Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (1993)

7/10

Starring

Kevin Conroy

Mark Hamill

Dana Delany

Hart Bochner

Directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm

First time seeing this 1993 animation Batman Mask Of The Phantasm and I have to say it is very impressive. The theme of this Batman animation is not so different from what made The Bat become who he is. The whole plot is driven by vengeance and the new antagonist seems hell bent on bringing down some of the old-time gangsters of Gotham. This is not a hidden gesture from the first time we see the mask phantom, the introduction is sort of your time to pay for your sins has come. Knowing well that the Bat’s detective stories are usually based on human behavior, you get from there that this character is not mystic, rather someone who thinks these bad guys have got to pay.

The movie had some dragging moments and never really took flight until you get to the main reveal (the third act). Because before then, even though the ride was enjoyable you get the feeling there is some stalling going on.

The movie starts with the Bat stopping some bad guys who had plans of flooding the street with counterfeit money. One of the men gets away from him and while the man was hoping to drive off, he was stopped by a mysterious character in a mask. This led to the man’s death and the Bat being blamed for it and now the police wants him.

On the other side of things Bruce’s past comes visiting, a lady whom he dated long ago and told everything to comes back to Gotham after we learned she fled for her safety. These brings back old feelings, but that aside there is still this mask hunter going after old-time gangsters. The funny part of this is that one of the Bat’s main arch-enemy the Joker is also on this mask characters list and this makes everything more complex.

The animation is what you would expect from something done in 1993, not the crisp work of animation done in these present days. Funny enough I kinda enjoyed the old animated feel. The voice work in the movie is very nice and the animation makes use of elaborate action sequences, even in places that it is not needed. The Batman seems a little new to the job, because there was a time where he almost got caught by the cops.

This was the only animated Batman movie to get a theatrical release at the time, and it did not do magnificently. It is nice to know from seeing this that Mark Hamill has been doing Joker voice work for some time now.

I think you should still be able to find this movie for sale, it is worth seeing if you have not seen it before.