According to The Batman writer/director Matt Reeves, next year's film will be an intensely personal story, showing us a flawed, human side to Bruce Wayne as he struggles to establish himself as a force for good in Gotham City. Based on that atmospheric first trailer, and early reports that the movie is a slow-burning detective story with a film noir feel, I'm excited to see it. I also think Robert Pattinson was born for the role. But there's already a great film out there, that you can watch right now, about the Dark Knight's early days as a crimefighter, and the emotional toll being the Batman takes on the troubled, complex man beneath the cowl.
Released in 1993, Mask of the Phantasm is a feature length spin-off from the critically acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series. The film was released theatrically, but it struggled at the box office. Warner Bros. released it in theatres at the last minute on Christmas Day, against the likes of Schindler's List and Philadelphia, and it struggled to find an audience. However, after a belated glowing review from influential TV film critics Siskel and Ebert, and a home video release, the movie soon found the audience it deserved—and is now widely considered to be one of the greatest Batman stories ever told, in any medium.
Mask of the Phantasm was inspired by Mike W. Barr's Batman: Year Two comic series—an early period in Batman's career that is also the focus of The Batman. It's the story of the mysterious Phantasm, a masked vigilante who is mistaken for Batman as they go on a rampage around Gotham, brutally murdering high-ranking mobsters. Half of the film is about the city turning on Batman as he tracks down the killer Phantasm. The other half, largely told in flashback, is about Bruce Wayne meeting a young, intriguing woman named Andrea Beaumont, and how their relationship, in a roundabout way, leads to him becoming Batman.
Set in the same gorgeously realised, Art D🅘eco-inspired Gotham City from The Animated Series, the action is brilliantly choreographed, the story is intricately plotted, and the voice performances are excellent. But the other half of the story, where Wayne builds a relationship with Beaumont while simultaneously figuring out how to become a crimefighter, is the beating heart of the film. We see an inexperienced, pre-costume Batman making his first steps into his new night-time career—as well as later glimpses of him struggling to settle into this challenging new role. At the same time, he falls in love with Beaumont and eventually proposes to her.
The writing is delicate and emotionally mature, and we see a vulnerable, sensitive side to Wayne as things take an unexpected turn and he ends up heartbroken. Mask of the Phantasm has everything you want from a Batman story—a great mystery, an appearance from the Joker, fights, car chases, and lots of gorgeously framed shots of the Dark Knight gliding through the shadows of Gotham. But it works on a deeper level too, inviting us inside Bruce Wayne's mind and revealing the fragile, sensitive soul that his love for Andrea Beaumont managed to uncover.
It's simply one of the best Batman movies ever made, and The Batman will have to work really hard to better it. As good as the Christopher Nolan films are, I always felt like the character of Bruce Wayne could have been explored a little more deeply. This is one area where Mask of the Phantasm really stands out, and I hope The Batman follows suit next year. The Batman is set for release on March 4, 2022, but Mask of the Phantasm is available now on various streaming platforms, as well as on Blu-ray. So if you haven't seen it, now's the perfect time to witness this tragic and heartbreaking chapter of Batman's storied life.
