Product Description
Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when the Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened. This edition comes with an Amazon-exclusive full-color animation 3″ x 5″ litho cel …
Batman: Under the Red Hood
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July 19th, 2010 at 8:27 am
I was prepared to dislike the new DC direct-to-dvd animated film, Batman: Under the Red Hood. I’ve been annoyed with these animated films for a number of reasons, some admittedly nitpicky and petty, but annoyances just the same. However, after watching a review copy I was quite pleased with the way it worked out! Having read the original story arc in the comics, I wondered how they were going to take such a complex tale, one that draws on various Batman stories going as far back as 1951, and roll it all up into a neat little self-contained package lasting under an hour and 20 minutes (short running time–another gripe of mine). The answer is, quite deftly!
The story has to do with the Batman’s greatest failure, the sadistic, violent death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, at the hands of the Joker, who began his career as a masked criminal known as the Red Hood, which is established in short, succinct flashbacks. The story begins five years after the death of Jason Todd and involves a criminal turf war between the Black Mask, an aggressive and entrepreneurial mob boss who wears a black skull mask, and a new masked criminal–a new Red Hood. This new Red Hood is trying to clean up Gotham by controlling the gangs, and his methods are violent, ruthless, and murderous, and thus he comes to the attention of the Batman. A showdown is inevitable, but who’s manipulating who, how will the Black Mask react, and what role does the volatile Joker play in the plan?
The story is action-packed, very dark, and should make casual viewers and fans quite happy. Some gripes; Bruce Greenwood and John DiMaggio turn in terrific jobs as the Batman and the Joker, respectively, but I really wish they would have gotten Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to play the parts. Those two actors are so well associated with the roles and it would have been quite interesting to see how they would have handled such a dark and violent story. Sometimes the violence is kept to a nil when it should be amped up. For example, the death of Jason Todd is fairly unbelievable; the Joker spends a good deal of time beating him with a crowbar, yet afterwards he looks only as though he fell down and scraped himself up a little. The comic book story, A Death In the Family, regulated by the Comics Code Authority no less, showed blood, bruising, swelling, a shredded costume, and made him look more than half dead. The movie fails to convey this, and when they’re dealing with a PG-13 rating they could certainly have done better.
Another big problem I have with this film, and the DC direct-to-dvd movies in general, is the short running time. Again, with a PG-13 rating and such dark and complex stories, it’s more than obvious that the intended audience is NOT young children and pre-teens, but rather an older, more mature audience. So why the short running times geared towards the short attention spans of young children?! This film runs one hour and 15 minutes. The last film, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, ran only one hour and 13 minutes. Please, DC, PLEASE–know your audience and realize that the vast majority of people purchasing these films are adults who can keep track of sophisticated plots, complex character development, and running times that are closer to those of adult movies–an hour and a half to two hours! If you did that, you could do so much more with these animated films.
Depsite my gripes, I have to give this movie four out of five stars. It was very entertaining, with lots of action and some seriously twisted moments from both the Joker and the Black Mask. Parents, please take note from a fellow parent: just because this is an animated film, that does not mean it is suitable for young children. Please take the PG-13 rating seriously.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 19th, 2010 at 9:02 am
DC animation admittedly can be VERY uneven. Bruce Timm, as much as I am grateful for his stewardship of most of Batman: The Animated Series, and the Superman animated series can really bite the big one. I’m not a fan of the Doomsday, or even the New Frontier adaptations, and innumerable other projects he’s taken on. But here, he knocks the ball out of the park. The animation is first rate! Dark, moody, and with the right kinetic feel to make it seem like a comic book come to life. Like something that could only exist in animation terms. They stick close to the original story (with a few minor variations, which serve the story, as a stand alone, outside of continuity, quite well), and the script is by Judd Winick, so I’m glad for that. The music serves the story very well. The acting, for the most part is first rate (I’m an actor, so please forgive me for nitpicking this part). Bruce Greenwood takes over the role of Batman (look him up on imdb, you know him, yeah you do) from Kevin Conroy, and sounds almost exactly like him! Which is not a bad thing. He does a really great job! Kinda feel bad for Kev, who otherwise is the only guy that should be allowed to play the role, but hey, if he had a sore throat on the day… Bruce did a bang up job! Jenson Ackles (the pretty boy from Supernatural) does a very pretty boy job of playing the the Red Hood. And, ok, I realise he has his fans, but I just don’t think he’s all that. I think they cast a name, and I think they could have done better. He doesn’t suck… but he’s helped by a really good script! Neil Patrick Harris plays Nightwing… Not bad, not great, too small a role to be great at. He serves the story well and my only comment is “when is the next Dr. Horrible coming out!” The Joker, as played by John DiMaggio is frankly week! But he’s not in enough of the movie to be a detriment. Still, they should have stuck with Mark Hammil. But for all the nitpicking and whatnot, I gotta say… this is a first rate animated feature, with as much balls as the format will allow. I saw an interview once with Bruce Timm, where he joked that his core audience was a bunch of thirty and forty year old’s who still read comics. If that’s true, why don’t you right and draw for the adult mindset instead of saturday morning cartooning it? Instead of sanitizing it, in other words. This one almost feels like he’s playing to that core audience he joked about. It’s well worth adding to your animated collection, and even though I’ve seen ad advance copy of it, I can’t wait to add the 2 disc version to my collection (’cause I’m a geek and I like all those bs features and documentaries that come with them). If you want, wait ’till the price goes down (it’s a tough economy we’re stuck in) but put on your wanted list, it’s worth the wait!
Rating: 5 / 5
July 19th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I was so pleasantly, incredibly surprised by the pure awesomeness of this movie.
Bruce Greenwood has done the impossible and manages to do an even better Batman voice than the legendary Kevin Conroy. Greenwood is magnificent.
I love all the violence, this is certainly not your Saturday morning cartoon for kids. I LOVE all the characters that make an appearance, and the story is great. This is bar far the best animated production we’ve seen from DC, the best animated Batman movie they’ve ever made– even better than Mask of the Phantasm.
Rating: 5 / 5
July 19th, 2010 at 11:32 am
Why couldn’t they get the real voice cast to do it? The joker’s voice in particular is just awful.
Rating: 1 / 5
July 19th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I’m not much for writing these things so I will keep it short and to the point. This movie will be awesome! I’ve collected all the DC universe blu rays and this is truely the one I’ve been waiting for. It seems to be much darker than your typical Batman “cartoons” which for anything related to Batman the darker the better I always say. I’m also really looking forward to NPH’s rendition of Nightwing. Batman Gothm Knight was “ok” but this one will be legen…..wait for it…dary!
Cant wait!!!!! Hurry up July 27th!
Rating: 5 / 5