Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) User Reviews

It took me a while to figure out what was missing from the film

[totalchaos7 · 6/10 · 24 January 2018]

I gave it a 6 mostly for the concept of the film and the atmosphere which was really great but when the movie ended it still felt like something was really missing and I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was until a few hours later... It was the actual detective work.

Before the film started my greatest question was how the hell is he going to solve any mysteries without his super powerful bat-computer and I was looking forward to see how it will play out. It turns out there was little to none of that detective work and the Bat figures out who the killer is by pure luck and nothing else, which is really a shame for the world's greatest detective.

I did enjoy other parts of the movie, but, I cannot tell you what without giving any spoilers. You should watch it yourself and you will know what I'm talking about just don't put your expectations too high for the general outcome, it's definitely not a 10 or a 9.

Gaslighting

[juliankennedy23 · 7/10 · 7 April 2018]

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight: It is Victorian times and Gotham is looking a little Londonish. There is a killer afoot named Jack the Ripper stalking the streets. Also stalking the night is a masked vigilante known only as The Bat. Can Commissioner Gordon solve the cases with the help of his prosecutor Harvey Dent and Dent's millionaire childhood chum Bruce Wayne?

The Good: The greatest thing about Gotham by Gaslight is what it doesn't do. There are no Tesla or Lovecraft cameos. Nobody invents an airplane powered by a diamond. It is a realistic (relatively) style environment with people that act like people actually did back then (Guy in Bat costume excepted).

Gotham by Gaslight also finds proper roles for Batman's Rogue gallery and his allies. Commissioner Gordon, Alfred the Butler, and Harvey Dent keep their old roles. While other's get to put on a new hat. Hugo Strange is a progressive doctor running a psychiatric hospital and Poison Ivy is a vaudeville stripper. The movie has Batman in the role of Sherlock Holmes with focus on detective work rather than Bat punching. Selina Kyle (Catwoman) takes the role similar to Sherlock's love interest Irene Adler and three Robins (Dick, Jason, and Tim) take a role similar to the Baker Street Irregulars. It is a lot of fun seeing well-known characters in their new roles. The movie handles this quite well.

The Bad: Why is this an "R" rated film? There are some adult themes but neither Poison Ivy nor Selina Kyle shows any nudity despite some obvious story beats where it would have been expected. The violence is muted and the camera turns away from anything possible offensive. I have to think this us more of a marketing ploy (An Adult Batman Cartoon) rather than a reflection of the material. If you are going for an "R" rating and your story is about a serial killer that murders prostitutes it is not as if there is no material to work with.

In Conclusion: A Sherlock Holmes mystery with a Batman dressing. It is a good mystery that will keep one guessing. Characters are well written and voiced with Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent being standouts. Overplayed Victorian elements (see above) and overplayed Batman elements (Joker) are nowhere to be found. A good family film despite the "R" rating and an excellent treat for fans of the bat.

Smoke & Mirrors

[scythertitus · 7/10 · 9 April 2018]

How much you like this film will definitely depend on how much you are into the Victorian/Steampunk aesthetic, as well as the murder mystery genre in general. There is definitely nothing bad to report about this movie, it is a decent little crime noir set in the early 1900s.

If there is a problem it is that it has no connection to the greater Batman/DC animated universe and could easily not be a Batman film at all, since outside of the character names themselves there is little to link the two. Batman only vaguely 'Batmans' outside of some grappling-hook action and minor detecting. It is certainly not one for those who like outlandish superhero action.

Overall if you see this as a short murder mystery there is little to be disappointed by here, and if you crave a more down-to-earth Batman then this will be great for you. In my opinion you might as well just watch something like Zorro or Lone Ranger, or any other masked vigilante that Batman was based on as for me its 'back to basics' tone is just a little too basic, but it is certainly a matter of personal opinion in this regard.

Fun Alternate Reality Batman Story

[Banookee · 7/10 · 18 May 2018]

I enjoyed this animated movie it was a lot darker than usual batman stuff the fight choreography was pretty good and it had good cinematography an interesting story to boot i enjoyed the twist at the end.

Watch this if you like batman and have an hour to waste 7.5 / 10.0

Great plot, solid performances, and thrilling action.

[Milk_Tray_Guy · 6/10 · 9 February 2018]

Thoroughly enjoyed this 'Elseworlds' tale. Bruce Greenwood is a great Batman and I loved Anthony Head as Alfred - hope he gets to do more. Fight choreography in DC's animated Batman movies has improved hugely in recent years and Batman's battles with the Ripper here are as exciting as anything seen in his live-action - in some cases more so. Several nods to established Batman mythology/continuity for fans, plus a nice callback to Tim Burton's Batman '89 movie in the first few minutes. Quite a few Sherlock Holmes references too (might need to be a real Holmes buff to catch some). Definitely one for rewatches.

