Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two concludes the animated adaptation of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's acclaimed graphic novel, picking up immediately after the holiday killings have claimed more victims in Gotham City. The film excels in its atmospheric presentation, with the animation style faithfully capturing Sale's distinctive character designs—elongated figures, expressive shadows, and a noir-influenced color palette that evokes 1940s crime cinema. While Naya Rivera's last performance as Catwoman offers real sadness and sexual tension, the voice cast—led by Jensen Ackles as a young, still-developing Batman—delivers nuanced portrayals that prioritize Bruce Wayne's detective abilities above his combat prowess. In order to create a satisfyingly complex web of corruption and vengeance that honors its source material's reputation as one of Batman's definitive stories, the story skillfully ties together multiple plot threads involving the Falcone crime family, Harvey Dent's tragic transformation into Two-Face, and the mystery surrounding Holiday's identity.

The movie, however, suffers from the pacing problems that come with dividing the story into two sections: in order to get to its prearranged ending, this second segment rushes past important character moments, especially Dent's psychological collapse. The action scenes lack the fluidity of higher-budget DC animated blockbusters, and the animation, albeit being artistically authentic, sometimes suffers from rigid movement and limited facial expressions that undermine emotional moments. Condensed to film length, the mystery elements that were so captivating in the monthly structure of the graphic novel lose some of their effectiveness, with some plot twists and red herrings looking more forced than natural. Additionally, the film's fidelity to the source material means it inherits some of the original story's more dated elements, including underdeveloped female characters and a third act reveal that, while shocking, doesn't entirely hold up to logical scrutiny. While Part Two provides closure for viewers invested in this interpretation of early Batman lore, its structural compromises and uneven execution prevent it from transcending its direct-to-video constraints to become the definitive cinematic version of this classic story.

Staff:

Directed by: Chris Palmer

Written by: Tim Sheridan

Based on:  Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

Produced by: Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau

Starring: Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, and Naya Rivera.

Edited by: John Soares

Music by: Michael Gatt

Production companies: Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment

Distributed by: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Release date: July 27, 2021

Running time: 87 minutes