Batman: The Long Halloween - Deluxe Edition (2021)

Director: Chris Palmer

Cast: Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, Naya Rivera, Billy Burke

Have I Seen it Before: So, it’s an odd thing. Where to begin? I’ve seen <Batman: The Long Halloween - Part I (2021)>, but never watched the second part. Cut to a year later, and I picked up the deluxe edition—containing both parts 1 and 2–so it’s an unusual situation to answer the question which starts all of these reviews with a resounding “sort of.” Oddly enough, ever since <The Flash (2023)>, I’ve been on a semi-unintentional sabbatical from all Bat-media. Couldn’t even quantify why this is the thing that broke the logjam, but here we are.

Did I Like It: I’ve been resoundingly on the record largely not caring for the recent spate of DC animated movies trying to adapt some of the longer runs from the comic books. Ultimately, the experience is left wanting and in the interest of not belaboring the point, these films have often led me to think that the adventures of the Caped Crusader were inherently more suited to the funny books than any other format. I remember liking both part of the Batman - The Dark Knight Returns (2013) because that gave the story at hand more time to breathe.

And such is the case here, spreading The Long Halloween—arguably my favorite Bat-story—over two parts allows it to not cut anything crucial out of the story. It tells the long-form story of Batman against the madness of his city, with the typical Rogue’s Gallery only playing supporting roles. The problem there is my first reaction to reading the graphic novel years ago: This would make a great movie. And it has. A couple of times. <The Dark Knight (2008)> gives a gritty realism to the downfall of Harvey Dent. Any leftover material with the Falcones and a legitimate serial killer story was taken up by <The Batman (2022)>. Do we really need another adaptation of the story? I wonder…

And that’s largely where I landed in my review of just the first half of the story, so I’m sad to say the second half doesn’t elevate the material like one might have hoped.

Batman: The Long Halloween (Part 1) (2021)

Director: Chris Palmer

Cast: Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, Naya Rivera, Billy Burke

Have I Seen it Before: Na… It’s new. I’ve read the book probably half a dozen times over the last twenty years.

Did I Like It: I’ve always been a little down on the DC animated movies. Their attempts to condense the great comic arcs into a movie less than an hour and a half always left me just wanting to read the books themselves. The Dark Knight Returns Part One and Two (2012, 2013) had something to it, Hush (2019) underwhelmed, and Death in the Family (2020) struck me as quite possibly the most frustrating bat-film ever produced.

So where does this one land in that spectrum? Somewhere in the middle. Giving the story two parts lets it breath a bit, especially when the source material is a limited run, and not a year-long (or multi-year) storyline. I have some vague ambition to track down part two now, so my interest in the adaptation hasn’t abated from my morbid curiosity about this first installment. The performances are on average, pretty average. Anyone other than Kevin Conroy playing Batman/Bruce Wayne in an animated production always feels like a misstep, and Ackles does the thankless job of not drawing attention to himself. Troy Baker, on the other hand, so desperately apes the timbre, cadence, and cackle of Mark Hamill that the homage only made me long for the original more. Jack Quaid brings all of his squirrely energy to Alberto Falcone. You may think mentioning a side character isn’t worth the word count in this review, but… Well, you just need to take in the story for yourself.

Just how you might end up taking in that story brings me to the big point.I still end up falling just shy of a complete recommendation of the film. When I first read the graphic novel all those years ago, I made the remark that it would make a great Batman movie. And it did. With some shift in focus, it was called The Dark Knight (2008). Go watch that movie, or go read the graphic novel. They’re far more worthy of your time.