Patrick what are you doing back here
again her last visit was very odd mom
and dad I had to come back because I
have another really important question
for you what do you think is the best
Batman movie you probably don't say the
Dark Knight and I get it it's a great
movie and I love it as much as the next
guy but it's not the best Batman movie
the best a Batman movie is actually the
93 animated film Batman mask of the
phantasm and right now we're going to
talk about watch
you
[Music]
so what do I mean when I say best Batman
movie if we're talking the best movie
with Batman in it then yeah it probably
is the Dark Knight it is a masterpiece
it's one of Christopher Nolan's best
movies and it's one of the best examples
of strong vision or they feel making on
a blockbuster scale in the 21st century
but also more closely resembles Michael
Mann's heat than a Batman comic it's not
what anyone would call comic book II and
Batman is maybe the third most
interesting character in the movie on a
quality scale it's like a 9 out of 10 on
a Batman scale it's maybe a 5 because if
we're talking about a perfect Batman
story it needs to be a bit more gothic a
bit more pulp or a Braddock for comic
book II like Gotham City needs to be
more than just Chicago
no one was obsessed with making
everything in Batman's world grounded
and realistic but god damn it
it's not a perfect Batman story if the
Batmobile doesn't have fins so before we
can really get into mass of the phantasm
we have to step back and talk about the
Batman the Animated Series so Batman has
been around since 1939 and in that time
there have been an insane number of
interpretations of the character and
mythology but what a lot of us would
consider the Platonic ideal of Batman
and his world is the early 90s cartoon
originally developed by Bruce Timm and
Erik Radomski
it was the perfect synthesis of every
previous version of Batman Gotham City
was an exaggerated Art Deco nightmare
that felt it came out of the 1940s
everything was draped in heavy shadow as
police blimps floated over a head the
night sky was always blood-red Batman
the entire cast were drawn and clean
immediately iconic designs and matchless
voice actors who sounded exactly like
we'd always imagined the writing had a
maturity and depth that put every other
Saturday morning cartoon to shame like
the 90s spider-man and x-men cartoons do
not hold up but Batman is even better
than you remember after the first season
of the show Warner Brothers asked the
folks making it to make a feature film
and here's where they made some really
interesting
see just about every live-action Batman
movie has followed the same kind of
formula where 1-2-3 Batman villains try
to take over or destroy Gotham City
while Batman fights them and usually
these villains have more
characterization and depth than Batman
himself and are the most interesting
part of the movie but now this
relatively low-budget spin-off of a
kid's cartoon those in flips that
totally on its head delivering a movie
before original more structurally
complex and with greater emotional depth
at any live-action Batman movie like
It's Made influences are Citizen Kane
and Alfred Hitchcock guys this movie
[ __ ] rules mask of the phantasm was
written by Alan Burnett Paul Dini Martin
Pascoe and Michael Reeves and directed
by Bruce Timm and Erik Radomski
who were all the main crew behind the
show they'd already had a year of
practice telling Batman stories so they
used the movie as an opportunity to get
really ambitious and make some bold
decisions the first of these bold
decisions is to create an original
villain something none of the
live-action movies have ever attempted
to do it gives the movie some actual
mystery because we don't already know
everything about this guy going in so at
the start of the movie the phantasm who
looks kind of like the grim reaper is
showing up all over town and murdering
old mobsters
so just kids movie is basically about a
serial killer somehow that got approved
now this is happening around the same
time that a woman named Andre of
Beaumont returns to Gotham City if she
get this beautiful mysterious old
Hollywood style introduction and this
kicks off the extended series of
flashbacks that make up almost half the
movie where Bruce Wayne's in his 20s
he's returned from his travels and
training around the world she knows that
he wants to fight crime but has yet to
make the decision that hey I should do
that while dressed up in a homemade bat
costume now these flashbacks chart the
course of Bruce's romance with andreia
was created specifically for the movie
and in the 78 years that Bruce Wayne and
Batman have been around was going to say
she might be the best love interest he'd
ever had like out of all the other
Batman movies can you really tell me you
cared about the romantic subplots in any
of them I loved the Dark Knight but
