DC Animated - Batman Under the Red Hood

[The Caped Knight]

I saw this film last night and I've gotta say OMG this film is outstanding . The story is very solid and remains very true to the source material established in the comics . And it really touches upon in an incredible Why Batman has that one rule he won't break even though it would make his life a lot easier if he did .

Spoilers ahead read at your own risk

Spoiler

Voice cast

1. Jensen Ackles steals the show in this film as The Red Hood / Jason Todd . From his first appearance meeting with the territorial gang bosses of Gotham in the beginning to the final Confrontation between Jason vs. The Joker and Batman at the end . Jensen shines as Jason. Now everytime I read anything related to The Red Hood in the comics I've finally got a voice that fits perfectly with the character .

2. Bruce Greenwood as Batman/Bruce Wayne, IMO their is only one man that is and forever will be the definitive voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne and that's Kevin Conroy. With that said Greenwood was very good voicing the character in this film even though their are times you could swear that he was actually Conroy in the way he delivered some of his lines .

Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing / Dick Grayson, is awesome he nails the sarcastic wit of Grayson's character perfectly while also adding a layer of badassness.

John DiMaggio as The Joker, like I said about Conroy the same goes for Mark Hamill . He is the definitive voice of The Joker. John's Joker is definitely channeling the laugh of Hamill while his voice sound more along the same lines to Heath Ledger only deeper. Which works great in this film .

Wade Williams as Black Mask is hilarious . I never pictured I'd be laughing everytime Black Mask is on screen. TPTB have successfully managed to make Black Mask both still very menacing as a Crime Lord yet down right funny at the same time .

Jason Isaacs as Ra's al Ghul, This was the only voice that really didn't impress me. I guess I'm just so use to David Warner's portrayal from BTAS that I just found Ra's to be very dull in this film . He serves a purpose but his voice doesn't seem to have that commanding presence. Then again maybe it's just me .

Animation
Wow this film had stellar piece of animation so much so I'd love to see a new Animated series done this way . The darkness of Gotham City was perfectly captured in this film . I loved all the character designs used in this film. IMO Batman worked the best . Also all the fight sequences were awesome and very well choreographed.

You could see that the inspiration for the look of Gotham City is based off of Nolan's Gotham with BTAS.


Homages
I love the homage that appeared in this film.

0. The Death in the family

1. The first Chase between Batman and The Red hood that leads to the Axis Chemicals where we see the flashback of Batman vs. The first Red Hood who would become The Joker . BTW did anyone else notice the BTAS Joker calling card ? I did .

2. Batman in crime alley flashback to the first meeting between Jason and Batman .

3. The Batmobile looks like a mixture of the BTAS mixed with the original design from the comics

4. Jason's Teen Robin outfit is clearly based off of Tim Drake's second suit The Red, Black and yellow that he wore in TNBA and the comics.

5. The Resurrection of Jason Todd in the Lazarus pit by Ra's al Ghul & Talia

6. Jason's revenge against The Joker beating him with a crowbar

7. The unmasking of Jason revealing him wearing the domino mask under his Red Hood

8. And of course Jason forcing Bruce to kill The Joker .

notable shoutout

1. Batman and Nightwing vs. Amazo

2. Batman and Robin (Jason) vs. The Riddler

I really hope to see Batman :Hush as well as BATMAN : TLH, Batman: Knightfall, and The Killing Joke in future installments of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. This movie proves it can be done.

My ranking of DC Universe Animated Original Movies

1. Batman : Under The Red Hood
2. Superman/Batman : Public Enemies
3. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
4. Justice League: The New Frontier
5. Batman: Gotham Knight
6. Wonder Woman
7. Green Lantern : First Flight
8. Superman: Doomsday

I can't wait to see Superman/Batman: Apocalypse the preview has me very excited Bruce Timm and company have done it again .

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is still the Best animated movie followed by Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker then Batman: Under the Red Hood with Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero .

