In this time where fandom regularly brawls within itself about which incarnation of a property is best, I would hope that all Batman fans would come to agree in unison that the version seen in Batman: The Animated Series is by far the best all rounder. You want a costumed outsider driven by vengeance: you got it; you want the Dark Knight Detective to live up to that moniker and genuinely solve crimes: Hell, you got that too and it’s still one of the best adaptations that manages to balance his freaky rogue’s gallery with time spent on the blurred divide between Bruce Wayne and Batman. However, in 1993, the Saturday morning cartoon hot a shot at the big screen with a feature(ish) long adventure that unrepentantly went full noir and delved even further into the tragedy of Wayne’s life in Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. However, while most animated version of TV shows would try and cram as much of itself into feature running time as much as possible (see: Transformers: The Movie), Mask Of The Phantasm instead pulls back into the shadows in a manner befitting it’s pointy-eared subject.
A caped force is sweeping across Gotham City, confronting the criminal element and making them pay for their sins with a mixture of psychological warfare and a swift kicking. However, while much of this fits Batman’s famous MO, this new vigilante not only takes things to the deadly extreme, but seems to be targeting specific law breakers for a personal vendetta. Of course, you can’t go around Gotham City in a cape, bothering mob bosses without someone naturally assuming you’re Batman; and so before you know it the GCPD is convinced that the Caped Crusader has finally gone off the deep end despite Commissioner Gordon’s insistence that the Bat is still legit.
While this “Phantasm” is making it hard for Batman to get to the bottom of things, Bruce Wayne is also finding it tough to operate when an old flame from his college years resurfaces in the form of Andrea Beaumont. However, not only was Andrea the one that got away, the young love they both shared was such that it almost caused Bruce to drop his vow to fight crime before it even had properly started. However, her father had gotten in debt to some of Gotham’s most prominent leg breakers, which caused Andrea to break off their engagement in a dear John letter, tragically leaving Wayne to tale up the mantle of the bat and start dealing out free concussions to anyone taking to a life of crime.
In the present, the body count of the Phantasm grows and Batman notices that the list of the dead suspiciously matches the criminals that Carl Beaumont owed – has his old beau’s father gone on a flamboyant killing spree to get out from under the thumb of those that he owes? If he has, he’d better be careful because the last guy in the Phantasm’s list has undergone some changes since back in the day – changes that would put a smile on anyone’s face whether they like it or not.
While more recent examples of Bat-cinema have thought to make Bruce Wayne a more rounded character outside of his iconic suit (Batman Begins and The Batman being the most obvious example), it was down to Mask Of The Phantasm to fly the Wayne flag as it nestled between the stylish freakouts of both Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. While other animated ventures would look to probably cram as much comic book carnage as it could on screen and deliver and orgy of villains on the level of the Knightfall arc from the books, Bruce Timm instead went a more subtle route and focused on a surprisingly nuanced, character-based take. All the gothic ambience from the series is present and correct and if anything, Timm has upped that Film Noir flavour to an awesome degree as everyone continue to walk around with that 1940s aesthetic and throwback cars.
I remember, when I first saw it, I was initially disappointed that the film took something of a more personal approach to the legend, but these days I’m far more appreciative that the animated feature actually decided to buck the trend for no other reason than it gave the late, great Kevin Conroy a chance to really cook in the lead role. In fact, long before the likes of Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves decided to remind us that Batman’s alter ego also has stuff going on when he’s not punching out dudes in clown makeup, Phantasm was weaving a heartfelt tale that saw our hero facing a legitimate emotional conundrum. In fact, the presence of Dana Delany’s Andrea has Bruce seriously questioning his bat-destiny not just in the plentiful flashbacks that act as something of an origin story, but in the present too and it was rare to see a character usually portrayed as so foresight and dedicated to his quest, genuinely being torn between his two lives. In fact, not only was it rare, it was downright groundbreaking and for anyone who had never picked up a Batman comic book, it was a fiercely intimate look at a dude famous for being able to do anything simply because “he’s Batman”.
Adding to the the genuine noir feel is a supporting cast that’s utterly packed full of character actors gifted with distinct voices – I’m mean how can you not fall in love with a line up that features Stacy Keach, John P. Ryan, Dick Miller and Abe Vigoda as various hard boiled wrong ‘uns and even Hart Bochner’a slimy councilman has a slick, previous DC connection as he played the love interest in the live action Supergirl.
However, while the film delivers a truly gripping and emotional Bruce Wayne story, it tends to find itself left with the short end of the stick when it comes to the villain contingent. Simply put, the Phantasm isn’t that interesting of an antagonist and while their ghostly ways sure looks impressive (think a blade-handed grim reaper), for three most part, the character remains an enigma which leaves Batman stuck with only a few thugs to knock around and the entire Gotham police department to avoid. In fact, you can tell that even the filmmakers probably don’t regard the Phantasm as their main threat which is why Mark Hamill’s is wisely drafted in and suddenly entwined with the main plot. Reviewers at the time saw the inclusion of the clown price of crime as something of an admission that their initial villain simply wasn’t up to snuff, but not only is the climatic set-too between Bats and his giggling nemesis utterly fantastic (watching the Joker have one of his teeth booted clean out of his skull was positively euphoric), but it’s now apparent that rather than delivering a standard, 90s, superhero plot line, Timm and the gang are actually sticking closer to that noir theme that’s hews more to the twisting, unpredictable yarns of The Third Man and Touch Of Evil.
Simply put, I genuinely believe that anyone who leaves Mask Of The Phantasm out of best Batman debates really needs to turn in their Bat-fan membership cards as not only does this film delve deeply into the nature of Bruce Wayne long before Nolan did it, but it also manages to nail it within a lean 76 minute runtime. Now, how’s that for prep time?
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