After the successful animated TV series, Batman would spin off three stand-alone films. One I have already reviewed on here (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm if you wish to view it), and the other will be another time. Today I want to focus on the one after the series ended. Mystery of the Batwoman, released on DVD in 2003, left fans with mixed feelings, but my brother and I thought this was a pretty good mystery superhero film. As always spoilers will be ahead. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.
With Batgirl/Barbara Gordon (Tara Strong) away at school Batman/Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and Robin/Tim Drake (Eli Marienthal) have Gotham to themselves, or so they thought. A new hero, named Batwoman (Kyra Sedgwick) by the press, emerges. She begins targeting illegal weapon shipments by three of Gotham’s crime bosses: The Penguin (David Ogden Stiers), Rupert Thorne (John Vernon) and gangster Carlton Duquesne (Kevin Michael Richardson). However if you think Batwoman is on Batman’s side you are mistaken. She has no problem taking out any and every one in her way of stopping the three villains; which makes finding out who she is Batman’s priority. As both Batman and Bruce Wayne he meets three potential Batwomen all with motives against Penguin, Thorne and Duquesne: Detective Sonya Alcana (Elisa Gabrielli), the newest member on Commissioner Gordon’s (Bob Hastings) force, Bullock’s (Robert Costanzo) partner and whose family lost their business thanks to Thorne but was never charged due to lack of evidence, Roxanne “Rocky” Ballantine (Kelly Ripa), a brilliant new employee of Wayne Tech whose fiancé is in jail thanks to a set-up from Penguin and Kathy Duquesne (Kimberly Brooks) and finally Carlton’s daughter whose mother was killed because of Duquesne’s criminal connections (Bruce also becomes attracted to her.) However any connection Batman seems to find proving one of them is Batwoman gets proven otherwise. To make matters worse Penguin and Thorne, against Carlton’s wishes, bring in Bane (Héctor Elizondo) to handle their Batwoman problem. About as far as I should go without giving away the film.
I will admit that this film is not as good as the previous Batman direct to DVD films, but I still enjoyed it. I like a good mystery and this one was actually hard to figure out for a while. It was good to see old villains in Penguin, Thorne and Bane while creating interesting new characters in Carlton, Kathy, Rocky and Sonya. I thought the voice casting was pretty spot on; writing wasn’t great but not bad. Overall it was not a bad Batman movie. I think if you liked the animated series this might be good for you to watch, but if you are not really into superheroes or are just getting started save this film for much later.
Films or Television Worth Watching 