-READ IT, FOLKS!!!!!!!-
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING YOU’RE ABOUT TO VIEW MAY CONTAIN HUGE SPOILERS FOR THIS OVERLOOKED “BATMAN” FILM!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THIS, PLEASE TURN BACK!!!!!! AS USUAL:
-We Now Join Our Regularly Scheduled Review, Already in Progress-
-PONYVILLE, THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN’S NEW OFFICE, 6:48 PM-
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: *Deep Sigh* It’s good to be back!!!! Now, let’s start my review of the later episodes of Season 6 of “MLP: FIM”!!!!–
TED THE SCRIPT-PERSON: Hey, Detective!! Sorry to interrupt, but, I’ve got a letter from a fan of your blog!!!
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Oh! Be right there, Ted!!!! *BAM!!!*
TED THE SCRIPT-PERSON: And to answer your question: No, it is not Postman Matt who sent you this letter. It’s Derpy Hooves like in the show, “MLP”.
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: Okay, Ted. Thank you. *Rips Open Letter* *Begins Reading*
DEAR, DETECTIVE:
THIS IS DOMINICK BYERS, ONE OF YOUR ALL-TIME BIGGEST FANS, WRITING THIS LETTER, INSTEAD OF SENDING IT BY EMAIL BECAUSE OF HOW MY WI-FI IS POORLY CONNECTED AT MY HOME. ANYWAYS, I’VE JUST WROTE YOU THIS LETTER TO GIVE YOU A SUGGESTION, NOW THAT YOU’RE BACK WITH YOUR NEW OFFICE AND ALL THAT. HAVE YOU SEEN “BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM”? IF YOU HAVEN’T, DO SO, IT’S A VERY GOOD “BATMAN” FILM AND MUCH BETTER THAN THAT “BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN” MOVIE THAT CAME OUT THIS YEAR. IT’S GOT KEVIN CONROY AS BATMAN/BRUCE WAYNE AND MARK HAMILL AS THE JOKER, LIKE IN “BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.” LET ME KNOW IF YOU’RE REVIEWING IT OR NOT. THANKS!!!!
SINCERELY,
DOMINICK BYERS
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: “Mask of the Phantasm”, huh? That seems kind of fascinating.
TED THE SCRIPT-PERSON: Oh, it is, Detective. I’ve seen that film when I was younger, loved it, and I still do to this day. Even a lot of people liked it, especially DC and”Batman” fans and film critics, such as the late Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.:
THE DETECTIVE LIBRARIAN: All right, then. I think we should just shift gears today. I’ll review Season 6 of “MLP” next time and focus on this film, instead. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a “Batman” film to review. Wish me luck!!!!
Hello, everybody, this is you “Inspector of the Entertainment”, The Detective Librarian, speaking where reviewing entertainment’s my game. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at one “Batman” film based off one well-known TV series based off of the Dark Knight, “Batman: The Animated Series”. What is it you may ask: it is “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm”. This film came out for a limited time in theaters on Christmas 1993, basically one year after “BTAS” first aired. Sadly, despite being a well-received flick, it didn’t really do so well in the box-office, but became a cult classic when it was released on home media in 1994. So, will is this film as good as some of the other “Batman” adaptations that we’ve enjoyed such as “The Dark Knight Trilogy” or Tim Burton. Well, we’ll find out as we dive right into “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm”.
The film starts off at Gotham City (as usual), where we see some CGI-animated opening titles with an orchestra that captures your attention with interesting visuals.:
After this, we officially begin the story at a casino where a group of mobsters are meeting each other to talk about their latest scheme in giving out fake cash to a casino. At the same time, our favorite Caped Crusader/Dark Knight named Batman, secretly billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne (played by Kevin Conroy) shows up to save the day. He fights against the mobsters, just as one of them named Chuckie Sol (voiced by Dick Miller) escapes to a garage, where his car is parked, before encountering our villain of the story; a mysterious cloaked figure that is not named, but is called the “Phantasm” (performed by Stacey Keach). At first, Chuckie confuses him as Batman, but realizes soon enough after the Phantasm says “Your Angel of Death Awaits”. Chuckie gets inside his car and attempts to escape and attempts to run over the villain, but fails, crashes through a wall, and crashes to a skyscraper, that ultimately leads him to his death. Batman arrives at the crime scene, where people see and accuse him of killing Chuckie, before the true culprit disappears in a puff of smoke.