8/10

If you love the Graphic Novel, You'll Be Disappointed

[renatacarmen · 6/10 · 27 January 2018]

As a stand alone movie, this is a fun ride. It is beautiful, chock full of Easter Eggs, actual historical references, and has a good pace. Unfortunately, they chose to make some rather bizarre changes to the original story that I just can't quite stomach. If they hadn't messed with such pertinent aspects of the story, this would have gotten close to a ten. It is metal, truly R and that makes it very awesome. But, if you are a fan of the original source materials, be prepared to walk away a bit disappointed.

Great movie with surprising twists

[Gerardrobertson61 · 7/10 · 28 February 2018]

I loved Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. I found the concept of Batman in the 18th Century to be intriguing and the story line was excellent. The characters are all names that a Batman fan would be familiar with, but it is the way the characters are worked into the story that makes this a great animated film. The settings felt a bit like London in the 18th Century, and it could have well been London, I noticed that they seemed to be a reference to the Charles Dickens character Bill Sykes, along with a bit of mixture of Sherlock Holmes as well. All in all, a great movie and worth purchasing if you are a animated Batman fan like me.

This is one of the good ones...and I'm old school BTAS so it's hard to impress me

[mohammad-moallem · 9/10 · 24 January 2018]

Great serious story, wow they didn't make animation this hardcore in the 90's It gets gory and eerie at times which is really what a Batman movie should be.

It has a fantastic classic Batman story.

Great els-world favourite characters.

Batman's fighting choreography is fantastic and this is a cartoon lol!

Animation looks dull in places that don't matter and thats fine and is made up by focusing on the main features, and that looks great, well executed action.

Classic Gotham feel that is right at home! (got to have a blimp!)

Lots of nods and easter eggs to previous Batman animations, comics. (Mask of the Phantasm, Robins, Two Face, Sherlock Holmes's Dancing Men story (which I really appreciated, I f-ing love Jeremy Brett and Sherlock stories), Death in the family, the weird Scott Snyder comic about James Gordan's messed up son, Dark Knight Bat pod, Black Mask...these were the ones I noticed.

Overall really good ELS-WORLD Batman story!

loved it !!!

[yawael · 7/10 · 12 March 2018]

In every year there are a lot of titles of batman most of them are ok and only few of them are good. i think that this movie was the best one to see in the whole batman animated series since ( under the hood) which was released back away in 2010. I wasn't impressed when i first heard that (Sam Lui ) is going to direct this version because i was so disappointed with both (the killing joke & Harley Quinn), but i must say that he gave us here a brilliant job . what i liked about this film was the story which was totally amazing (changing both the characters and the time events) the animation was also good. and the identity of Jack The Ripper was somehow good ( Even though, it wasn't that difficult to know who really he was) . i know that this was based on a book which was released in 1989, but i'm really hopping to see a sequel of this version.

It's a decent movie, not a fantastic movie

[cruzwindt-46534 · 5/10 · 25 January 2018]

I enjoyed the movie, but it was poorly made, much like twilight it's about vampires without nothing that makes vampires actually interesting, this movie is about a vigilant in the 19 century without anything that makes a vigilant or the 19 century interesting. Specially if that vigilant is Batman.

Like someone else said, none of the detective work of Batman, just a few playing around with a scientist equipment and some tech that shouldn't exist yet gig , and that didn't solved anything, and the Sherlock Holmes gig, which also didn't solved anything.

There were parts of the movie that were never explained, like why Dent went after Bruce while being his friend if he was not the Ripper ?

Also Batman is supposed to be one of the world's greatest Martial Artist, he is a millionaire that trained with the best, so how was he defeated many consecutive times by a hobby boxer ? Oh yes the Drama needed for the movie.

Why was the Ripper scared of himself ? Why did Gordon acted like a complete different person from the Gordon we know ? What was even the point then ? Oh yes to add unnecessary twists.

The movie is interesting and the scenarios are great. But the actual writing leaves a lot to desire.

Blast from DC......EPIC

[saurabhanand-36993 · 9/10 · 24 January 2018]

First of all this one is not for kids as you can see the sign (R) below the title. Totally different plot, different story, different era. I can promise you one thing, this type of movie you will not get to see often. Amazing story with the nice animation and total unexpected climax. One hell of a Bat movie. As I am not going to give you any spoilers. Just download it and watch it.

A nice adaptation

[Jithindurden · 6/10 · 23 February 2018]

A nice adaptation of the comic and surprisingly R rated yet no too adults only either. A simple Victorian-era serial killer mystery featuring Jack the Ripper referencing Sherlock Holmes and Houdini. The problem for me with these films is that the immense possibilities that are not exploited. There can be simple editing techniques that can be easily used in here which would have been made this way better.

