‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ Presents the Dark Knight Detective

“All we get is all we take.”—Carmine Falcone

‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ is a two-part animated film by Warner Brothers that tells the story of Batman in his early years. It is based on the series of the same name by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale. I’ve been waiting for part two to come out so I can come up with my full review, and the wait was well worth it. This two-part movie is one of the best animated stories that has come out recently.

I’ve always liked stories where Batman deals with street level adventures. This is highlighted in ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ where we get to see Batman start to develop into the super detective we all know and love in the streets of Gotham. Created as a continuation of ‘Batman: Year One’ , this two-part film shows how Batman learns to appreciate detective work as part of his crimefighting repertoir. In ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’, we get to see the Caped Crusader realize that crimefighting does not only involve slugfests to strike fear into Gotham’s underwold. To get to the heart of a crime, Batman needed to develop his powers of observation and deduction. There are scenes wherin I couldn’t help myself but laugh at the snide remarks Commissioner Gordon gives towards Batman’s lack of patience in detective work. Rather than make Batman less of a hero, these situations just emphasize that even Batman had to work his way to the hero he is known to be. These little anecdotes make him far more appealing and relatable to the viewers, and that is partly the strength of ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’.

Another strength of the movies is the relationships Batman builds with Harvey Dent in his days as Gotham’s District Attorney. In current time, Harvey Dent is known as the villain Two-Face. ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ provides the back story of the friendship between Batman and Harvey Dent before becoming one of Batman’s greatest adversaries. This just underpins the tragedy of the rivalry between these two friends and former allies. It is more so painful for Batman then to see Harvey’s tranformation into Two-Face first hand with him having little control of the outcome.

Aside from his relationship with Harvey, ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ shows viewers the origins of the cat and bat relationship of Catwoman and Batman. From its inception, the relationship was doomed to fail. Or was it? As much as it is denied, there is a certain chemistry that exists between these two characters. The sparks are obvious tto all except the bat and cat involved. Until, both acknowledge that there is more to their relationship than they deny.

Aside from the relationships Batman builds with Harvey Dent and Catwoman, ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ provides us a smorgasborg of the Gotahm underwolrd including some of the greatest members of Batman’s rogues gallery. There is more than one villain in the story, and more than one mystery to solve. Though, theere is one overarching mystery and villain, this is masked by peripheral encounters will other adversaries who sidetrack Batman from his main goal, but form pieces of a puzzle he is trying to solve. With these, meetings, we see Batman adapt to thwart his foes on subsequen encounters which is a trademark of Batman’s resiliency to stop crime at most any cost.

Though, at its heart ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ is a story about family. Do the sins of the father translate to the sins of the son? Does the daughter end up like the father?Does the daughter end up like the mother? Does the wife end up like the husband? Does the friend become family? These are questions that ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ sought to answer, and you will get the answers by story’s end. Which characters am I referning to in these questions? You are going to watch this two-part adventure to find out in detail.

In sum, ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’ gives us a lense into Batman’s past. It reveals part of his life, development and relationships. More so, the film provides us a deeper understanding of why and how Batman is the hero that he is today.