Of course, the news of Chuckie’s death reaches the news, including Councilman Arthur Reeves (played by Hart Bochner) who gives out a speech about the murder from the previous night. Commissioner Jim Gordon (voiced by the late Bob Hastings), however, denies the accusations of Batman being a killer, but everyone else believes in Arthur Reeve’s theories over the events. Meanwhile, at the Batcave, Bruce Wayne examines a piece of glass from Chuckie’s car that was filled with fog-like chemicals at the crime scene, before hosting a party at his mansion. We get to see people, such as Arthur Reeves, attend the party and mention another important character; Bruce’s ex-fiance and Arthur’s new girlfriend, Andrea Beaumont (voiced by Dana Delany). This leads us into witnessing a flashback that occurs one decade before this story begins, where a younger Bruce, visiting his dead parents’ burial location, first meets Andrea talking to her dead mother’s grave at a cemetery for the first time. Keep in mind, folks, there will be more flashbacks like this later on in the movie. That night, Bruce starts his career as a crime fighting-vigilante (NOT Batman, like in the present), just a ski-mask, like this.:
After Bruce’s mediocre first attempt as a vigilante that didn’t imitate the criminals, he begins training karate at his manor the next morning. His faithful butler, Alfred Pennyworth (played by the late Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is reluctant on Bruce’s plans of fighting crime, before Andrea shows up. Bruce and Andi begin to fall in love with each other and begin making out, before we cut back to the present and see another gangster named Buzz Bronski (performed by John P. Ryan) visit Chuckie’s tombstone to give him a wreath. Just then, the Phantasm strikes again and chases after Buzz all the way to a freshly new dug grave. That’s when Buzz gets killed when he gets crushed by an angel statue, thanks to you-know-who. After this, Arthur Reeves proposes an idea on how to arrest Batman, by having Detective Harvey Bullock (played by Robert Costanzo) and some police officers turn on the Bat-Signal, while Batman goes to investigate Buzz’s death at the graveyard. He then stumbles upon some chemical residue on the lawn, the same one that was found on the glass, before encountering his parents’ grave.
Just then, he sees Andrea pulling out some weeds on her mother’s tombstone and speaking to her grave. After she notices Batman run, Andrea finds out where he was standing and realizes his true identity. Gee, Andrea’s one of the few people who found out about Bruce being Batman without putting off the mask in-front of her.:
Speaking of, the film then cuts back to Andrea, where she’s having a date with Arthur at a fancy restaurant, where Batman’s spying on them. For all you “Stranger Things” fans out there, no, he’s not taking pictures, just putting on a pair of binoculars to spy on them, before another flashbacks occurs. This time, it features Andrea and Bruce going to a Gotham World’s Fair amusement park that is both like Epcot from Disney World and based off of the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. At one point, Bruce gets distracted when he sees a car exhibit that would eventually become the Batmobile, before he agrees with Andrea to pay her father, Carl Beaumont (who is also played by Stacey Keach) a visit in his office. Both the Phantasm and Carl have the same voice actors, probably to create suspense for the film on who the Phantasm really is.:
Anyways, after Bruce’s visit to Carl and meeting one of his visitors named Sal Valestra (played by the late Abe Vigoda), he and Andrea both encounter a man being our “Damsel in Distress” cliche as a group of criminals steal a box of money. However, Bruce fails to stop them and heads back home to think things through. He begins to feel unsure about wanting to fight crime, while having a romantic relationship with Andrea, before the flashback ends.:
The next morning, Arthur Reeves secretly has a discussion with Sal Valestra, who is also a mobster, about the deaths of Chuckie and Buzz. Back at the Batcave, Batman gathers more clues about the dead mobsters that Chuckie and Buzz were both involved in a company called Dummy Corporation and sets out to Sal’s apartment to find out more about him. Before we continue, here’s a little question of what’s going to happen next.:
“WHAT DOES THE FILM CUT BACK TO NEXT?”:
A.) “ANOTHER FRIGGING FLASHBACK!!!!!”
