Batman: Under the Red Hood

[Servo]

*SPOILERS*


Anyone seen this yet? I know it's not released until the end of the month, but it's out there if you know where to look.

I thought it was pretty good. Bruce Greenwood does a good enough job as Batman, and Jensen Ackles does well as the Red Hood - a role he's rumoured to be reprising in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 video game.
John DiMaggio is pretty cool as the Joker too, although the voice slips into "Bender" on a couple of occasions. But he brings the right amount of twisted comedy, and insanity to the role.

It's a lot darker than most DC Universe animations, obviously due to the material involved. While a lot of the violence is implied or conducted out of shot, there are still some pretty brutal punch-ups in it.

There are a couple on instances of clunky exposistion - such as one thug telling another thug who Nightwing is, in a painfully obvious attempt to clue in the viewer (who is probably familiar with Nightwing already) - but overall it's pretty tightly written, and there isn't any wasted screentime to be seen.

There are plenty of homages on show, as well as the Joker outright saying he was once the Red Hood, instead of his usual "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" stance.

So, anyone else been a dirty criminal and caught this early?

 

[Saul]

If I had seen it I might say something like it was dark and violent but one of the best of the recent DC movies. Bruce Greenwood was excellent and seemed to be channeling Kevin Conroy at times. I would agree too that the Joker, while very wicked and cool in this movie kept making me think of Bender the robot.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I saw it yesterday evening and thought it was fantastic! My favorite of the releases bar none. I agree with everything you wrote. It was dark and gritty but emotional and fun at the same time. I though Bruce Greenwood was excellent as Bruce Wayne and Batman. The bloke who played Alfred was awesome as well. I agree with John DiMaggio's Joker performance...he was entertaining and did a good job, didn't hear Bender as much as you did though Servo. Jason Iasscs was great as Ra's Al Ghul and Judd Winnick's script was easily the strongest of the films. I'll be buying this film when it comes out.

 

[Samurai8472]

I thought it was great!

With Timm involved, this DTV felt the closes in capturing the spirit of the Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures.

Shame Nightwing was taken out so early. Would have been nice to have seen him react to who Red Hood is.

"May I have glass of water?"

That Joker scene could have been out of "The Dark Knight"

I know that Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures all had Japanese influences(In character drawings etc) but this almost felt like an anime at times.

Perhaps it was the style of violence.

Bruce Greenwood at times sounded like Solid Snake.

Nice incorporation of flashbacks

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes I found the flashback sequences to be pretty stylish...and I agree that Nightwing was removed too early, i half expected him to rescue Batman and Jason from the bomb. Interesting that they decided to use Tim Drake most recent Robin design and not actually Tim himself oh and loved how they used Jason's Robin costume.

 

[Samurai8472]

Yes I found the flashback sequences to be pretty stylish...and I agree that Nightwing was removed too early, i half expected him to rescue Batman and Jason from the bomb. Interesting that they decided to use Tim Drake most recent Robin design and not actually Tim himself oh and loved how they used Jason's Robin costume.

I know the Jason and Batman thing was personal but I would have really liked to have seen Nightwing battle Redhood.

From what I read on wiki Nightwing and Redhood/Red Robin/Jason Todd Batman had as much history as Batman did.

I'll just assume Alfred told Dick then Dick realized it was personal matter and stayed away. Nightwing listening to highlights on a radio were weak.

I did like the allusion to Barbera being crippled aswell

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes I believe in the comics there was major resentment from Jason to Dick because he believed that Bruce favored him and always used him as a measuring stick for Jason to aspire to. Honestly I loved how Jason Todd was used in this movie and Jensen Ackles performed brilliantly. I think this film could be used as an example for how Robin could be used in a live action feature film.

 

[Nowhere Man]

I have not seen or heard of it, but I love Bruce Greenwood(no homo) and can imagine him as Batman. No one does Joker like Mark Hamel though.

 

[Admiral_Young]

DiMaggio is no Hamil but really must've been a little influenced by Heath Ledger's performance from "The Dark Knight" because I swear that he reminded me of that version in a couple of sequences.

 

[Saul]

Not only is the Joker more like the one in the Dark Knight, the music too is closer to the movie. But after such a popular movie it's natural to assume they want to go in that direction.

 

[Christopher]

With Timm involved, this DTV felt the closes in capturing the spirit of the Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures.

Bruce Timm has produced all of the DTV DC Universe movies. He's no more or less involved with this one than he's been with any of the others. And the writer (Judd Winick) and director (Brandon Vietti) of this movie, who are presumably the two people most responsible for its "spirit," never worked on BTAS or TNBA. Winick is a comics writer with no prior credits in DC animation (although he created the animated series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee), and Vietti is a veteran of The Batman, Legion of Super Heroes, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

I know that Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures all had Japanese influences(In character drawings etc) but this almost felt like an anime at times.

The character design styles for those shows weren't particularly anime-influenced. They're more a blend of the '40s Fleischer Superman cartoons' design style with the personal styles of Timm (for BTAS) and Glen Murakami (for TNBA). However, many of the episodes were animated by Japanese studios, and in TNBA and Batman Beyond, a lot of the episodes had their preproduction work (design, storyboards, layout, etc.) done by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, so those had more of an anime look in respects other than character design. Certainly BB had a very strong Akira influence in its scenery design and overall aesthetic, and the director of Akira animated some of the key action sequences in Return of the Joker.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I thought Bruce Greenwood was excellent, but I still prefer Conroy (and I hope we haven't seen the last of him) in the role. Past that it was one of the better animated outings for DC in recent times.

 

[Warped9]

Darn. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm quite anxious to.

 

[Samurai8472]

DiMaggio is no Hamil but really must've been a little influenced by Heath Ledger's performance from "The Dark Knight" because I swear that he reminded me of that version in a couple of sequences.

I agree especially the "May I have a glass of water" scene.

The music would intensify like the scene in "The Dark Knight" where Joker would proceed to slit the mobsters mouth.

"I'll need some guard's, not these guys because they're dead"

When DiMaggio said guard's it was very Ledger joker

 

[Hartzilla2007]

but I still prefer Conroy (and I hope we haven't seen the last of him) in the role.

Don't worry he's doing the next Superman/Batman DVD, and hopefully Arkham Asylum 2.

 

[Aragorn]

If anyone cares, Bruce Greenwood is supposedly voicing Two-Face in the Arkham Asylum 2 video game.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Bruce Timm is also credited as being the Riddler in this movie...and yeah I thought the score was much darker in this film than in previous ones for maybe obvious reasons. I though the score was really good, one of Drake's best.

 

[Christopher]

Bruce Timm is also credited as being the Riddler in this movie...

Which suggests that the Riddler is a very small part, since Timm often does bit roles in his productions. I think the only cases where he's played a character with more than a couple of lines have been the toy collector in B:TAS: "Beware the Gray Ghost" and the head of the Jokerz gang seen in various episodes of Batman Beyond.

 

[Samurai8472]

Bruce Timm is also credited as being the Riddler in this movie...and yeah I thought the score was much darker in this film than in previous ones for maybe obvious reasons. I though the score was really good, one of Drake's best.

It must be just me but it sounds like they just used Transformers 2007 movie soundtrack sometimes

 

[Admiral_Young]

Really? I didn't get that at all regarding the sound track...it reminded me more of the Dark Knight score than TF.