Batman: Long Halloween Part Two (Blu-ray)

This is just wonderful.It is The Dark Knight (2008) and The Batman (2022) with a little touch of Batman: The Animated Series.Considering that John Turturro and Tom Wilkinson have both played Carmine Falcone, Titus Welliver might have the best portrayal of the character out of the whole bunch. THE LONG HALLOWEEN is a movie about Carmine Falcone.When you love Batman as much as I do (and as much as MANY comic book fans do) there is a checklist of books you have to read: The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Killing Joke, and The Long Halloween. Year One and The Long Halloween share a lot of similar DNA. It makes sense, it is a very exciting story concept to tackle. It is one of the main themes of The Dark Knight :What happens when the criminals of Gotham, inspired by Batman, transition from common Mafia gangsters into themed costume-wearing, lunatics? That transition time, from the Mafia run Gotham to the supervillain run Gotham is such an electric time, and it tackles the main argument that many Batman detractors bring up- Didn’t Batman make things worse by inspiring costumed villains.The comics (and movies) have gone back to this time period over and over again. It always seems to be book ended by the appearance of the Joker (usually the first costumed foe inspired by Batman) to the fall of Harvey Dent.Harvey becoming Two-Face, just as we see in the finale of The Dark Knight, is looked at as this point of no return for Gotham, where even a good man can become one of these costumed maniacs.Didn’t I say this was Carmine Falcone’s movie?Falcone is the bridge between Old Mafia run Gotham to Supervillain run Gotham. His daughter, Sofia (played by Laila Berzkins) is a fantastic addition to part two, and she literally states this fact at one point. She tells Carmine that his father would have never employed people like Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and Mad Hatter. Once Falcone starts bringing in the rogue’s gallery, it is too late for Gotham.We should focus on Batman’s Rogue Gallery for a second. The movie starts off with Bruce Wayne being mind controlled by Poison Ivy for three months. I had no idea she was played by Katee Sackoff in this one. She doesn’t really speak for the majority of the movie. She is dangerous as hell, though. All of the rogues are scary in this. They really go all in on the HALLOWEEN idea. None are scarier than the Scarecrow, who I think is in his most terrifying form (played by Robert Atkin Downes). When Batman encounters him at the very beginning of the movie, the sequence that follows is straight out of a horror movie.Joker is actually funny in this. I think he has one line in the movie, but THIS is the kind of Joker that I love, a colorful lunatic who will work for the mob, and has legitimately funny lines.It is a true shame that Naya Rivera died after she made this movie. I really love her portrayal of Selina Kyle/ Catwoman. in THE LONG HALLOWEEN part two, we focus more on Catwoman’s innocent side, the hurt aspect of her character that she began with, living as an orphan on the streets of Gotham. Her arc in THE LONG HALLOWEEN is very similar to the Catwoman (played by Zoe Kravitz) in The Batman. She has a personal vendetta against Falcone, and spends a good majority of the movie jumping in at the last minute when one of the heroes, or an innocent victim is about to be taken out by one of Falcone’s goons or someone against Falcone. I think Catwoman jumps in a few times too many, in this movie, to the point where it makes you think she is just constantly waiting on the side of a building, quietly, to attack right at the last possible moment. Her final scene with Falcone is perfect.I have been a little rough on Josh Duhamel. Brian and I reviewed Jupiter’s Legacy, a few years ago on our channel, and I often ranted about how he was miscast. I think he was well cast as Harvey, and even as Two-Face in THE LONG HALLOWEEN. I am used to seeing Duhamel in Las Vegas and The Transformers movies and I am used to seeing Jensen Ackles in Supernatural. I wasn’t expecting to take Josh serious when he did the Two-Face voice, or Jensen serious when he did the Batman voice, but both of them nail the distinct voices in this one. Brian and I criticized Jensen in THE LONG HALLOWEEN, PART ONE, because we thought he didn’t have two distinct voices between Bruce and Batman. In PART TWO, it is very clear he has a Bruce voice and a Batman voice. There is a really excellent scene in this movie where he uses the Bruce voice, when confronted by Gordon (played by Billy Burke) and Dent and he reveals the Wayne connection to the Falcone crime family. Really great stuff.Finally, I need to mention Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent. There is a shot, early on in this movie, where Harvey leaves her alone in the house, and she is standing behind the front door, which has long lines running through the window. It looks like Gilda is in a prison cell. I love little touches like that. Gilda is quiet in the PART ONE, but you feel her suffering as the often forgotten wife of Gotham’s district attorney. Julie Nathanson has a lot more to work with in PART TWO, as we learn there is more to Gilda than just being Harvey’s neglected wife.We are three movies into the TOMORROVERSE, and I am sad to hear that it has ended with Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part Two. Brian and I have often said that the best adaptations of comic books are when they are adapted into animated shows and movies. This movie proves that point. We are three for three in the TOMORROVERSE movies, and I am loving the hell out of them!

Chris Palmer’s “Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two” continues his and Tim Sheridan’s animated adaptation of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s 1996–1997 comic book story, “Batman: The Long Halloween.” The story begins with Bruce Wayne (Jensen Ackles) under Poison Ivy’s (Katee Sackhoff) control until Catwoman (Naya Rivera) rescues him. Holiday continues targeting Gotham’s crime families, the Falcones and the Maronis. Meanwhile Sofia Falcone (Laila Berzins) works to try to gain a position in her crime family while Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) investigates Bruce Wayne due to connections between the Wayne Foundation and the Falcone family. Batman fights the Scarecrow (Robin Atkin Downes) and Mad Hatter (John DiMaggio) again, but his investigation into Holiday begins to lead toward Dent. As Dent interrogates Sal Maroni (Jim Pirri) on the witness stand, Maroni reneges on their deal and throws acid in Harvey’s face. Dent descends into Gotham’s sewers where he enlists Solomon Grundy (Fred Tatasciore) to free various Arkham Asylum inmates, except for Calendar Man (David Dastmalchian). Dent, with Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Mat Hatter, Joker (Troy Baker), Grundy, and Penguin (Dastmalchian), attacks the Falcone crime family. Once he kills Sofia and Carmine (Titus Welliver), Dent christens himself Two-Face and surrenders to Batman and the Commissioner Gordon of the GCPD (Billy Burke), declaring an end to the Long Halloween. Batman confronts Gilda Dent (Julie Nathanson) one last time before returning to Wayne Manor with Selina Kyle and Alfred (Alastair Duncan).The film comes to a good conclusion that faithfully adapts the plot of Loeb and Sale’s story with minimal changes. The animated style is somewhere between Sale’s distinctive style and that of “Batman: The Animated Series.” It also features a post-credits scene that links it to the DC Rebirth animated universe, which so far consists of “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” and “Justice Society: World War II.” In this, these films go beyond the pre-existing DC Animated Universe that largely consisted of interconnected television series from 1992–2006 or the DC Animated Movie Universe consisting of 16 animated films from 2013–2020 that were inspired by the New 52 continuity. Bonus features on this Blu-ray set include the DC Showcase short “Blue Beetle,” a sneak peak at the upcoming animated movie “Injustice” and two cartoons from the DC Vault: “Two-Face” parts 1 and 2 from “Batman: The Animated Series.”

This cartoon animated movie is good. However I will like to point out about the movie disc would not play on my Xbox One Blu-ray console. For whatever reasons why is unknown to my knowledge. But still it's a good anime movie.