Review: Batman, Under the Red Hood
Nov. 6th, 2010 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalSummary: Five years after Jason Todd (Robin II) was brutally murdered by the Joker, a new criminal appears on the scene in Gotham, taking over the drug trade using the Joker's original “Red Hood” persona. And he seems to know all of Batman's moves...
Review: Written and produced by Batman: TAS producer Bruce Timm, this made for DVD movie earns it's PG-13 rating right off the... er... bat by adapting the climax of the classic “Death in the Family” story from Detective Comics as Jason gets an onscreen beating by the Joker with a tire iron and killed in a massive explosion. And there's a lot blood being let and general violence where that came from, as the resurrected Jason/Red Hood (suffice it to say Ras Al Ghul had an attack of conscience) cut a swath through Gotham's criminal element.
But it's never all that gratuitous, as it supports a reasonably gripping story, as a Batman (Bruce Greenwood) who's starting to feel his age is confronted with what he regards as his greatest failures, and has to deal with Jason's demand that he explain why the hell he's never just killed the Joker instead of letting him rampage over and over again.
There's even a little bit of welcome comic relief with an extended cameo by Nightwing, voiced by a criminally underused Neal Patrick Harris. But overall the story is very gripping and dramatic, with some nicely acrobatic fight signs worthy of the better anime out there, though the vehicles suffer from the usual syndrome of being produced via CGI with all that entails.
Rent it at least. Buy it if you're a Bat-Fan.
Review: Written and produced by Batman: TAS producer Bruce Timm, this made for DVD movie earns it's PG-13 rating right off the... er... bat by adapting the climax of the classic “Death in the Family” story from Detective Comics as Jason gets an onscreen beating by the Joker with a tire iron and killed in a massive explosion. And there's a lot blood being let and general violence where that came from, as the resurrected Jason/Red Hood (suffice it to say Ras Al Ghul had an attack of conscience) cut a swath through Gotham's criminal element.
But it's never all that gratuitous, as it supports a reasonably gripping story, as a Batman (Bruce Greenwood) who's starting to feel his age is confronted with what he regards as his greatest failures, and has to deal with Jason's demand that he explain why the hell he's never just killed the Joker instead of letting him rampage over and over again.
There's even a little bit of welcome comic relief with an extended cameo by Nightwing, voiced by a criminally underused Neal Patrick Harris. But overall the story is very gripping and dramatic, with some nicely acrobatic fight signs worthy of the better anime out there, though the vehicles suffer from the usual syndrome of being produced via CGI with all that entails.
Rent it at least. Buy it if you're a Bat-Fan.