Rachel Dawes is not the most compelling
character in that movie when Vicki Vale
told Bruce Wayne that she loved him
since the first time she met him three
days earlier did you really believe her
honestly the only one that really works
is what Selina Kyle and Batman Returns
since in that movie they're both
portrayed as lunatics who get off on
dressing up in black leather and he's in
the comics the only really interesting
love interest are Catwoman and Talia al
Ghul and let's be real he doesn't have a
future with either of them okay a case
could be made for silver st. cloud but I
have to get back on topic what's amazing
about the seams between Bruce and
aundrea is that they feel like real
people with genuine chemistry like the
dialogue actually has wit he'll think it
came out of him Dooley Wilder film what
happened to you trip over some loose
cash it's been three days since we met
and still no calls I figured you must be
dead or something
you expect every guy you meet to call
you the ones that are smart enough to
dial a phone the relationships make
sense you get why they fall in love with
each other but here is where things get
really interesting see this is happening
around the same time that Bruce is
starting his whole crime-fighting thing
and we all know that when Bruce Wayne's
parents were murdered he media vowed to
dedicate the rest of his life to
fighting crime but now he's totally
conflicted he thought the rest of his
life is going to be all about the
mission but then
drag him as the picture and changed
everything and there will be full bold
decisions this one might be the boldest
it's a major retcon of Batman's history
that in my opinion it makes the whole
thing more interesting like there's this
amazing scene where Bruce breaks down at
the grave of his parents that digs
deeper into Bruce Wayne psychology and
then any movie before our senses even
come close to
and no I make a promise but I didn't see
this coming it didn't count on being
happy
seriously how good is that like while
the Nolan movies were really interested
in what Batman represents this movie had
actually interested in who he is
and after this bridge proposes to
Andreas she accepted it seems like he's
actually going to have a happy life
until she suddenly has to leave the
country with her father and tells him to
forget about her and this is where he
decides to become Batman what's amazing
about this is it adds a new layer to the
story were so familiar with even after
the death as parents Bruce had a new
chance to live a happy life but when
that chance was taken away he made the
decision to turn into the darkness and
become Batman like the scene where he
first put on the costume there's nothing
triumphant about it bruiser showed us a
figure entirely in black and Alfred is
horrified we first season in this story
Bruce Wayne's decision to become Batman
is a tragedy I love it it's so good mmm
anyway back to the present the phantasm
is murdering all these old mobsters who
we realized we're the same guys Android
his father was dealing with in the
flashback and Batman is kind of stalking
ondrea's there's now mating the city
councilman who's a huge [ __ ] in
trying to get the police to take down
Batman I think he's the one responsible
for the murders because you know they
look kind of similar also in the
greatest casting ever councilman is
voiced by Hart Bakker the same guy who
played Ellis in die hard times Bobby I'm
your white knight also I never buy
action figures but I love this movie so
much that my sister got me these for my
birthday last year and they are the best
and Batman doesn't talk to Andrea who is
obviously already figured out who he is
because if she's smart and she lays the
thickest burn on him in the history of
Batman movies you still following your
dad's orders the way I see it the only
one in this room controlled by his
parents is you like that line alone is a
better analysis of Batman than all three
hours of Batman V Superman so this one
old mobster this grows to advise buy aim
of a goda who's constantly sucking
oxygen out of a tank he's freaked out
that he's gonna be the next one to
so for help and this is where things get
really good he goes to see the Joker
gasps Oh Sally the weasel Astra and how
cool is it that the most famous villain
of all time is a supporting character
who only shows up halfway through the
movie and as I assume we all know the
Joker from the animated series voiced by
Mark Hamill is probably the best version
of the character ever so yeah even
better than the Jared Leto one and I'm
going to go on the record here and say
that even though he only has about 12
minutes of screen time and mask of the
phantasm this is the best use of the
Joker in any movie and here is a montage
I prepared of him being great now and
rusty can't be too careful with all
those weirdos around I don't know where
