A child's parents are brutally murdered, similar to what happened to Batman. The man behind it is the recently escaped Joker, who, along with Harley Quinn, are treated to one of their most hauntingly creepy depictions ever, and not only of this medium(counting The Dark Knight). Best moment of it? He's sitting by a mirror, we don't see his face, and he is mumbling incoherently to himself. You gotta see it to believe how effective it is(and note that this is currently available on YouTube). The performances in general are great, with only brief exceptions. Bruce Wayne's alter ego has a rock-hard face and a spot-on voice(see, Bale? This is how it's done), and his narrations has him questioning if he's doing the right thing, something too many fan films forget. Unfortunately, those portions do suffer from occasional uninspired writing and bad reads. On the whole, the script is marvelous, if I can't for the life of me make sense of the moral(best I can tell, it's frankly a complete betrayal of the canon of the hero, and I can never stand that, if you want something different, make a new one, don't change something established to fit what you want if it goes directly against it), and the ending is, as someone in this notes, anti-climactic. The production values are quite high, with several large locations(a carnival, and a totally absolutely in no way not at all utterly gratuitous strip club with tons of cleavage, skin and butt shots), dozens of extras, and nearly flawless cinematography, make-up, props(the one obvious thing is the grappling gun, which might as well be neon colored), filming, editing and lighting. Action is sparse(I'd call this a thriller, genre-wise), well-choreographed, swift and really hits the mark(the hand-held camera is arguably excessive). The tone is relentlessly bleak throughout. There is a lot of disturbing content and a little bloody violence in this. I recommend this to comic book readers, as it will satisfy many of them(and it includes a few more well-known characters from there than it needed(I'm not sure Black Canary is even identified in it, though I know who was supposed to be her), without any of them being out of place, forced in or poor adaptations of the source material(suits, personalities and basic appearances)). 7/10
6 Reviews
Brave and bold attempt at an independent film in the shadow of a multi-million dollar franchise.
rpw_037 July 2010
Being a fan of the Batman films and cartoons since I was a boy, I was happy to find a new chapter in the on-going saga. There is no sense comparing this to Nolan's work, or indeed any of the films, and it has a very different feel to the cartoons. So where does it fit in?
This short piece (and one of my biggest disappointments is that the end credits filled 6 of the 30 minutes of the feature) is a glimpse in to the conscience and psyche of our famed hero. Being a short piece the pacing is key and here it does well, the scene is set and the arc of the story works well over the running time.
The direction the whole is not bad and there are some great shots. However the steady-cam or perhaps just plain hand-held crowd scenes and other action scenes throughout are just a little to shaky (Paul Greengrass on too much coffee anyone?).
The score was good, as was the grading of the film. I really liked the look they have gone for. The choice of materials for his suit harked back to the Adam West TV show, and after the slick carbon looking suit of TDK and BB is a little hard to deal with.
In conclusion most of the performances are fine and move what is an interesting story along nicely, and there are no major issues in my opinion, fans will enjoy it others might be more difficult to please.
This short piece (and one of my biggest disappointments is that the end credits filled 6 of the 30 minutes of the feature) is a glimpse in to the conscience and psyche of our famed hero. Being a short piece the pacing is key and here it does well, the scene is set and the arc of the story works well over the running time.
The direction the whole is not bad and there are some great shots. However the steady-cam or perhaps just plain hand-held crowd scenes and other action scenes throughout are just a little to shaky (Paul Greengrass on too much coffee anyone?).
The score was good, as was the grading of the film. I really liked the look they have gone for. The choice of materials for his suit harked back to the Adam West TV show, and after the slick carbon looking suit of TDK and BB is a little hard to deal with.
In conclusion most of the performances are fine and move what is an interesting story along nicely, and there are no major issues in my opinion, fans will enjoy it others might be more difficult to please.