B.) “ANOTHER ACT OF HOMICIDE ON A MOBSTER”
C.) “AN ‘SNL’ SKIT THAT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT AND OUT OF NOWHERE TO THE PLOT”
If you picked “A” you are correct because the next flashback feature Bruce proposing to Andrea. You might know that this proposal is not going to last after she accepts it. The film then gets another build-up to the things that make Bruce “Batman” as they encounter a number of bats, coming from a cave AKA “The Batcave”. Later, Bruce and Alfred drop Andrea off at her house, where she and her father are forced to deal with business, before noticing a shady man with a hat and driving away. Later, Bruce begins exploring the Batcave and finds Alfred looking upset because Andrea just sent back the engagement ring he gave to her the day before with a note. She canceled the engagement because of her leaving with Carl out of Gotham City. Consequently, a heartbroken Bruce tears the letter and decides to back to his plan of becoming the Dark Knight AKA “Batman”.:
Once the flashback ends, Batman steals a photo of Sal’s gang and Carl from ten years ago, before we see Sal drive to the Gotham World’s Fair, which is now abandoned. There, he meets one of our favorite villains in “Batman”, the “Clown Prince of Crime” that is the Joker (played by the ever-talented, Mark Hamill), who is actually living in the park, like a hobo living on a dirty street in the city. The two of them talk about how Sal might be the Dark Knight’s next victim, even though the Phantasm’s responsible for all the trouble that’s been occurring, and hires the Joker to assassinate him, once and for all. Meanwhile, Arthur takes Andrea back to her apartment, before making out and leaving. Batman then interrogates Andrea about the photo he took from Sal’s apartment and her father, before leaving. Andrea then begins to lie on the bed in tears, before the Phantasm sneaks into Sal’s apartment, only to encounter one major discovery.:
As you can tell, the Joker deliberately poisoned Sal with his laughing poison and a placed a bomb on his lap in order to trap Batman that is really the Phantasm. After the Phantasm escapes just in time before the bomb goes off, Batman arrives on the Batwing, chases after, and confronts him. The confrontation is only short-lived as the police arrive and the Phantasm vanishes in his fog-like abilities. This leads to another chase scene between both the Caped Crusader and the police through Gotham, all the way to a construction site. At one point, Batman is injured from yet-another explosion and runs through an alley, before being rescued by Andrea in a car and driven all the way back to Wayne Manor, leaving the police behind, instead of going after them. There, Bruce learns more about what really happened between Andrea and her father; it turns out that the business from ten years ago was actually the group of mobsters that were being killed today.
It turns out that Carl embezzled cash to Sal and his business partners and was threatened to bring in the money from the European banks within 24 hours. Otherwise, both him and Andi would be hunted down, forcing them to flee the country, travel across Europe, and settling on the Mediterranean Sea. Eventually, Carl was able to pay the embezzled money towards the mobsters and “pay them back”, meaning that Carl might be the Phantasm. Andrea blames herself for the events, but Bruce cheers her up, by having both of them make out for the rest of the night. The next morning, Andi and Bruce decide it’s finally time to restart their relationship. After Andrea drives away, Bruce goes back inside to take a closer look at the photo he received from earlier, only to discover that the suspicious man from earlier is actually the Joker. How does know: Because he used a red-colored pencil to figure it out.
What a coincidence because the Joker then visits Arthur’s office to find out who the Phantasm really is and discuss his involvement with Carl’s company. During a phone call between Arthur and Andrea, the Joker deducts that the Phantasm might be Andrea. After this, the Joker then stabs Arthur with his laughing poison while laughing in a sinister way.:
Don’t worry, folks. The writers have to keep this PG-rated, even if it is ironic that this film is rated PG, instead of PG-13 or R because of the violence, some mild language and references, and dark plot points because Arthur is sent to the hospital, laughing insanely due to the poison. Once his doctors leave his room, Batman shows up and questions him about the Joker meeting with Arthur. Arthur reveals that he was involved in helping Carl and his daughter fleeing Gotham City and kept in touch the last decade. At that time, Arthur was bankrupt and running low on money during his first election campaign, so he spoke to Carl about it. But, Carl refused to help him, making Batman realize that Reeves sold him to the mob. Our hero decides to confront Andrea about what really happened that day, leaving a manically laughing councilman behind.
