangement 'til I can get something on you. And then you can fight over who gets the top bunk in Blackgate. Got it?!
- It's like I've been trying to stop those two bullets my entire life. It's a fool's dream, Alfred. Sometimes I feel like I should just be done with it.
- (regarding Cassandra's statement of his interior pain) No. It's something I manage.
Dialogue
edit- Ronald Marshall: Got any interest in some poker tonight?
- Bruce: I have some business to attend to.
- Ronald: Is that right? Blonde or brunette?
- Bruce: Half Russian, half Italian.
- Ronald: (whistles) Wow. Now that's a handful.
- Homeless Man: Hey Bat, when you flyin', what the city look like from up on high?
- Batman: It looks dirty.
- Alfred Pennyworth: [about Bruce's gun collection] It's a bagful of tragedy, sir. I can't see how you could even bear to handle one.
- Bruce Wayne: You have to know your enemy, Alfred. I'd never use one, but even I can appreciate the attraction of a gun. The heft. The sleekness. The cool steel. The precision. And the power. The power to change lives, history. The power of God.
- Deadshot: (about Batman) He's either the bravest man I've ever faced, or a complete fool.
- Batman: Alfred, how's the satellite picture?
- Alfred Pennyworth: Splendid. I can almost see your pointy ears, sir.
- Sal Maroni: (with a gun to Det. Ramirez's head) I'll do it! I'LL DO IT!
- Batman: (disarms him) No. You won't.
- Lt. James Gordon: [Batman's been bitten by Croc] Are you in pain?
- Batman: I work through pain.
- Alfred: Sir! Give me your hand!
- [Batman's hands are full, having scooped a dozen discarded guns from the rubbish pile]
- Batman: I... I can't.
- Batman: (removes his oxygen mask, on one end of a speaker) The Scarecrow's here with an army of escaped Arkham inmates and homeless. They've all be poisoned with toxin.
- Lieutenant James Gordon: (in a police helicopter, on the other end) Where are you, Batman?
- Batman: Beneath the East Reservoir, I guess. In the old Weir Chambers.
- Lieutenant Gordon: I'm sending reinforcements now. Just hold tight until we get there.
- Batman: No time for that.
- B-Devil: Yo, wait a minute. Batman never cut nobody's head off. Everybody knows he don't ever kill nobody.
- Meesh: I'm making it more colorful, yo
- [first lines]
- B-Devil: Ay, yo! Where you guys been?
- [last lines]
- Alfred: Sir?
- Bruce Wayne: [after Cassandra has told Bruce about her life as a child in her village] Then why don't you leave?
- Cassandra: Because, this is where I belong. In your life, isn't there such a place?
- Deadshot: [after his latest kill] Another happy customer.
- Lt. Gordon: Got a lead on your 'Killer Croc.' His name's Waylon Jones. He was an inmate at Arkham Asylum - and a former test subject in Dr. Crane's fear-aversion therapy program.
- Batman: Which means he's twice as twisted now that Crane's had a go at him.
About Batman: Gotham Knight
edit- If I have a story, if I have something to say, that’s my motivation. For this film, I had something to say about Bruce Wayne as a character, what his motivations are. That there’s something dark and wrong about what drives him. Batman is a super hero and he does good. But I think the Bruce Wayne part of the character’s motivation is slightly twisted. Bruce’s motivations don’t come from a good place. He’s angry and, in that revenge is really his goal, he’s a dishonest character. That’s why he has to wear a mask. He’s doing good, but he’s not doing all the right things for all the right reasons.
That plays into this story. It should be a story about non-violence, but that’s the lesson that Bruce doesn’t learn. On the surface, Bruce is on a spiritual journey, but his spirit was corrupted when his parents were killed. And it’s not something that I think he’s even interested in fixing.- Brian Azzarello, "Interview Brian Azzarello on Batman Gotham Knight", Major Spoilers, (05/09/2008).
- The image of Batman coming through flaming wreckage was pretty much exactly as I wanted it. I really was trying to get the psychological impact of seeing this man, who maybe isn’t a man if you don’t know, coming through the flames – literally a walking, talking, burning bush, standing and staring the villain down. If somebody was staring me down from the middle of flames, they could have anything they want. I think the animators executed that really well.
- Greg Rucka, “Interview with “Batman Gotham Knight” Writer Greg Rucka”, by Sam Sloan, Sliceofscifi, (May 23, 2008).
Cast
edit- Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman
- David McCallum as Alfred Pennyworth
- Jim Meskimen as Lt. James Gordon, Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Lucius Fox, Avery, Wounded Man, Bulky Man
- George Newbern as Man in Black, Guido, Man, Youth 3
- Gary Dourdan as Detective Crispus Allen
- Ana Ortiz as Detective Anna Ramirez
- Corey Burton as Yuri Dimitrov, Ronald Marshall, The Scarecrow
- Will Friedle as Anton, Cultist, Youth 1
- Jason Marsden as Cop, Doctor, Youth 2, Thomas Wayne
- Scott Menville as B-Devil, Cop
- Rob Paulsen as Sal Maroni, Mole Man, Youth 4
- Parminder Nagra as Cassandra
- Corey Padnos as Porkchop
- Crystal Scales as Meesh
- Alanna Ubach as Dander
- Hynden Walch as Young Bruce Wayne, Young Cassandra, Woman, Female Campaign Worker
- Andrea Romano as Martha Wayne, Dispatcher
- Pat Musick as News Anchor
- Brian George as Arman, Scruffy Man, O'Fallon
External links
edit
Encyclopedic article on Batman: Gotham Knight on Wikipedia
