Gothamite
Well-Known Member
I remember the comic seeming more like an overall DCU story; its sole purpose being an example of one of the ramifications of Superboy Prime punching walls and a way that they could continue the idea of Jason Todd coming back to life by having him actually come back to life instead of just hinting at it the way they did in Hush. It wasn't memorable and didn't really feel like much of a story.
This movie was far, far superior and I'm surprised that it even had the same writer. The movie does sacrifice "The Death of a Family" story though, it must be said. In that story, Robin died because he put too much trust in someone he barely knew and he disobeyed Batman's direct order. In this movie, he just dies because he correctly follows the Joker out of a warehouse and the Joker (I guess?) kidnaps him and brings him to another warehouse.
Anyway, the first 40 minutes or so of this movie was standard fare. As with the other DCU movies, the action is outstanding and better than any of the action in the traditional, televised DCAU. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot more substance than that. We're told that there is, but I just never really felt any heart in it. A large part of the problem is because there's just no character in any of the designs. They're all beautiful and cool-looking, but there's no life in them the way there was in Batman The Animated Series. It also annoys me how little blood and gore there is in this, compared to other DCU movies. As Random said, Robin's death would have been a lot more impacting if they'd actually allowed him to bleed a bit more.
It's the second part of this (surprisingly and thankfully longer than usual) movie that really shines. Thanks to the excellent script, we get inside the heads of Batman, Jason Todd and even Alfred to an extent. The Joker is a trifle underused, but he's effective enough. The climactic scene involving Batman, the Red Hood, the Joker, two guns and a bomb is excellent, truly excellent. Although it basically deals with the exact same issues as the similar ending in Mask of the Phantasm (the ethics of killing the Joker), it's arguably more effective thanks to the thoroughness of the script. Again, I would have appreciated more violence (it would have been nice to see the Red Hood shoot the Joker in a few non-lethal areas before the end), but the scene was still magnificent.
The voice-acting was okay, overall. Bruce Greenwood was good, but sounded too much like Kevin Conroy, who should have been in this. Joe DiMaggio was good, but sounded too much like Mark Hamill, who should have been in this. NPH was okay as Nightwing, who was annoyingly portrayed completely contrary to the way he usually is (he's basically Spider-Man in this). Jensen Ackles was great as The Red Hood, though. I was a little bit miffed that he didn't use his raspy, Dean Winchester voice as much as he could have, but it didn't take away too much from his performance. He was given plenty to do (again, unusual in these films) and he really stepped up, combining humour and menace.
So, all-in-all, a great Batman film. The design could have been better and Nightwing need not have even been in it, but aside from that, it was terrific. Not sure if I'd call it the best DCU movie (I think that honour still goes to Wonder Woman), but it's certainly up there. Keep using Jensen Ackles for these things, please.
This movie was far, far superior and I'm surprised that it even had the same writer. The movie does sacrifice "The Death of a Family" story though, it must be said. In that story, Robin died because he put too much trust in someone he barely knew and he disobeyed Batman's direct order. In this movie, he just dies because he correctly follows the Joker out of a warehouse and the Joker (I guess?) kidnaps him and brings him to another warehouse.
Anyway, the first 40 minutes or so of this movie was standard fare. As with the other DCU movies, the action is outstanding and better than any of the action in the traditional, televised DCAU. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot more substance than that. We're told that there is, but I just never really felt any heart in it. A large part of the problem is because there's just no character in any of the designs. They're all beautiful and cool-looking, but there's no life in them the way there was in Batman The Animated Series. It also annoys me how little blood and gore there is in this, compared to other DCU movies. As Random said, Robin's death would have been a lot more impacting if they'd actually allowed him to bleed a bit more.
It's the second part of this (surprisingly and thankfully longer than usual) movie that really shines. Thanks to the excellent script, we get inside the heads of Batman, Jason Todd and even Alfred to an extent. The Joker is a trifle underused, but he's effective enough. The climactic scene involving Batman, the Red Hood, the Joker, two guns and a bomb is excellent, truly excellent. Although it basically deals with the exact same issues as the similar ending in Mask of the Phantasm (the ethics of killing the Joker), it's arguably more effective thanks to the thoroughness of the script. Again, I would have appreciated more violence (it would have been nice to see the Red Hood shoot the Joker in a few non-lethal areas before the end), but the scene was still magnificent.
The voice-acting was okay, overall. Bruce Greenwood was good, but sounded too much like Kevin Conroy, who should have been in this. Joe DiMaggio was good, but sounded too much like Mark Hamill, who should have been in this. NPH was okay as Nightwing, who was annoyingly portrayed completely contrary to the way he usually is (he's basically Spider-Man in this). Jensen Ackles was great as The Red Hood, though. I was a little bit miffed that he didn't use his raspy, Dean Winchester voice as much as he could have, but it didn't take away too much from his performance. He was given plenty to do (again, unusual in these films) and he really stepped up, combining humour and menace.
So, all-in-all, a great Batman film. The design could have been better and Nightwing need not have even been in it, but aside from that, it was terrific. Not sure if I'd call it the best DCU movie (I think that honour still goes to Wonder Woman), but it's certainly up there. Keep using Jensen Ackles for these things, please.