As soon as he arrives at Andi’s apartment, Batman receives a phone call from the Joker that was meant to be a trap for Andrea, by sending her a toy airplane with a bomb attached to it. The toy airplane was the same one from the abandoned World’s Fair amusement park, making Batman deciding to go to the park and find the Joker and Andi once the bomb explodes. Meanwhile, Andi stands outside the Joker’s lair, reminiscing one final flashback that reveals the truth behind her father’s embezzlement. It’s revealed that the hitman that would become the Joker was hired by the Mob to kill Carl at his home on the Mediterranean, much to the dismay of his horrified daughter. This means that Carl isn’t the Phantasm (SPOILER ALERT), IT WAS ANDREA!!!!!:
Andrea arrives inside the Joker’s lair as the Phantasm, but the Joker is able to recognize her under the mask. She idiotically takes it off and the two of them have a fight scene, but the Joker easily gets away. Andrea falls right into ANOTHER trap set up by the Joker, by attempting to kill her with a large propeller to blow her right into it. Batman shows up just in time and uses his Bat-Cycle to stop the propeller and save Andi. He confronts her about it and tells her he now realizes that Carl isn’t alive and she’s the Phantasm. Andi admits her guilt and how she’s avenging her father, by murdering the people responsible for her pain and heartache. Batman questions Andi’s actions and she responds by saying “If anyone knows the answer to that, Bruce, it’s you.”
After this, Batman demands Andi to leave and let him catch the Joker. She agrees and the chase is on between Bruce and the Joker through the Park. The chase leads Batman to a model layout of Gotham City where the Joker activates traps, such as the layout being activated and him pulling the switch for tunnels with hidden bombs blowing up in five minutes. The Joker then attempts to escape with a jet pack, but is stopped by Batman, who is also desperate to escape the park alive, but fails as the two of them crash-land back at the Park. As a weary Joker puts the jet pack off of his back, Andrea arrives and grabs him. Batman warns her about the park being destroyed, but Andi refuses to leave and decides to finish her quest of vengeance by killing the Joker, once and for all. She bids one last good-bye to Batman, before the park explodes and one last laugh and a really surprising laugh from the Joker.:
As Andrea disappears and the Joker is never seen again, Batman falls down when the floor under him collapses, causing him to go through the drain and conveniently escape the park. Back at the Batcave, Bruce is depressed because he failed to save Andrea from her crimes. Alfred comforts him, by saying that Andi didn’t want to be saved and how having the desire for revenge can be harmful to your soul, which is the moral of the story. So, remember, kids: “Getting Revenge on People That May Have Angered and Devastated You Will Lead To Severe Consequences That You’ll Face For the Rest of Your Life. So,–“:
Heh, I just couldn’t resist. (Sort-of an Inspiration of Master Code: Ace Analyst Joke on “Let It Go”) Back with the story, Bruce then hears a flicker in the distance and rushes to it. The flicker is actually a locket that had a picture of both Bruce and Andrea inside, meaning that Andi left it for Bruce as a keepsake. The film then sees the last of Andrea on a boat in the ocean, when a man speaks to her and asks if she wants to be alone. Andi replies that she is alone. The movie ends with Batman knowing that he should continue to fight crime on Gotham City and that’s it.
So, folks, that is the end of “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.” Is this a better “Batman” flick that some of the newer “Batman” content we’ve been getting lately? I would say yes. Why: The story line was interesting and so were the characters and the drama, even the animation is really good. Despite a few problems, such as the realism, I have to agree with Siskel, Ebert, and all you DC fans who have seen this that THIS is a worthwhile film that is one of the more well-written “Batman” stories. It’s just too bad that this was overlooked many years ago and for the next two decades when it first came out.
Other than that, this was a very enjoyable watch from beginning to end with amazing characters, action scenes, storytelling, and animation. Even if the film is unrealistic at certain scenes and is overrated for a PG-rating, I still really loved this film for the way it is. For those of you who are wondering: “WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE JOKER AT THE END, AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE CHARACTERS???!!” Well, there is a comic book called “Shadow of the Phantasm” from the “Batman and Robin Adventures” series, that is meant to be a sequel to this film. We do get to see the Phantasm again in the comics and in the later episodes in TV series that are connected to what this flick and “BTAS” are in, the DC Animated Universe. But I digress, I definitely recommend this to people who love “Batman”, DC, movies, know a few bits about him, or even enjoy the Animated Series, in general. My final score for this film is an 8/10 for a much better superhero flick than some of the other “Batman” content that have been coming out recently, yeah I’m looking at YOU, “Batman VS. Superman.” I’m The Detective Librarian, Your “Inspector of the Entertainment” signing off, TOODLES!!!! ;D
“I NEVER EVEN TOLD YOU” (SOUNDTRACK VERSION) VIDEO:
“I NEVER EVEN TOLD YOU” (MOVIE VERSION, BUT AUDIO IS EDITED, PROBABLY DUE TO THE FACT IT’S BEING RECORDED OR TRANSLATED FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY) VIDEO:
-THE END!!!-
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