This week I felt like taking a look at something Batman related after I finished the Batwoman DLC for Arkham Knight as I'm still on a huge hype for anything Batman. I've always found myself enjoying Batman as a kid, specifically the animated series and the Beyond series too like most people who grew up during that period of time. However after that It was not until both Nolans Batman Begins and the Arkham series that I really began to get super into it.
I never ever used to read comics of any kind, I would only know about superheroes from their cartoons, movies or games. While Nolans series of Batman films really got me back in to that universe it never made me want to read any of the stories it was based on, It was only when I played the Arkham series that I began to research characters Id never heard of and stories that inspired plot elements within the game. I think I can thank the Arkham series overall for the way I feel about Batman In general today actually.
If it were not for its use of easter eggs and in depth looks at character profiles I would never have looked online and discover decent places to begin reading. The only thing with that is that I don't read new series as they come out, I can only read collected issues in a graphic novel format, I really don't like waiting to see the end of an arc or story. Perhaps that's because I began with collected issues and I've never actually tried to read weekly or monthly though, to be fair with the New 52 thing I don't really feel like starting anew, to me each story takes place in the same universe unless specifically stated not to.
The Arkham series as well as Begins pointed me in the direction of the Year One storyline and from there I was hooked, I've read so many graphic novels now and my collection is ever growing but I'll always love Year One and to a latter extent The Dark Knight Returns, both of these graphic novels really propelled my love for the mythos of the character, his universe and his rogues gallery as much as the video games did.
So I looked around and realised I had a few Batman Blu rays Id not checked out yet and after the Arkham Knight game I thought id give Assault on Arkham a shot. This film takes place within the Arkham universe and seems to fit in after Origins and some time before Asylum. Although it is a Batman movie he actually takes the back seat to the Suicide Squad, A group of villains and anti heroes set up by Amanda Waller. As the name describes this squad is set up to do the missions 'no one else can', to make use of the most dangerous villains skills and of course as a scapegoat if something were to go wrong so Waller can deny any accountability.
While Batman does take a back seat this time around I suppose this movie is a nice introduction to the Suicide squad if you are unfamiliar with them as a group as it does feature a number of characters who will be front and centre in the upcoming live action film in 2016.
I think it is a shame this film doesn't focus too much on Batmans perspective but to be far he has enough animated features as it is. I suppose if this film was titled just something like 'Sucide Squad: Assault on Arkham' it would not have sold well (If it even sold well anyway), but anything with Batman in the title will garter more attention towards it. Maybe that will change after the films release if people can get over how the fucking Joker looks.
The Suicide Squad this time around consists of King Shark, Killer Frost, Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot. Their introduction almost felt like something out of a cheesy trailer with each of them having text around them stating who they are and who they were 'playing'. I actually really like the idea of the Suicide squad if only because I love to see villains working together to take on something, be it a hero who continuously beats them, a bigger threat or an entire asylum.
I like that although they are working together, they're forced to, it makes for some pretty great scenes where the characters can't stand each other but know they just have to bite their tongue and get on with it or else their head will explode due to a nano bomb placed within their neck. I actually really liked that Waller showed first hand what would happen if one of the team were to disobey her. Right from the get go of the team being brought together we see KGBeast (what a name!) attempted to break away from the group and instantly got fucked up.
The plot begins when the Wallers government team infiltrate the Riddlers Hideout only to be stopped by Batman, Waller knows the Riddler has knowledge of each and every member of the suicide squads real names and threatens to release them on the internet. Waller assembles the squad to infiltrate Arkham Asylum while Batman is preoccupied in order to get a thumb drive laced with this information that is located within his cane.
The Squad lands in Gotham and works with The Penguin in order to find a way into the Asylum, during this time they suit up and await orders. However some members of the team begin getting specific secretive orders that the rest of the team are not to know about. As the story progresses we find out The Joker set up a Dirty bomb within the city and Batman believes the Riddler knows where it is. Because of this Batman continues to have run ins with the squad which allows Harley to be sent to Arkham, just as Waller planned.
As they all begin their plan to enter the Asylum they come across the Joker in Solitary confinement which pisses Harley off to the point of the plan almost going out of the window. During this time Batman gets the feeling Harley wanted to be caught and quickly heads toward the Asylum. Batman soons shows up and attempts to take on the entire squad, easily subduing the majority of them until he is seemingly overwhelmed and stopped by Black Spider.
Frost goes missing at this time and turn up at the Riddler's cell to assassinate him, however The Riddler states he knows how to defuse all their nano bombs in their necks. Naturally the Joker has found some way to escape (surprise surprise) and is looking for a way out of the Asylum. The Squad meet up with the Riddler and Frost and begin shocking themselves in order to overload the nano bombs.
At this point if you hadn't guessed it we see that Black Spider is Batman in his costume, who is somehow wearing his own mask beneath an entire Black Spider get up. Then the Joker shows up and chaos ensues as you can imagine.Oh and remember the bomb I mentioned before?, yeah it was just conveniently in the mallet Quinn was using.... how lucky.
