Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

With Christopher Nolan's triumphant revival of the Batman mythos, any attempt to add to the legend will inevitably be compared. Gotham Knight consists of six short, anime-style stories built around Nolan's films, but the link between the shorts and the films is so slim as to be irksome. Rather, these more closely resemble severely shortened episodes of the ongoing cartoon series. It doesn't help that the whole thing starts off on an extended weak note. The first two films are fairly disposable, nothing special. The third is decent. It isn't until the half-way mark that anything resembling real content starts to show up, but by the last short there's not a lot of quality left. The lasting impression is one of being underwhelmed. There are impressive moments, specifically the fourth and fifth stories, but as a whole there's just nothing here that can stack up to the real thing. If you're a diehard who just has to have as much Batman as is out there, go knock yourself out. Otherwise this is definitely not required viewing.

6 out of 10.