From visionary Matt Reeves, Producer JJ Abrahams & the legendary Bruce Timm, Batman: Caped Crusader invites you to Gotham City for a slick & expansive, 90’s throwback reminiscent of The Animated Series yet distinguishable in its own right with a mature tone, impressive voice performances & great, investing character writing that is topped by fresh story takes & a signature visual noir style & score.
The series shines in many ways but one of them being their short & sweet episode runtimes, coming in at 20-25 minutes, it allows for them to flyby while also displaying a great showcase of the many rouge gallery villains that have crossed Batman in his over 80 year old history & legacy. Giving existing fans a plethora to chew on & new fans an exciting way to explore Gotham’s iconic rouges gallery & some of their defining traits, for the first time. We see exciting & well done renditions of Clayface, Harley Quinn, Two Face, The Penguin & many more over the 10-Episode season, across a Gotham heavily looked at from a noir perspective, to much success to, as it is a fantastic version of arguably the most rundown & corrupt, villain inviting cities in all of the comic book landscape.
To talk voices, the series boasts an impressive amount of respectable & well rounded performances, some of which include Christina Ricci’s charismatic Catwomen, Toby Stephen’s Maniacal Gentleman Ghost & Diedrich Bader’s terrific Two-Face, all of which star in some of the seasons best episodes, but none stand out quite as much as Hamish Linklater as Bruce Wayne & Batman, who delivers a performance that will have fans begging for his return as the character in the masses & hearing his voice the next time they open up one of their comics. His Wayne is an articulated playboy chatter box while his Dark Knight, almost the opposite entirely where his character & hope shines through his actions not his words, especially in a closing moment of one of the seasons later episodes.
In conclusion, Batman: Caped Crusader is bathed with classic animation, performances & style. A short yet hauntingly sweet series with action, mystery & atmosphere that is sure to impress along with its exploration of Gotham’s finest & most villainous. With it at times giving major Animated Series & Brave & The Bold vibes yet never being a carbon rehash of either one, I was hopeful I’d like it, I’m delighted I loved it.
Batman: Caped Crusader releases on Prime Video on August 1st.