you've been
that's it that's what I want to see a
nice big smile and in one movie he gets
two iconic introductions one by using a
tommy gun to shoot the heads up a bunch
of singing animatronic robots and then
this one
tisk tisk and to think our tax money
goes to pay those two he's genuinely
funny and genuinely scary he's totally
out of his mind but his decisions all
makes sense to him and in another one of
the movies very bold moves we see the
Joker before he becomes the Joker this
is the thing that I've always really
ought to use the about like I like the
89 movie but I really don't like how it
gives the Joker a real name and a
definitive origin and makes him the guy
who killed Bruce's parents that Rob's
him of so much mystery but this one
works for me because all it really tells
us is that he was once a creepy
low-level gangster that's it he doesn't
have a real name he doesn't even have a
line of dialogue and since the passage
of time between the flashbacks from the
present is such a key part of the movie
it makes sense to have the Joker play a
role in Bruce non draya's past so this
bill - the big third act reveal that
Andreea is the phantasm and she's
hunting down these old mobsters as
revenge for them killing her father
years earlier so beyond just being a
great love interest she's a twisted
mirror image of Batman they're both
motivated by the murders of their
parents but she has driven entirely by a
vengeance while he's driven by a desire
for justice
I love these toys and a big finale by
far the best finale in any Batman movie
ever takes place at the Gotham World's
Fair and the flashbacks we saw Bruce
Andreya visited at the time it was the
shimmering beacon of hope and optimism
for the future like their relationship
at the time but now it's decayed and in
ruins like their relationship in the
present and plus the Joker is living
there sort of infecting it like a
disease now kids this is what we call
symbolism it's not subtle but it is
effective as hell so Bruce Andreya and
the Joker have their big final showdown
among the ruins of the future that could
have been she's trying to kill the Joker
and he's trying to stop her and save her
soul do the music
see Batman is not the protagonist
yeah he's the main character of the
movie but this is a really on Draya
story about her doomed romance with
Bruce and how her life was consumed by
vengeance this builds to the astounding
climactic moment as the massive series
explosive the Joker has rated detonate
and the entire world Fair is engulfed in
flames
the bombs killing any hope for Bruce
Andre once and for all as Shirley
Walker's magnificent score reaches
operatic Heights and dessert just watch
the clip
so this animated kids movie is the story
of a doomed tragic romance about two
people whose chance for happiness was
destroyed by violence and revenge to
super here on movie with no happy ending
and by the way this movie is only 75
minutes long it does all of this in half
the time with the Dark Knight or The
Dark Knight Rises and still manages a
deeper exploration of Batman's psyche I
promise you if this same script remains
the next live-action Batman movie people
would lose their goddamn minds and
declare the greatest superhero film of
all time
okay so now I'm just going to list a
bunch of my favorite little details
about this movie because there are a lot
way Batman stomps on the table after you
flip it on to that goon Joker hiding in
the model Chrysler Building when the fed
had two murders a guy by dropping this
huge angel shaped tombstone on Bruce's
line - Arthur Reeves thanks for the
handkerchief Arthur you know where you
can stick it basically everything Alfred
says oh by the way I've pressed your
tights and put away your exploding gas
balls yawn the Harvey Bullock as a
uniformed economist one flashback this
close-up of Batman the little moments of
Batman trying to figure out his
crime-fighting identity sal valestra
facial expression right here this shot
of sal after the Joker killed him which
terrified me as a child
you're pretty much every shot of the
world's fair in the finale the jet pack
I love the how it destroyed Batman get
from the scene where the police are
after him there's a tension and
desperation that we never see in Batman
movies and finally the moment where
Joker chooses a stick of Bologna instead
of a knife to use as a weapon
[Music]
anyway I've just been thinking about
this a lot lately
I wanted to get her off my chest and let
you know how I feel Master the phantasm
is the best Batman movie for some reason
still unavailable on blu-ray but here
you guys can borrow my DVD copy that's
all see you later you want to stay for
dinner
sorry I had drinks that entire bottle I
think you did
[Music]
I got it I know what I'm doing and
action
do I have a line I forgot my line no I
just go up okay okay I gotta go I love
it
don't get me is a tree