Batman: Under the Red Hood delivers some well-paced action and great script work but suffers from a lack of meat on its well made skeleton. The film opens disturbingly with the Joker (Played intelligently and sadistically by John DiMaggio)in a warehouse in Sarajevo beating to death the second Robin. Batman tries to reach Robin but comes too late only to find his ally dead. Now go a few years later and a new villain comes to Gotham. The film does a good job in not dwelling too hard on who this new villain is because realistically its not that hard to guess who the guy is even if you have little to no knowledge of the Batman mythos. But what takes away from the power of finding out who the titular Red Hood is is that their is too little back story over Batman and what happened after Robin's death. Maybe a scene that would show his lacking familial ties like Barbera Gordon who could have made a small cameo to add to the final monologue that the Red Hood makes. What is brought to show that Batman has severed ties with others is having Nightwing show up (although he is so lightly utilized that he could have not appeared at all in the film without causing too much suffering) The animation suffers a bit too. The whole film looks well with a nice realistic feel and vivid colors on a Gotham city background but that is also its weakness. When watching the fight sequences having these supposed mortal humans fight to the death seemingly with little to no cuts or bruises took me away from the film. There is bloodshed and violence but sprinkled on too lightly (I am not arguing for the old ultra-violence, but when you make a film with a dark and realistic tone don't skip on what makes reality real, the pain). An example the Red Hood unmasked smacking head first into a bathroom sink. (by the way, to me its a bit strange that Batman states he is trying to save The Red Hood but then severely beats him, no restraining of the guy just hardcore punching and kicking)I also wish that the main film could have had that ambient color tone throughout the film like in their DC showcase Jonah Hex.
The acting is a also a very nice part of this film but as well they could have been fed a bone more and had more to their dialogue to help flesh out the tone they were trying to set for their characters. Although I believe Mr. DiMaggio really did a fine job getting his unique voice to the Joker adding a bridge between the performance of Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger in that he had this smartness about him but also that sort of anarchic puppet master quality. Jensen Ackles plays nicely the likable villain in the Red Hood with the aggressiveness needed for the role and the sympathy underlying it. Bruce Greenwood as Batman did a fine job but their were some moments that would make a Kevin Conroy fan go "Why is he copying Conroy?"
The music is exceptional copying the tone of the Dark Knight.
The running time also was a bit short. (I know a lot of people complain about this as with other DC animated films) Although I admit it went smoothly and brought out a wealth of story with no real hangups that could make people go huh? it just seems that a few measly minutes could have added some meat to this tightly well-knit plot.
Bottom line the film is well made and worth your collection if you have the other DC Animations because this is one of the better ones (although I loved them all) but if your someone who just enjoyed Batman Begins and the Dark Knight this should serve as a nice rent-able snack before the third installment comes along.
The acting is a also a very nice part of this film but as well they could have been fed a bone more and had more to their dialogue to help flesh out the tone they were trying to set for their characters. Although I believe Mr. DiMaggio really did a fine job getting his unique voice to the Joker adding a bridge between the performance of Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger in that he had this smartness about him but also that sort of anarchic puppet master quality. Jensen Ackles plays nicely the likable villain in the Red Hood with the aggressiveness needed for the role and the sympathy underlying it. Bruce Greenwood as Batman did a fine job but their were some moments that would make a Kevin Conroy fan go "Why is he copying Conroy?"
The music is exceptional copying the tone of the Dark Knight.
The running time also was a bit short. (I know a lot of people complain about this as with other DC animated films) Although I admit it went smoothly and brought out a wealth of story with no real hangups that could make people go huh? it just seems that a few measly minutes could have added some meat to this tightly well-knit plot.
Bottom line the film is well made and worth your collection if you have the other DC Animations because this is one of the better ones (although I loved them all) but if your someone who just enjoyed Batman Begins and the Dark Knight this should serve as a nice rent-able snack before the third installment comes along.