02.06
First of all, I haven’t read the comic and have absolutely no plans to do so whatsoever. I couldn’t give two shits about Jason Todd. And frankly, I haven’t particularly liked a DC Animated Movie since The New Frontier. So even before I start the film, my expectations for this are pretty much six feet under.
A mysterious vigilante by the name of Red Hood goes into the streets of Gotham to stick a middle finger up the ass of mob leader Black Mask. But unlike the altruistic methods of our Caped Crusader, this guy has blood on his hands. With the clashes between Red Hood and Black Mask spilling out into the open, Batman has to put a stop to it all. However, this newcomer may have more of a history with the Dark Knight than previously thought…
So yeah, it’s yet another one of those “Batman has to stop some guy from offing mobsters” plots. And at this point, it seems nonchalant. It’s like every new villain that comes along has to kill some gangsters in order to gain entry into the Rogues’ Gallery. But unlike the Phantasm or the Holiday Killer, there’s no mystery to who’s doing this. Even if this is the first piece of Batman media you’ve ever seen, you’ll know that it’s Jason Todd. Because of this, it just feels like an utter slog having to wait for Batman to put two and two together.
Our titular character had potential, but there wasn’t enough to his personality that made me care about him. The movie intersperses some scenes of Jason Todd’s past to show what he used to be, and even those didn’t work. It might be because those scenes are just glimmers in comparison to how many times the average viewer has probably seen Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, or even Tim Drake. A few minutes of flashbacks just aren’t enough to garner sympathy. The corruption of Jason Todd doesn’t make a good film when, comics aside, this is the first time we actually see him, and especially when you only have 75 minutes to work with. You can’t just milk the drama of a character falling to the dark side when you just introduced him a few minutes ago. Also, his dialogue didn’t help. “Evil death-worshipping garbage!” sounds like something out of the bloody Adam West series.
Nightwing just didn’t work here either. During the whole fight with AMAZO, he seemed like he was just there for exposition more than anything. Not even Neil Patrick Harris, who gave an oddly baritone performance, could dissuade me from noticing how unnecessary he was to the plot. And given how he disappears halfway through the film, it makes one wonder why he’s even in this in the first place. Preferably, I would have had Tim Drake replace him. It would’ve been more interesting to see how the former Robin would feel seeing the current one in action.
But on the other hand, Bruce Greenwood is quite good as Batman. His voice feels like a combination of Kevin Conroy’s and Jeremy Sisto’s. The tone is quite somber, yet still has a tinge of rage to it. It’s perfect for a Batman that’s forced to come to terms with a fallen friend.
And while he’s no Mark Hamill, John DiMaggio captures Joker’s essence quite well. Instead of going for a psychotic trickster feel, he has more of a mundane insanity to him. No outlandish schemes or flamboyant minions, just a bunch of bombs and whatever else he has on hand. He’s rather reminiscent of Ladd Russo from Baccano. There’s a brief, but notable scene that shows how far the Clown Prince of Crime is willing to go: Where he asks for a cup of water, only to break the glass, use it to slice a guard’s throat, grab his gun, and shoot down everyone else. It harkens back to his want of a phone call from The Dark Knight. And along with his vicious murder of Jason Todd, we’re looking at a much more grisly Joker than usual.
For the rest of the characters, they’re inconsequential. Characters like AMAZO and Black Mask are just here to appease DC fanboys, when generic brutes and mobsters could have easily replaced them. Ra’s Al Ghul is only here due to the Lazarus Pits being a plot device. The Fearsome Hand of Four looked like they were more at home trying to break into the Xavier Institute. And Alfred just kind of stands there all the time in the Batcave. Really, Batman, Red Hood, and the Joker were the only characters who didn’t feel shoehorned into this movie.
And about the animation, it’s passable. Nothing particularly outstanding or off-model visual-wise, though the CG is pretty evident. It’s probably since all of the DC movies have had such consistent art, that it’s gets to a point where it’s just unremarkable.
So other than a well-done version of the Joker, it’s nothing to write home about. Unless you’re desperately looking for a Jason Todd fix, there just isn’t much to this film that a handful of B:TAS episodes couldn’t offer instead.
Rating: 6/10
– Dr. Insomniac
Originally posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010.