A Fun Idea, Executed Like a Boring Chore

[frankelee · 3/10 · 16 October 2020]

I'll sum it up succinctly, it does nothing with the change of venue, has a bad mystery that involves too few suspects and almost no detective work, it makes Batman seem like not much of a super hero, and generally the script acts like resetting Batman to Victorian London decreases the things you can do with the character and is a really boring idea.

Sherlock Homes Meets Under Developed Batman

[EdWrite · 6/10 · 25 January 2018]

Just watched this movie and as someone in their 50s who grew up and accepted the new incarnations and evolution of the Batman I was very disappointed. Yes I know this is set in the past but a regression in technology doesn't mean the character has to regress also.

I felt that the Batman in this movie was just a pale reflection of Sherlock Holmes and a powered down version at that. He even had his own version of Baker Street Irregulars which was just a bit derivative. While providing recognition of one of Batmans most central archetypes is appreciated it progressed past the point being of a homage but instead made the principal character of the Batman feel like just a cheap copy of the original..

To be fair the film is competently done and is watchable. The voices were well done and filled out the characters to a degree. I even enjoyed the song by Selina Kyle in the theatre as well as using the voice and character of Harley Quinn in a cameo role as an old drunk woman. I did not however appreciate the dead fish eyes of Bruce Wayne that again made him seem more 2 dimensional and detracted from my enjoyment.

One of the biggest failure in this movie was the misuse and under use of characters like Poison Ivy and Dr Hugo Strange who were just passing through this movie. Don't blink or you'll miss them.

Coming from the UK I've seen every permutation of the Sherlock Holmes legend in the media and this was a mediocre offering at best. I shouldn't have had to keep reminding myself that this was a Batman movie and not a Sherlock Holmes movie.

Not in the same league as under the red hood or dark knight returns but still pretty good

[suganthram · 7/10 · 16 August 2018]

There was quite some talk during this movie's release as to how it is good.It increased my expectations but now only I had the time and mood to give it a watch.And it was pretty good.The design of the batman's cowl was the only issue for me.Even if it is a Victorian age film,they need not make the eyes square.I really missed the white eyes typical of animated Batman.Other than that I had no complaints.The story and writing was engaging from beginning till end and I didn't see the climax twist coming.Overall a nice addition to DC 's acclaimed animated movies list

Victorian Age Batman deserves more appreciation

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 30 October 2018]

Iconic characters are perfectly able to work well in many different kind of settings without losing their essence, and this movie is a perfect example of that , adapting quite well the Batman mythos to the Victorian era.

My only complaint is the reveal that happens near the end of the movie, which felt a bit rushed and it could it have been foreshadowed in a much better manner, instead of seeming the result of a decision taken at the last moment in order to take the audience by surprise.

Still, it is another solid Batman animation and personally I wouldn't mind to see more adventures involving this particular incarnation of the character.

Oh, and just like it happened with "Justice League Dark", I'm still not sure why this got an "R" rating since most of its content was relatively tamed, despite the mature premise.

Not racy enough to be an adult film and too adult to be a kids film

[benprichardsdotcom · 6/10 · 14 June 2020]

The poster makes it look a lot better than it is. The story is actually quite boring, or predictable rather. If you think about the scope of possibilities that Batman and his enemies could have posed in a Victorian setting then you can see how this one falls short.

A classic rediscovery of Batverse in a Victorian era

[alwayzribhu · 8/10 · 13 May 2018]

Considering it's set in an Elseworlds universe, the dark and thematically noir influenced complex atmosphere fits in perfectly with the Batman mythos. The film paces with some increasingly mysterious events that eventually leads Batman to a very baffling revelation. The character portrayals were brilliant from an 18th century point of view, not to mention Batman performing his mixed martial art skills when pitted against Jack the Ripper was a solid stunner. I run out of reasons why most of the DCAU films go underrated, but in my opinion this film deserves better. There are a few negligible shortcomings in the film like Batman being at his usual best without the aid of any electronic gadget(say Batcomputer) but then again those are overshadowed by the plotline. It's definitely a must watch for Batman lovers.

Worst dc animated movie

[swanemyr98 · 27 March 2018]

Outside the idea of Batman vs the Ripper this took absolutely nothing from the comic. That might not be so bad but the story was garbage and was a bore to watch. Completely awful

IMDb format issues

[TheOneThatYouWanted · 7/10 · 17 March 2018]

Finally, DC puts out something watchable. No, seriously - this is like a freaking rare Pokémon, a DC film that does no make you feel like a freaking idiot for wasting your time watching it. Honestly, I am not sure if this movie is actually as great as I am making it out to be or if DC set the bar so low that I am overrating an lukewarm movie. Whatever, I am planning to read the comic it is based on and rewatch the film again because I am a hardcore fan but also a realist and I'm predicting Warner Bros being dumb enough not to reboot their cinematic universe for a least another year. Foolish executives are going to permanently damage the DC brand unless they give us a hard reboot - which is why REAL DC fans stopping paying to watch any DC movie years ago. Keep it up and save DC. I am sick of Marvel fans laughing at our movies.

What the Hell is this?

[Darcsyde01 · 3/10 · 24 January 2018]

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight...a review (or rant...whichever) *SPOILER ALERT!*SPOILER ALERT!*SPOILER ALERT!* Do NOT read further if you don't want to know the grisly details....you have been warned

I'm a big fan of the DC animated moves. They weren't all winners, (Gotham Knight, I'm looking at you), but all were entertaining. One of my favorite comics I wanted to see as a movie was Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. A tale that transports Bruce Wayne and pits him against Jack the Ripper in Victorian Age Gotham City. The story was tight, the mystery well thought out and the action well executed. I was so excited when DC announced that GbG would be their next offering. Then my wait was rewarded with...this. The animation was good and kept the gothic creepiness f the graphic novel, and I could even excuse the inclusion of Selena Kyle and Pamela Isley...but not the rest. Let's start with the Batsuit. In the GN it looked home made, visible stitching along the mask and his cloak had a rough edging to it making it resemble the scallops of a bat's wing. The three throwing daggers he had on his belt in the GN looked more like mini billy clubs and he never used then referring to using a very modern looking batarang. Now I might have been able to over look that mess if they had done the story justice....but no. In the GN it was revealed that Jack was an old family friend of the Wayne's from Jolly Old England who had fled his native land to slice-n-dice his way through Gotham's fallen women. What we got in the movie, however all connection to Jolly Jack was gone in favor of besmirching a iconic character, Jim Gordon. Yup...they turned Commissioner Gordon into a sadistic creep who, not only murdered the street ladies, but also a Sister Leslie Tompkins, Alienist Hugo Strange and an old crazy lady. On top of all that, he tortured his own wife, so she became just as nuts as he was. To make matters worse, three street orphans were added to the mix, becoming Alfred's assistants, at one point, and Bruce Wayne's wards at the end, Dick, Jason and Todd...the names of those who, in regular continuity, would become Robin. Why? Who the hell knows. And the end...WTF? Bruce gets accused of being the Ripper, thrown into prison,,,escapes...kills the Commissioner (well..he kinda kills himself after Batman cuffs him to a burning Ferris wheel car), and he just rides off into the sunrise with Selena, Alfred and the boys....with no explanation or closure leaving me going, "Watdafuq did I just watch?"

Best Mature Batman Animated Movie I Ever Saw

[anime-akuma · 9/10 · 5 April 2018]

I love this movie it mixwd up 3 great stories like Batman, sherlock holmes and Jack the ripper And the killing scenes done so nicely even batman beaten up so badly 3 times in the movie that made me realize that batman really is normal human witout any super powers. Selina was such a great felme character in this movie I like her a lot xD

Steampunk Batman

[JoeB131 · 6/10 · 13 February 2018]

So this is an "Elseworld Story", which means they can mess with the characters in a way they couldn't normally. All the principles of the Batman Family are here, and they kill about half of them off.

Bruce Wayne becomes Batman in either the 19th century, or a world where technology hasn't gotten to the point of the internal combustion engine being a thing yet. ANd of course, Jack the Ripper is there because frankly, he was the only criminal in the late Victorian Era.

They spend a lot of time implying that Harvey Dent (AKA Two Face in normal DCU continuity) is the Ripper, because hey, it almost made sense. I was halfway expecting them to shoehorn the Joker into the role. So what they did do was kind of interesting.

Oh, it wouldn't be a story set in the 19th century without reminding us how patriarchal everything was back there by having female characters point out to us what louts we are being.

so worth a watch? FOr the hard core Batman fan, sure. For the animation fan, maybe. It looks like the same people who put this together did the Batman series in the early Oughts.

Like the usual DC animation productions

[jo_men_visst · 3/10 · 2 August 2018]

As a fan of both animation and The Bat I have long wondered why Warner is so reluctant to actually want to try and deliver anything but this cheap looking tripe.

The usual is here. Uninspired designs, purposeless movement in some shots and deadeyed stiff awkwardness in the rest. Dead camera angles and radiodrama soundwork. Not to mention that the story is about as riveting as a dry wall.

One can tell that underneath all this mediocrity is a hard hitting gritty and gory retelling of The Dark Knight as the victorian era Gotham's Sherlock vs a very gruesome Jack The Ripper... But the final product feels more like an early cd rom era point n click adventure than anything worth mentioning after the credits rolled. Such a shame they refuse to do anything worthwhile with these endeavours.

Dc animation fans deserve better...

Grade: B

[kaiserstudios · 7/10 · 17 May 2018]

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight does have a fascinating take on the Dark Knight fighting Jack the Ripper, but the animation comes off as cheap at times.