The movie pretty much turns into Arkham Asylum lite now as the Joker releases all the inmates such as Two Face, Bane and Scarecrow while the remaining Squad members attempt to escape. Of course the Joker and Quinn were stowaways on Deadshots ticket out of the Asylum and the three begin fighting. The fight between Deadshot and the Joker is short but actually pretty great and get's quite brutal at times with multiple stabbings and choke outs rather than just a standard shitty fist fight.
The end of the movie shows Batman defusing the bomb and Gotham saved once again, with a short epilouge showing him confronting Waller about the damage caused by her Squad and a final scene with Deadshot reunited with his daughter aiming his sniper at Wallers head as the film ends.
This movie had a number of aspects that I did enjoy such as the line up of villains and the banter between them actually being quite funny at times, such as Killer Frost making ice related puns and the rest of the teaming groaning whenever she does. With that banter also came some rivalry between Deadshot and Captain Boomerang which I really liked the build up to with them having dart throwing competitions and getting into some fights, but in the end it felt like it didn't lead to anything as they betray each other after all.
To be fair though they are both villains so maybe the 'we were rivals now we're best pals' thing would not have really fit well. This sort of stuff actually helps the slower scenes with their pace, I feel these scenes would be pretty boring without the interactions to be honest. However Harley Quinn in this film, while a nice addition overall seems to be more of a 'IM SO RANDOM LOL' kind of character than actually funny in her own right, she had some dumb catchphrase throughout the movie of 'yahtzee' and it just got annoying.
I like that the films includes a large number of Batman's rogues gallery even if just for a moment such as the Penguin, Bane, Ivy and a few others, while they are only on screen for a few moments they are each a welcome addition and show that Batman's been busy and is already well established as the hero or 'dark knight' of Gotham by this point.
I also liked that at least one time Quinns costume resembled her animated series version to an extent rather than the one she has in the Arkham games, I like to think the games take place in that universe but much later on. On the other hand however I like that the majority of the other characters costumes such as Bane and Scarecrow retain their look from the games, it's one of the only parts of the movie that makes it feel like it's actually related to the video game.
The voice acting is actually really good all around, Of course Kevin Conroy reprises his role as Batman once again and no matter how many years go by he still does the character justice, unfortunately he is not in the feature for too long every scene he's in shows how comfortable he is with being Batman, his voice just has this great power around it that just commands those around it to be intimidated, it's a guy in a Bat suit that will completely fuck you up if you're committing a crime and you know it.
While Mark Hamill has been away from the Joker character since Arkham City the use of Troy Baker as the Joker Origins has been the next best thing, he has truly been fantastic in the role, especially in Arkham Knight recently, there were definitely times when I could not tell the difference between the two. While he is great in this movie too, there did seem to be a number of moments where he just was not as good as he was in Origins, this isn't to say his portrayal this time around was bad in anyway it just felt like he could do better and he knows it.
The rest of the cast was pretty good too, Deadshot Particularly, while I found Harley Quinn to be annoying I can't deny that her voice works for the character and it always has, she'es meant to be this high pitched woman who love's to be the centre of attention other than when the Joker is around and honestly I had no idea until I just looked it up that it wasn't Tara Strong who voiced her this time around but Hynden Walch who voiced her in The Batman.
There were some issues I had with he movie too though. I don't understand the use of techno and dubstep like beats for the soundtrack, especially outside of action sequences It just did not seem to fit in any scene at all, Batman should be almost Gothic with its music, I mean if you're going for a more action orientated movie then fine but there is not need to have crazy ass dubstep playing when characters are suiting up and talking to each other, Id rather now music at all at that point.
The animation is nothing amazing, it kind of feels like your typical Saturday morning cartoon, a lot of scenes understandably take place in the darkness and actually look better because of this. One thing tht bugged me was having Batman's pupil semi visible most of the time, it was really distracting when and looked like a mix between the animated series batman and the film version where his eyes are always visible. To be fair though, the women were all drawn pretty well as you can see above....
In fact Killer Frost was one of the best things to look at I don't care!
Overall was this movie worth a watch? I would say yes if you're a huge Batman fan but no if you're more into just the films or games. While this is set in the Arkham universe it does not really have anything to do with the games other than some character designs, the story certainly does not really lead in or out of any game in the series. This film really is more of a Suicide squad movie, which is fine really I think in that respect it is quite a good way to become familiar with the characters and motives of the Squad so you're up to speed for the 2016 movie.
However the only key characters you'll need to focus on are Deadshot and Quinn it seems, as they seem to be center stage in the 2016 movie according to the trailers. Honestly if you're looking for a really good Batman movie from the long list of animated features I would not recommend this as your first. In fact Both Year One and The Dark Knight Returns have been animated and the Killing Joke is in the process of being made so honestly id say to go for one of these unless you're really in to the Suicide Squad.
I've actually got quite a few DC animated movies laying around the house so perhaps I'll review some more some time!, if you're into Batman or any Superhero let me know of any cool underrated animated movies to check out, they always seem to get overshadowed by their live action counterparts.
