Review
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall
Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall
Release Date: August 25, 2026 - Digital; September 8, 2026 - 4K, Blu-ray, DVD
"Arkham Asylum has been destroyed! All its inmates have been unleashed upon Gotham City. As Batman races to round up some of his greatest enemies, he is pushed to his physical and mental limits and into a final confrontation with a new threat: the man called Bane!"
"Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall" adapts the first act of the classic 1990s comic book event depicting Batman's stunning defeat and crippling at the hands of then newcomer to his rogues gallery, Bane. It is the first of three movies with the second, Knightquest, releasing later his year and the third, Knightsend, arriving in early 2027.
On first viewing of Part 1, I admit I was a little thrown off by what came off as a sometimes streamlined adaptation then sometimes new take on the first 13 or so issues of the Knightfall comics. I mean, of course it was always going to be a direct-to-video movie that selectively condensed a third of the source material because of the sheer volume of stories to pick from. I was glad Part 1 took the time to flesh out Bane, Azrael, and Robin/Tim Drake in what felt like a subtle anthology format rather than just a straight act 1, 2, 3 format that leads to Batman's crippling defeat. On rewatch, the movie's pace gels more and more with me. The ebbs and flow of here's Azrael, Batman, here's Bane, here's Batman, here's Tim and Jean-Paul, here's Batman vs Bane. The reality of what's going to happen to Batman slowly builds to the crescendo. From near brushes to injuries to exhaustion to sheer horror as Bane overwhelms Batman.
I was surprised how much time was spent in the first half of the movie adapting Bane's back story. Rather than him being a mysterious force of nature that blows into Gotham City with a plan, we're given context to Bane's ideology as we observe his childhood in Pena Duro Prison. How that ideology was drilled into him by his mother, the cruelty of other prisoners and the prison staff, how he survived, and how Gotham City got into his head. While it was initially disappointing Bird, Zombie, or Trogg are yet again omitted in an animated project (the fact they only appeared in the Kite Man animated series is a whole other discussion) the isolation Bane is put through gives the audience a personal, singular focus on his obsession with the idea of "strength" and how that extends to idolizing what Thomas Wayne built. It isn't a totally out of nowhere pull as I believe Scott Peterson had a similar take on Bane and Thomas in the comics. I don't really recall Bane's youth at Pena Duro mattering that much when I read the comics decades ago but what the movie seems to want to do is diverge from the esoteric trappings of Bane's vision quest and place Bane and Batman on a more plausible collision course. The benefit is Bane is a more developed character and he isn't just the two dimensional mustache twirling guest villain of the week. And once Bane's origin story ended, I looked at the run time and was definitely wondering if this movie still as enough room for the lead up to Bane breaking Batman's back.
In contrast, Batman is the more static character and we don't necessarily need a Batman origin story here. Instead, we get a more expedient insight into the version of isolation Batman is going through like some quick sequences of Dick Grayson quitting his partnership with Robin, the death of the second Robin Jason Todd, and keeping the third Robin Tim Drake on a metaphorical leash. Haunted by Jason's death, Batman has become his own prison and isn't operating in healthy manner. But he isn't an entirely lost cause as Alfred threatens him into getting help from Shondra Kinsolving. A character I wasn't sure would appear in these movies, she is given a more substantive role here in challenging Bruce rather than simply being a plot device. Although, they do play her healing powers in a subtle manner in Part 1 and set her up for her role in Part 2. Unfortunately, the constant distraction of recovering Arkham Asylem escapees prevents Batman from coming to terms with his feelings too late and he is easy pickings for Bane, a villain so powerful, intelligent, calculating, and intimidating he didn't dare fight a Batman at one hundred percent for some reason. All in all, Part 1 set up Batman for his defeat by addressing both the physical and mental tolls he had been accumulating and ignoring.
On the topic of the secondary set of villains in the movie, I don't envy the choices screenwriter Jeremy Adams and the producers had to make in deciding who was going to appear in Part 1 and who wasn't and knowing how the fans would react. It's truly a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation. I admit I was thrown by the choice of which escapees got the focus. The Joker was completely skipped over and Scarecrow was relegated to a smaller fight. No Poison Ivy. The big three part Firefly story was whittled down to a minute long aerial spectacle. Ventriloquist's search for Scarface was skipped over for a fight in a store aisle. However, in the battles that took place you can how each fight was very pointed in showing how Batman was slipping and paying for it. Even Catman was surprised he got Batman with a slash. Still I could see some of the omitted being saved for Part 2 and diverging from the source material, Joker likely first appears when there's a new Batman in town. One change that I was unable to resolve was why they changed Batman's week long campaign to capture all the escapees to 2 or 3 days.
I'm glad how well they adapted Tim Drake. This is probably the most 1:1 with the comic book we've seen in animation. Robin got a decent focus: both conveying his issues working with Batman and showing us how he excels when not hampered by Batman. The audience really gets to see how intelligent he is and the detective work he's capable of. Art wise, I liked the choice of how Robin stands out amid the subdued washed city and cast of characters. You really see that red and green still somehow shine in Gotham. The stand out scene for me was when the captured Robin manages to extract information out of Bane and using his surroundings to escape, including his R-rang. Alive. On the flip side, we also see where he needs improvement: the loopholes he finds in the semantics to disobey orders and being too trustful of Jean-Paul and cheering him on which of course will come back to bite him later in this trilogy.
