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You Should See How It Feels: Bryan Cranston and Ben McKenzie Near Perfection in Batman: Year One

By Cindy Davis | Posted Under Trailers | Comments (9)

BatmanYearOne.jpg

Though I’m not really a comic reader, I love certain comic book characters and I appreciate the immense talent of Frank Miller and the way artist David Mazzucchelli illustrates. Watching this preview of Batman: Year One, you’ll get a sense of how serious the directors (Sam Liu, Lauren Montgomery) take the business of faithfully translating the story and the art to film, including getting “actors who have voices with character as opposed to actors who do character voices.” In this telling from Jim Gordon’s point of view, they couldn’t have cast better than Bryan Cranston, who clearly revels in the role. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Ben McKenzie, transformed since his “The O. C.” days (have you caught him on “Southland?”) from angst-y teen to serious actor. He’s a good choice here. As evidenced by its title, Batman: Year One delves into Batman’s earliest years and focuses on how dark Gotham City really is, beset by drugs, prostitution, organized crime and a corrupt police force.


Also starring are Alex Rocco (The Godfather, “The Simpsons”) as crime boss, Carmine Falcone, Katee Sackhoff as Detective Essen and regrettably, Eliza Dushku (who always sounds nasally to me) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Batman: Year One is a direct to video production and will be available September 27, 2011.









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Comments

Year one was almost as good as The Dark Knight Returns, Miller's brilliant, industry reviving take on Batman as an old man. The art was more refined and yet simpler and the mood was darker and slower. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to this or not, as there really wasn't much to see other than animated stills and storyboards.

Posted by: Protoguy at June 9, 2011 5:11 PM

Thanks for reminding me! I was gonna watch this at CBR last night, but, you know, I suddenly had to wake up in five hours.

Posted by: Jay at June 9, 2011 6:29 PM

Ben McKenzie has a very special place in my pantsheart. Also he was excellent on The OC.

Posted by: Courtney at June 9, 2011 7:44 PM

Bruce Timm gets a lifelong pass for me. I'll definitely be seeing this.

Posted by: Lexie at June 9, 2011 10:59 PM

There's only so much shit you can talk about Frank Miller, but he revived the "goddamn Batman" franchise.

Posted by: duckandcover at June 9, 2011 11:05 PM

As someone who was a big comic collector at the time, I can testify that he revived the entire industry, not just the Batman franchise.

Posted by: Protoguy at June 10, 2011 9:49 AM

I love Batman: Year One, and I think it's a far better Batman story/comic than either of Miller's Old Man Bats books (TDKR and The Dark Knight Strikes Again). To me, those are much better in concept than execution. Personally, Batman Beyond is a better take on the elder Bruce.

But, this, I am very, very excited about. Except for Dushku. She should just shut up about her leather pants.

Posted by: RobP at June 10, 2011 2:53 PM

So looking forward to this. Hey, who's going to review Green Lantern: Emerald Knights?

Posted by: Uncommoner at June 10, 2011 11:51 PM

Ben Mckenzie is now on twitter.

Check out his hilarious first tweet.

http://twitter.com/#!/ben_mckenzie/status/82343933346201600

Posted by: eo at June 28, 2011 7:40 AM