Batman: Under The Red Hood

2010 - Warner Animation
Directed By Brandon Vietti


SYNOPSIS

5 years after The Joker (John Di Maggio) killed his second Robin, Batman (Bruce Greenwood) must contend with a new menace in Gotham City, The Red Hood (Jensen Ackles.) This new vigilante astounds Batman with his fight moves, and the Caped Crusader quickly determines it is Jason Todd, his second Robin, somehow back from the dead. Now Batman must discover how he is still alive and how (and if) he should stop his old partner.

MY THOUGHTS

DC Comics and Warner Animation have put an outstanding series of direct-to-DVD films, and this is probably the best of the lot yet.

Like the others, this is based on actual story from the comics, and they remain faithful to the characters in the comic books, which are often tweaked and altered for feature films.
One of the strengths of the film's story is that it didn't waste any time with a dull Bruce Wayne subplot. It is ALL Batman all the time.
But on the other hand the big drawback to Red Hood is it's short run time. The film clocks in at only 1 hour and 15 minutes. It could have been longer but that probably would have been added Wayne-filler and ruined the taught pace of the story. So it's a strength and a drawback at the same time.

Fanboys would probably chide the film for not casting Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark Hamill (Joker) because of their long involvement with the 1990s Batman animated series and the many offshoots of that show... but Greenwood and DiMaggio are excellent. The rest of the cast is also strong. Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing, Jason Isaacs as Ra's Al Ghul, and Jensen Ackles as the Red Hood round out the major players.

The film is a visual delight. The high-quality (2-D) animation rivals any theatrical release. That is where the DC series triumphs over Marvel's similar line of direct-to-disc series (which look like 1990's TV animation.)

The staging of the fight scenes are cleverly done and look more realistic than the average animated fare. 'Red Hood' also offers a more realistic and less stylish Gotham City than the Batman animated series, much like the Gotham of the recent live-action Christopher Nolan films compared with the earlier Burton/Schumacher series.


The film is an excellent addition to any comic book geek's collection, as long as they are old enough. The story is very dark and not for children.