Part 1 did a good job of introducing Azrael and making him sympathetic to the audience after a brutal debut. You certainly want to feel for him as he struggles with control and trying to remember his past but you can't forget about the other side of him that takes out bad guys unrestrained and with definitely not normal peak physical prowess. Part 1 is more about Bane's origins and while Azrael is well introduced, we are still left with the mystery of his past. It feels like a given we will have in-depth origin story for Azrael in Part 2 on the level of what Bane got here in Part 1.
The voice cast was excellent. Anson Mount's second go as Batman was well done. It was definite improvement over his performance in Injustice. Whether it was time, better direction, this being a Batman movie or whatever the case, Mount brought his A-game to Knightfall. Michael Mando was great Bane as well. Mando brought the gravitas needed to give audiences a Bane that wasn't just some bruiser with half a brain. Toks Olagundoye gave a reserved but no nonsense Shondra Kinsolving with a subtle sense she had her own secrets. Simon Templeman and Bruce Boxleitner did spot on takes on Alfred Pennyworth and Jim Gordon respectively. I dig Boxleitner gave Jim a bit of a subtle accent. Pablo Schreiber did a great job conveying Jean-Paul's inner turmoil and struggle. I can't wait to see his turn in the rest of the trilogy.
The art style may work for some and may not work for others. Knightfall featured a lot of artists so it's no surprise many will have their preferences. If the movie is your entry into Knightfall, you'll be fine with them taking cues from Kelly Jones and sticking to a 90s vibe down to the Batmobile and Batman's pointy shoulders. Studio Mir finally hit one out of the park with some great animation quality after a couple years of meandering quality The overall art direction was amazing: very atmospheric and moody. It's a vast improvement over the past couple of direct-to-video DC animated movie releases. The score certainly matched the visuals. It pays the price of admission with just once scene in particular evoking the dread along with the visual horror of Bane forcing his way into the Batcave and taking down the wounded and exhausted Batman.
Part 1 comes with two special features total. "Breaking the Bat: Adapting the Knightfall" goes into the making of the movie with members of the cast and crew along with DC archivist Benjamin Le Clear and DC Comics veteran Mike Carlin. Finished footage, production art, voice recording, and storyboard animatics along with comic book panels from the Knightfall event are interspersed with the talking heads. The conversations starts from the crew talking about making the version of Knightfall they grew up reading and evoking the 1990s, adapting Kelley Jones' art style from the pointy distorted features to the dark inking, taking influence from the Sword of Azrael comics for Azrael, the interplay of Azrael being a critique of '90s superheroes and an attempt to make an over the top version of Batman amid the character conflict of a young man trying to figure himself out and acting like a guy possessed by a demon. The featurette then shifts to the role Batman's Rogues Gallery makes as vignettes and to exhaust Batman thematically. It ends on discussion about Bane being the apotheosis of 1980s action movies and how the comics had to make a bigger than life monster. The crew comments on spending a lot of time with Bane and address how tragic his youth was and how he was formed by his childhood like Batman. They also delve into making sure they showed how intelligent and calculating he is. The featurette ends on the crew ruminating how how hard a task it would be to adapt a comic book storyline that ran for about two years. It runs 10 minutes and 17 seconds.
"Batman Needs Robin" delves into the history and role of Robin with a focus on Tim Drake. It is also a collection of finished footage, comic book panels, and talking heads. The production crew likens Robin to the angel on Batman's shoulders making sure he doesn't become someone like Azrael. The featurette then talks about Dick Grayson, the first Robin, and how he moved on to a solo career as Nightwing, showing a passage of time in the comics. Next up is the second Robin, Jason Todd, who was not well liked coming after the extremely popular Dick Grayson and how it culminated in fans voting for his death by dialing a 1-800 number. It's then noted how Jason's death shifted gears in the comics, allowing for the possibility for bad things to happen and for Batman, it was his ultimate failure and he starts to overdo it which takes him to a low point by the time of the Knightfall event. Last but not least, the featurette concludes with the third Robin, Tim Drake, who starts in the Knightfall event. The talking heads reflect on how he was embraced by comic book fans because of his fresh personality, how clearly different he was from Dick and Jason, and he was his own person. They also tout Tim as the moral compass of Knightfall – seeing his mettle as a sidekick, finding important clues, and figuring out Bane was the big threat. The featurette ends on the statement that Robin is a governor on the extremes of Batman. It has a run time of 7 minutes, 2 seconds.
It is unfortunate to feel relief that Part 1 came with two special features but that's where we're at. Per usual, I was disappointed there was no commentary track. The two special features were just bare minimum and sufficient enough to inform the uninitiated and those who haven't read Knightfall in a long time (and aren't crazy enough to do a re-read). Overall, it was okay but on the flip side, it was too broad. It was disappointing to not see the production crew go in depth into what went into deciding on what to omit and not adapt, deciding on which art style to adapt, what almost got in, what got cut, were there any big debates amid the crew in crafting the story, the reasoning in moving some out of chronological order, or adding in something new like Bane's reason for going after Batman. I also miss those slide shows special features used to have with production art. Wish there was more. Wish we still had the 4K / Blu-ray combo editions.
"Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall" adapts from one of the biggest comic book events from the 1990s and chooses to both honor the source material and do its own spin on the story for the direct-to-video movie format. The movie excels with its core cast of characters, presenting them fully formed and with their struggles. While some fans may not agree with certain omissions or rearranging from the source material, a complete polished story was told. The release could have used more special features but with the current trend in movie releases, we get what we get. "Batman: Knightfall Part 1: Knightfall" released on digital this past Tuesday on August 25 and releases on 4K/Blu-ray/DVD on September 8, 2026. Highly recommended purchase.
Rating
Main Feature: 4 out of 5
Special Features: 2 out of 5
Average Rating: 3 out of 5