The film is a collage of six short films, and all of them are from the Japanese animation production team, which is easily reminiscent of the 2003 "Matrix" spin-off animation "The Matrix Animation" (The Animatrix). It is worth mentioning that the team STUDIO 4℃ and MADHOUSE who participated in the production also appeared in this film. Similar to "The Matrix Animated Edition", although the Japanese producers have tended to be as American as possible, both in terms of character design and style. However, under the premise of not overwhelming the host, the film still shows the distinctive characteristics and texture of Japanese manga. American comics are supplemented with Japanese-style processing, which makes people have a movie viewing experience that combines the East and the West.
The six stories of this film are short and concise, each with its own characteristics, depicting "Gotham Knights" from various aspects. I roughly divided the categories, which can be roughly classified into the following three types:
1. Batman in the eyes of others. The first story "It's my turn" and the second story "Escape from Fire" fall into this category. In "It's My Turn", several children take turns showing that they have seen Batman. In their descriptions, Batman is sometimes a ghostly shadow, sometimes a bat with huge wings. Sometimes it is a robot in iron armor. At this moment, the scarred Batman appeared in front of them, annoyed that the child who had never seen Batman before unexpectedly saved Batman's life, and was thanked by Batman; and in "Escape from Fire" , is to look at Batman from the perspective of the two detectives Alan and Ramirez. On the way to escort the prisoner to the prison, the two encountered the fire of Italian gangsters and Russian gangsters. At a critical moment, Batman rushed to Shi to help. Interestingly, Allen and Ramirez had a heated argument about whether Gotham needs Batman, but the fact made Allen, who questioned Batman, pondered.
2. About Batman's equipment and practice. The third story, "Practical Practice," and the fifth story, "Facing Suffering," fall into this category. Wayne's inventor, Lucius Fox, appeared in the "Combat Drill". He thought of using the EMP to generate a magnetic field to create a body armor that could bounce the incoming bullets out through the damage of Webster's communication satellite. However, when Batman wore the body armor to fight crime in the harbor, a bullet bounced and injured a gangster, so Wayne gave up the outfit. He told Fox that he didn't mind his own injuries, but he couldn't tolerate others being hurt because of me, which showed Batman's fundamental stance when it came to punishing wickedness and evil; "Facing suffering" is Batman's memory of the past. Cassandra, a female ascetic, learns how to endure pain. Through Cassandra's teachings and his own practice, Wayne understands that pain cannot be eliminated, only to guide them rationally, and must have the courage to bear all the pain.
3. Batman's battle with the enemy. The fourth story "Dark City" and the last story "Death Shooter" belong to this category. Batman's opponents in the former are the scarecrow and the lizardmen. The scarecrow kidnapped the cardinal and used hallucinogens to make many believers lose their minds. Batman tracked down to the sewer, defeated the lizardmen hiding there, and then fought with him. The Scarecrow succeeded in rescuing the Bishop; in the latter, Batman encountered a formidable long-range sniper, the Deathshooter (yes, Will Smith's character in Suicide Squad), who accepted hired by a Russian gangster to kill Chief Gordon. Fortunately, Wayne and the Gotham Police Department were prepared in advance. On the roof of the moving train, Batman fought with the dead shooter and finally arrested him.
There is a certain gap between "Gotham Knight" and "The Matrix Animation" in the overall level, but this kind of cross-border cooperation provides more possibilities for the production of superhero animated films. Among the six stories, the first one, "It's My Turn", is the most exquisite and fascinating. Each child's Batman is different. This "Rashomon"-style setting not only increases the visibility, but also makes the image of Batman more full. Alternatively, this story can also be regarded as the epitome of the entire animation, and these stories can be combined into one to restore a multi-faceted, real and complete "Gotham Knight". Batman is a knight of the dark. He is mysterious because he is hidden in the dark, and it is because of the mystery that criminals are deterrent. Citizens of Gotham don't need to know about Batman, as long as they understand that there is a messenger of justice who will always guard them in the dark night, which is enough.
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