Director: Ethan Spaulding
Stars: Jason O’Mara, Stuart Allan, Thomas Gibson, Morena Baccarin, Dee Bradley Baker, Giancarlo Esposito, Sean Maher, David McCallum
Ra’s Al Ghul is dead, killed by Deathstroke. His daughter, Talia, knowing that her son, Damien, is in danger, takes him to finally meet his father – Batman, while she seeks to avenge her father’s death.
I’ve been mostly impressed by the series of DC Animated movies but I do think they’ve taken a turn to be more decent than good. Damien Wayne is an interesting character who provides a different dynamic than the other Robins, for while Bruce has been an adult and the other Robins have been younger I never got the sense that they were surrogate sons, rather I got the impression that in some ways Bruce is stuck in his mindset of a child, so it makes sense that his closest ally is a child. But Damien is his child, and he’s forced to take the role of father rather than just mentor.
Damien has been trained by the League of Assassins, so he has a different outlook and attitude to Batman. He’s also incredibly cocky, and some of the best moments of the film are the exchanges between him and Nightwing.
The main problem I have with the movie is how Batman discovers Damien’s parentage. Basically he got drugged and then Talia slept with him so, yeah, Batman got raped. And it’s just glossed over like it doesn’t matter, but it’s actually a big deal. The main story is okay. I’ve never been a massive fan of the League of Assassins and this film revolves around them so for me personally it’s not the best subject, but I’m sure those who love the League will enjoy the film immensely.
