Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Review

Few animated movies are made in a way which makes them interesting for adults as well as children - even fewer Batman animated features can claim that. “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” is one of those cases (“Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker” would be another). Produced by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, the creators of “Batman: The Animated Series” (BTAS), the movie fits into the animated series, but can also easily be watched as a standalone. It also got a theatrical release, which does say quite a lot, about the movie as well as about the series. Patrick (H) Willems has done a very good video on the movie (so I could spare myself the trouble and just ask you to watch it).

First of all, the movie has two story arcs which only blend into each other once Batman (greatest detective, remember?) puts together the pieces and realizes what it all is about in the present story arc. The past story arc, which is kicked off with the arrival of Andrea Beaumont, an old flame of Bruce Wayne, tells us something about the very early days of Bruce the vigilante - so early, in fact, that he wasn’t even Batman then, he was a guy prowling the night in a balaclava and a leather jacket.

The present story arc introduces a completely new villain, something which, so far, no Batman live-action movie has dared to do. The Phantasm has come to Gotham, it seems, to kill a host of old mob bosses. At first glance, the Phantasm resembles Batman - black and grey clothing? check; long, billowing cloak? check; dark voice from beyond the grave? you bet - but clearly is not Batman, because Batman doesn’t kill. But, as BTAS’ Batman is a vigilante and hunted by the police, the kills of the Phantasm are blamed on him, forcing him to investigate this and get to the bottom of it. And at this time, his big love from years earlier comes back to town and, for a moment, there seems to be a slight chance that Andrea and Bruce might start it off again.

The way those flashbacks are woven into the present timeline with the Phantasm chasing those mob bosses and Batman chasing the Phantasm is perfectly done, introducing us to the relationship between Andrea and Bruce through a series of vignettes which don’t show the usual, quick romance, but instead true chemistry. It’s not hard to imagine Bruce settling down with Andrea, filling Wayne Manor with the pitter-patter of little feet over time, instead of dark shadows and even darker memories. It would nip Batman’s career in the bud, because so far, Bruce Wayne is not yet Batman, but it would certainly serve to make Bruce a much happier man.

As you can see from the fact that Batman exists in the present story arc, though, it’s obvious that the romance didn’t pan out. Was it Bruce’s fault? No, after a heart-wrenching scene on the graveyard, where he begs his parents for forgiveness for giving up on his oath, he presents Andrea with an engagement ring and she accepts it. Was it Andrea’s fault, then? No, even though she runs away, she doesn’t run away from Bruce, but from the mob. From the very same mob bosses the Phantasm is going for, as it were.

See a connection there? Of course you do, because (drum roll) Andrea is the Phantasm. That threw you off? Bruce didn’t fare much better.

Another thing the movie does wonderfully is making the Joker, Batman’s arch nemesis and #1 villain, a side character. One of the mob bosses goes to the Joker for protection (which doesn’t work out as expected, but what do you expect when you go to a criminally insane man who dresses up like the Joker for help?) and that brings the Joker into the mix for the final confrontation. According to Patrick Willems, the Joker only has about 12 minutes in the whole movie (I haven’t stopped times myself, but Patrick is reliable) and fully uses them without in any way overshadowing Andrea’s Phantasm. He even appears in the past story arc, but only as a low-level gangster. Seeing the Joker in a criminal gang is not a surprise and it doesn’t tell us anything about how that guy became the Joker, which is good - the Joker should stay a mystery, it goes better with his anarchic stance. In the big fight, the Joker is hunter and hunted at the same time - the same as Andrea and Bruce -, but he’s not the main person in it.

What makes “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” such a great movie, is that it shows us a side of Bruce we haven’t seen before - Bruce on his knees in front of the gravestone of his parents in heavy rain, begging them for forgiveness, because he didn’t foresee such happiness as with Andrea when he made his oath (and, very much like Alfred in the movie, I think they would have forgiven him). It shows us the beginnings of Batman, the time when Bruce knew what he wanted to do, but not yet knew how he was going to do it - he designs and for the first time dons his costume at the end of the past story arc, after Andrea left him and he has returned to the oath and his destiny.

What also makes it such a great movie is how it plays the Phantasm against Batman, going so far as to have the police, understandably at that, first think that they are one and the same. I’m not quite sure how they got a serial killer story (for nothing else is what the Phantasm is) past the upper echelons to make this movie, but they have made it extremely well. The Phantasm doesn’t only kill with the scythe-like weapon on its right arm, but also with other means available - such as a heavy angel statue on the graveyard. Andrea wants those men dead, the way they die doesn’t matter, but she wants to do it herself. She’s been destroyed by vengeance - which is a fate Bruce could have shared, had he not made justice his real goal.

The moment Batman confronts the Phantasm and she unmasks herself, the mirror is clear - those two people who almost got married, who had such great chemistry, who seemed so destined to be together, are very much like each other. But one managed to stay ahead of their thirst for revenge and one didn’t. Batman prowls the night streets so others don’t have to suffer the same fate he has suffered. The Phantasm goes after retired mob bosses to avenge the death of her father (who was killed after they left Gotham). Her revenge has no effect on Gotham’s criminal underworld, she’s not going after men who are still doing regular damage.

For its length (a little over 70 minutes) and its limitations as an animated feature film based on a TV series for children (although BTAS was never only for children), “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” does a fantastic job - a much better one than many live-action Batman movies. If you can find it somewhere or see it broadcasted on a station you can watch, I’d suggest you give it a go. The movie is fun, the voice-acting is perfect (the team Conroy and Hamill at its best), and the style is fitting and ageless.