26/05/2013

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

Film: Batman: Under The Red Hood
Release: 2010, video
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, John DiMaggio, Jensen Ackles
Directed by: Brandon Vietti
IMDB Page: Link opens in a new window
Description: A new threat has come to Gotham - A person calling himself "The Red Hood" has taken controls of the cartels, tipping the scales of power in Gothams criminal underworld. It turns out however, this new villain is more than just another druglord.


Hans' Thoughts:

Old lady Joker
Normally, movies that go direct to video are thought to be either not by a mainstream company or just very low budget - This is not the case on this one. Under The Red Hood is one of the finest animated DC universe movies out there, chronicling one of the game-changing storylines of the Batman comic books.It's really hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it, but I'll do my best. This movie marks John DiMaggio's debut as The Joker, a role he's later revises in the new game Injustice: Gods Among Us. The challenge for new voice actors that take on The Joker is that they will be compared to the absolutely fantastic voice acting of Mark Hamill. A man that's for my generation has been the definitive voice of The Joker since Batman the animated series. That said, John DiMaggio manages to deliver his own take on the character while saluting the characters voice under Hamill.The other voice actors also did a fantastic job, and while the art style is great most of the time at some points I felt The Joker looked more like an old VERY pale lady. Like the villain from The Little Mermaid. Normally, the art style was great and the designs of Nightwing and The Red Hood in particular catch the original art from the comics it's based on pretty well. The art also reminded me of the show "Young Justice". This being a story arc from the comic books, it could mean it would be kinda hard for newcomers to get into but I feel that the newcomers I've watched it with has managed to follow the story just fine. This could also be because the story bears no mention of the major DC event Infinite Crisis which the story arc was part of the aftermath of. Having watched other DC movies which also spawned from comic book story arcs, this one is by far the best of the bunch. Especially newer animated movies like Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
Superman as he looks in "Batman/Superman: Apocalypse" 
are sub-par by comparison, even taking into account my gripes with the art style (in my opinion the lips are way too detailed in the new ones). On the right you should be able to a screenshot from aforementioned movie as an example.  Overall though, The Red Hood is definetly a movie you should track down if you like Batman at all. In my opinion it sits up there even with the very best live-action ones.

EDIT: Turns out "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" is from later in 2010, same year as the release of The Red Hood making this a bad example. However, my preference of the artstyle of the latter still stands, even compared to titles like "Superman/Shazam: Return of Black Adam" or "Justice League: Doom".

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