Director: Brandon Vietti
Stars: Bruce Greenwood, Jensen Ackles, John DiMaggio, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Isaacs, Wade Williams
Batman faces his greatest challenge as a new vigilante, the Red Hood, enters the fray and cleans up crime by using methods much deadlier than Batman’s. With the help of Nightwing, Batman faces this new threat while old wounds are reopened, and The Dark Knight has to confront his greatest failure.
I haven’t read the comic for this but I did know the identity of the Red Hood going in, but the identity isn’t really a massive twist as it’s foreshadowed quite obviously, but I won’t saw here just in case anyone is in the dark. I really liked how this film included Nightwing as I love the idea of legacy heroes and how sidekicks can mature and become heroes in their own right. It’s something that’s more prevalent in the DC world than the Marvel world, and I liked the dialog and dynamics between Nightwing and Batman.
The Red Hood is a big threat and the match of Batman in many ways. The film also includes the Joker and the Black Mask, who are both fun villains and despite the grim tone of the movie there are moments of levity. There are also moments that are fairly gruesome as well, and it deals with some deep issues, mainly focusing on Batman’s ethics. I would have liked perhaps a lengthier discussion than what we got in the film, but I understand that Batman is a man of few words so he probably doesn’t feel the need to explain himself in any greater depth than he has to.
Again, it’s another fine entry into the animated line and I’m almost hoping that one of them is going to be a dud just so I have a different conclusion to write!