Batman: Mask of the Phantasm 4K 1993 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

A new crime fighter appears in Gotham - Phantasm, who, unlike Batman, simply kills criminals. Mafia bosses Chuckie Saul and Buzz Bronsky - members of the old gang, which had been operating in the city before the Bat-Man appeared, die at his hand. The leader of the gang was Salvatore Valestra, and he is Fantasmus' next target. Following the killer's trail, Batman comes to the conclusion that he is connected with events from his past.

Review 4K Movie

Meaningful Step
Any series sooner or later goes to "full meter" - "Star Trek", "Mission: Impossible", "24"... No wonder that and to animated series their authors shoot full-length sequels. True, with varying success - one thing to remove a half-hour story, another thing - to come up with a story for a longer duration.
Bruce W. Timm and Eric Radomski - authors of one of the most important projects in the "Batman" - franchise, the animated series "Batman: The Animated Series" - managed to make such a cartoon that it was even shown in theaters. Is it deserved?

I AM THE NIGHT!
While on another crime spree, the Dark Knight encounters a strange subject. He behaves very Batman-like, with only one exception - he kills villains. At the same time, all his murders the police and the mafia in absentia "hang" on the alter ego of Bruce Wayne. After some investigation, Wayne comes to the conclusion that Phantasm (that's the name of another Avenger according to the mythology of the comics) has something to do with his own past...
The animated series about Batman began to be released in 1992 and almost immediately declined in popularity, despite the weak animation and free handling of the chronology of the series (they showed them not in the order of production). In 1993, Tim and Radomski's creation had already become legendary in absentia, and the appearance of a full-length sequel was a foregone conclusion. The leading actors of the series were called in, its screenwriters wrote the script, and the directors' seats were occupied by the creators of "Animated Series" themselves.
It must be said, the efforts were not wasted. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" turned out to be an interesting, dynamic and dramatic movie, which does not even want to attach the word "cartoon". It is good from the first to the last frames. The action starts surprisingly fast, the violence is quite decent (there are corpses and murders), and the script and actors' work are beyond competition. This full-length movie even wants to be considered as a movie series about Man-Bat.
Alan Burnett substantially remade the original comic book, but it did not affect the logic of the movie, not at all. The movie is a fascinating detective story that often has surprises. The screenwriters avoided many stamps of "Bat-stories", although some scenes the audience could see in the animated series and experience "déjà vu".
Plus, the movie highlighted the first years of Batman's life - showed how Bruce started to "work", invented a new version of the moment of choosing the Dark Knight's symbol (which even Frank Miller didn't encroach on in his Bat-comics "Year One") ... In many ways "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" even resembles Christopher Nolan's later movie "Batman: The Beginning", only ... The love line in "Mask" is much stronger and more touching. Yes, yes, we are shown a lovesick and doubting Wayne, and his love affair with Ms. Beaumont is truly touching. It is well written and presented - there are no questions left, and you can't find sweetness by day. The other thing is that the movie is overloaded with flashbacks. There are so many of them that it would take about 20 minutes, if not more. And the duration of the whole "Mask of the Phantasm" is only 78 minutes. But these flashbacks are woven into the action very organically, and they create complete images of the main characters.
"And the action? Did Timm and Burnett write a soap opera?" you ask. There is action, and it's very well filmed. It starts from the first minutes. There are not too many action sequences, but the staging is top-notch (and one moment repeats a scene from the 1988 anime Akira), and 'Batman' is not a super-mega-action movie, but a detective story.
In short, Alan Burnett and Paul Dini didn't drop the honor of the series, writing a great 'script' and spicing it up with great atmosphere, in the best traditions of the Bat-saga.

Luke?!
Sound plays a big part in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. And they've done it appropriately, that is, perfectly. Shirley Walker's music is very beautiful, pathos (in a good way) and tragic. It perfectly conveys the mood of the picture. And the composition that plays in the closing credits ('I Never Even Told You', sung by Tia Carrere, formerly a famous actress) fits so well to the finale that you realize - music has great power....
The characters were voiced just first class. Kevin Calroy perfectly coped with the role of Wayne\ Batman, Dana Delaney perfectly played a strong and strong-willed, but loving and understanding woman, and Mark Hamill as the Joker, as always, peerless. Oh, and the rest of the cast keeps up. They play their voices so well that their characters with other voicing are not perceived at all.
Animation turned out to be very nice, high-budget. Compare with the original animated series does not even want to - so great a difference. The style of drawing has not really changed, they added only beautiful effects and increased the frame rate. It turned out amazingly beautiful.

The Batman saga is a phenomenon. And expectations from its movie adaptation are always high. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" justifies them to the fullest. For the author of this article remains a mystery, why this cartoon (certainly not stupid and talented) failed at the box office. But, in fact, it does not matter. The main thing that before us - a sample of a beautiful full-length continuation of the famous series. And not every show can do that.