‘Batman Knightfall: Part 1 – Knightfall’ Review: Bane At His Most Brutal

The first DC Animated Universe Original Movie since 2024’s Watchmen Chapter II, Batman Knightfall: Part 1 – Knightfall is the latest from DC Animation and DC Studios. Debuting earlier this year at the Annecy Animation Festival, Jeff Wamester’s adaptation of the legendary 1994 comic run tackles one of the heaviest Batman stories and surprisingly… it delivers.

Jeff Wamester has a shaky at best history when it comes to developing good DCAUOM films, with 2021’s Justice Society: World War II remaining his best work, miles ahead of failures such as Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Parts One through Three), Justice League: Warworld, and the ever-infamous Green Lantern: Beware My Power. So when Knightfall was announced, I could not really find it in myself to care about the project.

Arkham Asylum has been destroyed, and 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! 

Based on the iconic DC comic book event, Batman: Knightfall – Part 1: Knightfall tells the story of the breaking of the Bat.

Today I sat down and watched the ~80-minute film and was genuinely surprised at what I found myself watching. It starts off weak with a contrived origin story for Bane, detailing the death of his mother and his experimentation with venom, then it instantly improves, showing Bruce Wayne attending therapy after dealing with burnout and suffering at the hands of a ravenous Gotham. Things are made worse when Bane shows up, destroying Arkham Asylum and crippling the police force, all to get to Batman, and get to him he does.

It comes as no surprise that Bane breaks Batman’s back as a finishing move, something that was already adapted by Christopher Nolan to cap his The Dark Knight trilogy, but it’s the sheer brutality that comes across as bewildering. The brutality comes from the groundedness of the film, this is an agile Batman who is already weary of his surroundings, so much so that he has breakdowns, and as well as the built trauma of losing Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, a trauma he has tried to patch with the help of Tim Drake and pouring his heart into his work rather than his mental health. Bane versus Batman isn’t just a physical destruction but a mental one too, and that’s what makes it incredibly effective filmmaking.

The worldbuilding in this film is quite good as well, with a well built and well cast Rogues Gallery, featuring Jason Flemyng as Mad Hatter, Michael Mando as Bane, David Dastmalchian as Riddler, and a still developing Azrael. The references to the past Robins too helps the worldbuilding, giving this world a history that further grounds it. For 80 minutes, this movie does not sit with anything for long at all, moving from one thing to another at what is a very fast pace.

With how grounded, brutal, and realistic Batman Knightfall: Part 1 – Knightfall is the best DC animated film since The Lego Batman Movie and once the story has been fully told, could even surpass that movie. Through strong storytelling, Knightfall is a compelling tale of dedication, grief, and burnout.

Batman Knightfall: Part 1 – Knightfall is directed by Jeff Wamester and stars Anson Mount as Batman, Michael Mando as Bane, David Dastmalchian as Riddler, Jason Flemyng as Mad Hatter, and Pablo Schreiber as Azrael. The film was released straight to digital and PVOD services.

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