True Batman!
guisreis21 May 2014
Perhaps this is the truest Batman film ever made. There is a perfect representation of Batman: the costume according to the comics (no armor! Batman needs mobility), the good acting of Kevin Porter, the dark atmosphere, the superhero as both a martial artist and a skilled detective... Showing the intimacy of the Joker was also astonishing. Besides that, it was also extremely nice to see bat-villains and other characters who have never appeared in any of Batman's feature length movies. Why did we need an independent low-budget short film to have a dark knight similar to the comics? Why the big producers never do that? I prefer "City of Scars" than the more famous (and also nice) "Batman: Dead End".
Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum and kills the parents of a young boy and Batman should find him before it's too late.
mateorondon17 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
**This Contains Spoilers**
This is how a Batman film should be made, it is dark, it has a great cast and great acting. I recommend this film to every Batman fan in the universe because it has a great plot, that is that Joker killed a boy's parents and kidnapped the boy and it is up to Batman to find the boy, at the end the boy shoots Joker leaving Batman with too many questions and so many doubts about what he has and hasn't done and it also takes Gotham to ruins, I mean that criminals are going to make Gotham a more dangerous place as we see in the sequel to City Of Scars that is Seeds of Arkham. I didn't like much the Arnold Wesker and Ventriloquist part but everything else was great. Both Batman and Joker were awesome!
Great film, totally should watch it!
This is how a Batman film should be made, it is dark, it has a great cast and great acting. I recommend this film to every Batman fan in the universe because it has a great plot, that is that Joker killed a boy's parents and kidnapped the boy and it is up to Batman to find the boy, at the end the boy shoots Joker leaving Batman with too many questions and so many doubts about what he has and hasn't done and it also takes Gotham to ruins, I mean that criminals are going to make Gotham a more dangerous place as we see in the sequel to City Of Scars that is Seeds of Arkham. I didn't like much the Arnold Wesker and Ventriloquist part but everything else was great. Both Batman and Joker were awesome!
Great film, totally should watch it!
City of Scars: Lackluster at best
Platypuschow24 January 2018
Batman is on the hunt for the Joker who has once again broken out of Arkham Asylum.
In contrast with his origins a young boys parents have been murdered by the clown prince but in this case the child has been kindapped as well.
Can the caped crusader get to him in time?
Along the way our hero will also come across The Ventriloquist and Victor Zsasz, but sadly they can't bring any excitment to this 30 minute snorefest.
Though everything looks decent enough and the effort was there sadly the writing was not and at the end of the 30 minutes the film ends on a huge anti-climax.
One for hardcore Batman fans only.
The Good:
Looks the part
The Bad:
Bad representation of Zsasz
Fight scenes are pants
Very dull Joker
Terrible ending
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Boring monologues are great ways to end stories
In contrast with his origins a young boys parents have been murdered by the clown prince but in this case the child has been kindapped as well.
Can the caped crusader get to him in time?
Along the way our hero will also come across The Ventriloquist and Victor Zsasz, but sadly they can't bring any excitment to this 30 minute snorefest.
Though everything looks decent enough and the effort was there sadly the writing was not and at the end of the 30 minutes the film ends on a huge anti-climax.
One for hardcore Batman fans only.
The Good:
Looks the part
The Bad:
Bad representation of Zsasz
Fight scenes are pants
Very dull Joker
Terrible ending
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Boring monologues are great ways to end stories
Another okay Batman short film by Schoenke
Horst_In_Translation8 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"City of Scars" is a half-hour live action short film from 2010, so it had its 5th anniversary last year. The writer and director is Aaron Schoenke and this topic is nothing really new for him because the city mentioned in the title is Gotham City, the home of Batman. And once again, Batman faces his worst enemy: the Joker. Side-plots include Batman's own past, the loss of his parents and Harley Quinn. It is a lot for 31 minutes, actually only 27 as the credits are pretty long. The result is that elaboration on characters was missing a bit, which is a pity as the acting and script weren't bad with what they delivered. But overall, it felt just showy for the most part and I did not feel there was really that much memorable substance in here in terms of the plot. That's why I personally give it a thumbs-down, but I still believe it can be a good watch for bigger Batman fans than myself. However, I actually enjoy several of the Batman films, but I guess not everybody can get away and make a good film giving it the same dark approach like Nolan did. Thumbs-down from me.
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