Gotham by Gaslight Pushes the Best Victoriana Buttons

You’ve seen Batman in a million different ways over the years and now we have Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, an all new steampunk rendition of timeless characters set in the 19th century.

I went in completely blind, not having read the graphic novel. Outside the fact of it being a steampunk film, which immediately excited me, I had no idea what the premise would be. Discovering that the story was about the famed Jack the Ripper with our beloved Bruce Wayne basically playing the role of Sherlock Holmes was one of the best stories to happen in the Batman franchise. If I can say one thing about this film it’s that Batman should’ve always been steampunk!

The film takes place in a Victorian setting and gives a sense of Bruce Wayne that many fans have been looking for: his true humanity. Usually we see Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne but here we see the opposite. It’s not said in the film just when he became the Batman but you get the impression that it’s new to him. It was very refreshing to see that with the help of Alfred (who is even more sassy in Victorian London), Selina and a couple of orphans that Bruce opened up much more over the span of 75 minutes than in most other much longer story lines.

One of my favorite quirks was Batman’s gadgets. Everyone knows one of the best parts of steampunk is the machinery and trinkets and there is no better superhero to put in a steampunk film than Batman and all his gadgets. While we don’t see many, we do get a good dose of the classics like his grapple gun and his signature batarangs. His lair, while dark, is anything but the glorious bat cave we all know it to be but was still perfectly conveyed. Hoping that the film does well enough for a second, I’m sure we’ll see more inventions and a bigger lair in the future.

Character development was on point in Gotham By Gaslight. While most know Bruce’s story going in, we get to see other characters like Selina and Commissioner Gordon’s stories unfold and take new twists and turns that really gave the whole thing a classic Sherlock feel to it. Like so many franchises have done before, it essentially felt as if one universe had been dropped into another. You get to see side and supporting characters slip into roles that fit them perfectly but that you wouldn’t have thought twice about on a normal day.

DC tends to take a darker turn with it’s films so it’s no surprise that the movie received an ‘R’ rating. While it’s not an all-out gore fest, it does have some suggestive context but overall is perfect for the audience it’s geared toward.

All in all, this is a film you wouldn’t want to miss out on. It’s beautifully done and gives nostalgic vibes while also giving the Batman franchise a little something different that fits the story wonderfully.