Movie Review – Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)

By Manofyesterday

Directors: Jay Oliva, Ethan Spaulding

Stars: Kevin Conroy, Neal McDonough, Hynden Walch, Matthew Gray Gubler, Troy Baker, John DiMaggio, Greg Ellis, Giancarlo Esposito, Jennifer Hale, Nolan North, Christian Lanz, CCH Pounder

Assembled by Amanda Waller, the Suicide Squad are sent on a mission into Arkham Asylum to gather some vital information from the Riddler. Meanwhile, Batman is there too, trying to foil the Joker’s latest plot.

With the Suicide Squad movie coming out soon…wait, you’re telling me it’s not out for another couple of years? So…what about all the photos. I mean, it seems like we’ve seen a lot of the movie already…

Okay, so with that movie coming out in a couple of years time Assault on Arkham is a good primer for the live action movie. It has a number of elements that I think could be transferred over to the film, even though the roster isn’t the same. The role of the Joker could be very similar though, and if I were a betting man I’d put my money on this storyline being followed almost verbatim.

Following villains is always a little more refreshing than seeing a standard superhero plot, although there’s enough Bat-action here to keep Bat-fans Bat-entertained. It also manages to develop the ensemble nicely, given that the running time is short. It feels well-paced and I felt like I got a good sense of who the members were, although some inevitable get less development than others.