If you had a choice between vengeance and justice when a loved one is killed from an unstoppable evil, would you cross that line? This is the line that Batman has to decide each time he faces one of his adversaries. This time one of his enemies from the past comes back to take on the dark knight with the desire to best Batman in his own city. Gotham City is going to go up in flames if the Red Hood has anything to say about it.
This is the story based on the second Robin, Jason Todd and how the Joker takes on a job under the orders of Ras al Ghul. However Ras realizes that you cannot control a mad man and his plans to distract the dynamic duo turns into a unnecessary murder. Thanks to the writing styles of Judd Winick and directed by Brandon Vietti to bring to life the comic book based on Jason Todd becoming the Red Hood in 2005. I would have to compare this to the uncensored version of “Batman Beyond Return of the Joker” and say that this is much more brutal than what happened to Tim Drake. The movie starts off with Joker beating Robin with a crowbar with much delight; however Robin manages to still crack a smile after spitting blood on Jokers face. It may have been stupid but that takes serious gumption to do that.
The cast of characters are NightWing voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, Black Mask voiced by Wade Williams and Ms. Li voiced by Kelly Hu. The only downside is the original voice actor for Batman is not present, however does not kill the movie. The actor Bruce Greenwood takes up the role, you might know him from Star Trek 2009 version as Christopher Pike.
The area that I really enjoyed was the art style used for the movie. I appreciated the animation in this movie where it gave off more believable tones to the film which a lot of animations have been lacking, thankfully the batman animations do not fail to please the masses. I find it amazing how when it come to animations they follow the storyline in straight to DVD movies which I am glad they do, or even make it a whole lot better by kicking it up a notch with the action, bold art styles and great dialogue that catches most of us at amazement.
In conclusion this is definitely a BUY, with a gruesome story, added with a great twist that leaves you at “oh snap!”. I have to say Batman Under the Red Hood gets my vote to be added to anybodies collection. I have to admit it was difficult not to give away too much of the movie in this review, because I was amazed to see how far they went and I hope they continue to do so in future animations. Thanks for checking out this review and be ready to pick up Batman Under the Red Hood when it hits stores July 27th 2010, all right comrades stay frosty!
