In comparison to Marvel, at least Marvel's Cinematic and Animated universes, DC Comics has always held the edge in presenting dark and mature storylines to it's audiences. One of the darkest storylines that DC had to offer was in the 1980's when Death In the Family was published. Death In the Family depicted Batman's greatest failure and took the Batman franchise down a darker road. The run of comics told the story of the second Robin's, Jason Todd's, death and today it remains one of the most shocking moments in comics. If you follow comics however, you also know that Jason Todd was reborn (because nobody stays dead in comics) and took up the persona of the Red Hood. The clash between the Red Hood and Batman is a fascinating philosophical debate and has elevated the Red Hood to one of DC's most popular characters. So in 2010, the Red Hood finally got his movie debut in Batman: Under the Red Hood.
The film's plot opens up with a reimagining of Jason Todd's death. Most things are the same, Jason Todd, as Robin, has been caught by the Joker, who proceeds to beat him savagely with a crowbar. Batman is on his way to save Jason, but gets there right as the warehouse explodes. Finding Jason't body in the wreckage, Batman is overcome with grief. It's a good opener for the movie, unfortunately it's worth noting that it gets a few things wrong from Death In the Family. It streamlines this part of the story and leaves out that Jason's death came in Ethiopia while looking for his biological mother. That he eventually found his mother, but she had been blackmailed into betraying him and so they died together in the warehouse. Not to mention that Under the Red Hood makes it look like Jason went after the Joker by himself when in actuality his hand was forced because he saw his mother go into the warehouse with Joker. So yes, he was supposed to wait for Batman but what else was he supposed to do? Anyways, back to the plot. Basically, 5 years later a figure calling himself the Red Hood arrives in Gotham and starts an unorthodox crusade against crime which isn't above killing people. It doesn't take long for Batman to deduce that the figure is Jason (or anyone who has a somewhat decent comics background) and things start getting interesting from there. Sure theres a second plot all about Jason's gang war with Black Mask but we're here for Batman vs Red Hood. The movie does a masterful job weaving in between the past and present, reminding us exactly how things have gotten here and to show that Batman can truly never forget how he "failed" Jason. The film also makes sure to address one of the biggest themes of the Batman universe, how Batman can never kill the Joker, despite all the lives that he's taken. The plot is intent on establishing the Red Hood as a character and never seems to aspire to anything more. This isn't a bad thing, in fact it's exactly what it needed to do. The film's runtime is a cool hour and fifteen minutes and theres no bad or unnecessary scenes to speak of. It's an efficient plot and it will make Red Hood fans squee with delight as they see their favorite character finally depicted in animated form. Overall, Under the Red Hood is excellently paced and is a somewhat faithful adaptation of the original storyline.
 |
| The film does an excellent job framing the conflict between Red Hood and Batman |
Unfortunately, this is probably one of the blandest and weakest portrayals I've seen of Batman in any form ever. Bruce Greenwood voices Bruce Wayne in this incarnation and to be perfectly honest i really couldn't take it. Even with the bad voice acting, Batman felt poorly written and almost like a bit character in comparison to everything else that was going on. Even Roger Craig Smith's Batman from Arkham Origins was better. I guess this just goes to show that Kevin Conroy will always have the best voice for the character. This movie is supposed to be an expose on how guilty Batman feels over Jason's death and his struggle to come to terms with what Jason has become. Visually, you really do feel for Batman in these reflective scenes but even those can't compensate for Greenwood's poor voice acting and the bad writing. Thankfully, every other character in the film is done well. Jensen Ackles (most notable for his work in Supernatural) voices Jason Todd/Red Hood and he does a fantastic job, especially during the film's climax. Jason Todd comes off exactly how he is in the comics and Ackles is really able to convey Jason's anger and lust for revenge in every scene. Not to mention that he's able to pull it back occasionally and bring back some snarky quips from his Robin days. There aren't many things that make my eyes water when it comes to watching Batman, but the flashback scenes to when Jason Todd was Robin really got to me. Seeing Jason so innocent and loving his role of Robin so much was almost too much emotionally. The movie certainly conveyed this aspect exremely well. The Joker is done very well in this incarnation, except when he opens his mouth. His lines are well written, but John DiMaggio just can't seem to deliver them with the same skill that Mark Hamill always did. Something feels missing from the Joker, despite this he remains menacing and serves his role well in the plot. I was most excited to see how Neil Patrick Harris (a personal favorite of mine) would do voicing Nightwing/Dick Grayson and he does a fantastic job. Of course, the actual character doesn't really serve much of a purpose during the story and is quickly written out of the plot after the film's first 30 minutes or so. I really thought this was a missed opportunity since a meeting between the two former Robin's, Grayson and Todd, would have been a really intriguing addition to the plot. However, I still thought that Harris' voice work for Nightwing was phenomenal and really captured the character's snarkiness, always important when voicing a former Robin. Black Mask is really just there to provide another medium for the plot to move along and this is definitely one of the most faithful portrayals of the character I've ever. However, I can't help but point out how poor his character design really is but since he's a relatively minor character, guess I can't really complain. Ra's al Ghul shows up simply because the plot requires him to and he's done well but theres nothing too spectacular here.
Visually, the film looks like any other DC Animated Universe work, however I can't help but feel nostalgic for the days of Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. The style of those shows felt more refreshing as opposed to the style shown here. Some characters feel kind of chunky, especially in their faces. Joker and Black Mask were probably the only two characters whose character designs made me angry. Nightwing and Red Hood really stood out to me as characters who's designs were done very well. Sound-wise, it's mostly the standard Batman orchestral backing tracks. It sets the dark mood really well but otherwise isn't anything we haven't heard before. I've already voiced my disappointment with the voices of Batman and the Joker so I'll let that be. Otherwise, the voice cast is phenomenal and Jensen Ackles really should voice Jason Todd in any future Red Hood work.
 |
| "This is the best day of my life!" Goodness, make me cry a little harder |
My Score: 4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment