Batman: Knightfall - Part 1: Knightfall Review

 

It's been two years since we got a movie from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, but a new one has finally arrived.

Batman: Knightfall - Part 1: Knightfall is animated direct-to-video comic book movie and is based around the first part of the Knightfall trilogy. It's produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment acting as distributor. The screenplay is written by Jeremy Adams and directed by Jeff Wamester.

The story is, a behemoth of a man simply named Bane has to Gotham City and sees it as a place where the weak have taken over, and he wants to punish Bruce Wayne aka Batman for allowing this. First he blows up Arkham Asylum to let the inmates lose and cause havoc across Gotham to weaken the Bat. Then he plans to break the Dark Knight.

Initial Reaction

I was looking forward to this for a three reasons.

1) No connection to a cinematic universe just like I was hoping for at the end of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three.

2) It's based on a classic Batman story, but more importantly one of my top favorites of Batman villains, Bane, is giving the spotlight.

3) It looked really good. That art style is really helping the movie.

So with all those in mind I couldn't be anymore excited. Although I do wish they called it Part 1: Broken Bat since that's the name of the storyline, and it would've helped me from repeatedly typing Knightfall over and over again. But that's more of a nitpick than an actual criticism.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

Now the story is good expect for the one thing. Before I get into let me write about the good. One we've got a great villain in Bane. Now I liked what we got in The Dark Knight Rises, but it felt so good to get a Bane who's truly ruthless. The guy's got a kill count in this that would've made his DCAU and DKR versions scared to go to sleep. But they also showed his intelligence. He very smartly had Batman get worn down. Speaking of which, we see a Batman who works nonstop and suffer the consequences. He refuses to sleep (which in this movie he hasn't done in two days), hasn't eaten, and the more villains he fights the more beaten up he gets. It kinda makes it hard to root for him cause you desperately want him to take a break. So where's the slight issue? Well as I said this part one of a trilogy and it definitely feels like it. Because it ends on an obvious cliffhanger and a character by the name of Jean Paul and his story wasn't finished. It wasn't even at the half away point yet.

Pros

First let me praise the art style of this movie. Now unlike a lot of DC fans, the art styles used in both the DC Animated Movie Universe and the Tomorrowverse didn't bother me too much BUT, I do agree there needs to be variety in art styles. Something that'll capture even a casual viewer's attention. And Knightfall - Part 1 does exactly that. Just look at this still.

Tell me that doesn't grab your attention. That looks awesome. Seems like they took inspiration from Kelley Jones art style. Which is this.

You can especially see it in the exaggerated muscles and very long ears. So I'm very thankful the crew went with this very similar style because it looks awesome.

I also want to praise the pacing. I was kinda worried this movie would drag because there's nineteen issues in just part one alone. But thankfully that wasn't the case. Primarily because the filmmakers give you what you really want with what I briefly mentioned in the story. So because of that decision the movie flows nicely.

The last thing I'll credit is the voice acting. The cast does a great job, but I really want to give the most credit to Michael Mando as Bane. He sounded so menacing and I loved it. And I can't wait to hear him again in the next part.

So even despite that middle ground with the story, I had a blast with this movie. It felt like a return to form with DC direct-to-video movies. So hopefully after this trilogy is wrapped up we get more movies like this.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Aug 27th, for part eight of Looking Back at the Films of 2025. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.