“Batman: The Long Halloween – Part Two” Blu-ray Review

In Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2 Gotham city is painted with a blood-soaked brush, culminating in a dance of villains, mystery, and some startling revelations. The Long Halloween Part I left us wondering about Holiday’s identity. We get our answer and more in Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free Blu-ray copy of Batman: The Long Halloween – Part Two for review. The opinions I have shared are my own. 

Warning: This review contains major spoilers. You have been warned!

I feel as though Part II just improved everything from its predecessor. Can we take a moment to appreciate the art style and the beautiful visuals? The beginning of the film with the shot of Wayne Manor sitting atop a hill as the sun begins to set. Bruce’s study being completely shrouded in darkness and vines, from Poison Ivy. The Scarecrow riding atop his horse, galloping away from Arkham Asylum. Scarecrow using his fear toxin on Batman and the hellish nightmare that seeps into Bruce’s mind. The artistic choices are breathtaking, eerie, and just so… Gotham. Everything looks stunning on the Blu-ray presentation.

The film itself paces relatively well. Harvey Dent and James Gordon seek out Batman after the New Year attack, but to no avail, because Poison Ivy has overtaken Wayne Manor with both Bruce and Alfred under her mind control. She’s busy manipulating Bruce into handing over his assets to Carmine Falcone. As the months pass without any Batman sightings, our mysterious serial killer Holiday is hard at work, making moves against Falcone. All the while, Scarecrow and Mad Hatter cause mischief. Thankfully, Catwoman comes to save Bruce (and his assets) from the clutches of Poison Ivy.

Tensions continue to rise as the mafia feud between the Falcone empire and the Maroni family rages on. There’s a whole lot of mistrust going around and Harvey Dent gets involved after Sal makes a plan with him. I liked how trusting Sal is what causes Harvey to embrace himself as the iconic Two-Face. I felt sorry for Harvey, but every Batman fan knows his fate is sealed whenever he shows up in a story.

Selina also gets more involved with what’s happening to and around Carmine Falcone. The writers did a good job of making the viewers wonder about her intentions. The answer is handled quite well, in my opinion.

Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2 is all about raising the stakes. No one knows how to stop Holiday. Numerous villains (including the Joker and Solomon Grundy) decide to team up to go after Carmine. It is chaos everywhere. The action sequence during the finale is well-choreographed as Batman and Catwoman tag-team to take down a handful of powerful villains.

With Two-Face being able to kill Carmine, the hierarchy of the reigning mafia family is thrown into a downward spiral, leaving the future of Gotham’s criminal world uncertain. We also get the reveal about Carmine being Selina’s father, making her the heir to Gotham’s mafia empire. But knowing the version of Selina being shown in this animated film, it made sense for her to forge her own path as Catwoman.

The reveal about Holiday’s identity and how Harvey’s wife Gilda was treated is likely going to give rise to varying opinions. Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2 made certain bold changes when adapting the iconic comic book. The film’s creative team opted to turn Gilda into a scorned lover who used to be with Alberto Falcone when the two studied at Oxford. However, they couldn’t stay together because of Carmine. Gilda even lost her unborn child in the process. She then decided to marry Harvey to help take down the Falcone empire in Gotham. But when things weren’t moving as fast as she had hoped, Gilda took it upon herself to murder people by turning into Holiday. It’s not the most original motivation you can give to a fictional woman, but what’s done is done.

The core narrative theme is about family and figuring out your identity. There’s also a lot of talk about judging children for what their parents did or judging entire families for what certain relatives did. When looked at from that angle, it can be argued that Gilda’s arc fits with what this movie’s going for.

All loose ends are wrapped up nicely. The narrative could have been better, but I think most Batman fans, even casual ones, will enjoy what The Long Halloween Part 1 and Part 2 have to offer. In a sense, the second part of The Long Halloween also works as a standalone movie.

Batman: The Long Halloween – Part Two – Special Features

• Blu-ray and Digital
  • DC Showcase – Blue Beetle (New Animated Short) – Approx. 16 minutes long, this animated short featuring Blue Beetle is quite comedic, showcasing the character in a version you might expect to see when watching a 1960s Saturday-morning limited-animation cartoon. It has Ted Kord/Blue Beetle teaming up with Captain Atom, The Question, and Nightshade to battle that “nefarious finagler of feelings”, Doctor Spectro.
  • A Sneak Peek at the next DC Animated Movie – Approx. 8 minutes long, you get some cool content previewing the highly-anticipated Injustice animated movie. There’s concept art, quotes from some of the cast, the screenwriter, rough animation, and so much more!
  • DC Universe Movies Flashback
    • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
    • Batman: Hush
  • From the DC Vault
    • Batman: The Animated Series – “Two-Face, Part 1”
    • Batman: The Animated Series – “Two-Face, Part 2”

Batman: The Long Halloween Part 1 and Part 2 is successful at offering fans an intriguing murder mystery surrounded by the inner workings of Gotham’s mafia. It has action, romance, twists, and turns.

Released on Digital on July 27, 2021, it was made available on Blu-ray today (August 10, 2021). Take note; in 2022, the second part of Batman: The Long Halloween will be available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack as a combined film presentation with Batman: The Long Halloween – Part One.

Have you watched Batman: The Long Halloween – Part Two?

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

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(This review has been written in collaboration with Farid-ul-Haq.)

Author: Micah Carrillo

Micah is studying English and Digital Design. His love of geek culture spans across diverse mediums and genres. Comics, anime, films, you name it! He enjoys video games on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox.

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