 

[Grommers]

Brilliant.

My biggest gripe was Red Hoods voice acting, but it grows on you, I just hate the difference in tone from his time as Robin to the Red Hood.

Dimaggio as joker was brilliant, it didnt feel like a re-hash of Hamills, but sounded similar. Very very well done.

Animation - stellar.

Definitely would rate this movie # behind MotP and RotJ and then wonder woman , justice league crisis on 2 earths and green lantern.

 

[DrMylesOBoogie]

Really enjoyed this. It's almost as good as COTE so I'm hopefully that they could be finding their stride here. Voice acting was superb from everyone. Jenson Ackles was particuarly good.

This is more like the way Jason should have been resurrected (via Lasarus Pit) but I would have preferred if R'as did it in hope to train Jason as his heir with his final test to defeat Batman. R'as just didn't seem like R'as in this. Jason should always have been Hush imo.

In most aspects it was superior to the comics but a couple of things bothered me.

1. Jason's mother being killed with him in ADITF made it so much more tragic and emotional
2. The Amazo fight had alot more suspense possibley because we had the internal monologue boxes
3. Black Mask was WAY cooler in the comics. He had th quirkiest sense of humour and was reduced to a panicky, shouting mob boss in this.

 

[jondoe]

Definitely would rate this movie # behind MotP and RotJ and then wonder woman , justice league crisis on 2 earths and green lantern.

You and me both.

 

[Mr. Earle]

Wade Williams as Black Mask is hilarious . I never pictured I'd be laughing everytime Black Mask is on screen. TPTB have successfully managed to make Black Mask both still very menacing as a Crime Lord yet down right funny at the same time .

Jason Isaacs as Ra's al Ghul, This was the only voice that really didn't impress me. I guess I'm just so use to David Warner's portrayal from BTAS that I just found Ra's to be very dull in this film . He serves a purpose but his voice doesn't seem to have that commanding presence. Then again maybe it's just me .

I agree about Black Mask (he was hilarious) and Isaacs as Ras (he really was unimpressive).

Wow this film had stellar piece of animation so much so I'd love to see a new Animated series done this way . The darkness of Gotham City was perfectly captured in this film . I loved all the character designs used in this film. IMO Batman worked the best . Also all the fight sequences were awesome and very well choreographed.

Agreed. It would be great if we got an animated series like this, and even greater if the live action movies were like this as well. The design of Gotham, the cave, the villains (i liked those assassins. Enough is enough with those damn mobsters!), the balls to the wall fight scenes, etc.

You could see that the inspiration for the look of Gotham City is based off of Nolan's Gotham with BTAS.

I think that they were inspired by comics Gotham most of all. Nolan didnt invent the Gotham monorail if that's what you re thinking.

This is more like the way Jason should have been resurrected (via Lasarus Pit) but I would have preferred if R'as did it in hope to train Jason as his heir with his final test to defeat Batman. R'as just didn't seem like R'as in this.

Ras has his own weird moral code. I suppose that he feels responsible for killing a little kid, especially the kid of the man he respects the most.

3. Black Mask was WAY cooler in the comics. He had th quirkiest sense of humour and was reduced to a panicky, shouting mob boss in this.

I think it was intentional. With the Joker being creapy, Red Hood and Batman being angsty and brooding, they had to get comic relief from somewhere. And seeing that Black Mask had quite enough screentime, but never during the dramatic scenes (so that the comic relief wouldnt cheapen them), he was perfect for it. I really enjoyed him!

 

[The Caped Knight]

I'm very curious to know why TPTB decided to give Jason as Teen Robin, Tim's updated Robin outfit and not stick with the Classic Red Yellow and Green .

Spoiler

Original

Updated

Film version

Also I loved the Interrogation sequence in Arkham between Batman, Nightwing against the Joker . You could see that The Joker was intentionally trying to push Batman over the edge . I kept think of the badass version in the film The Dark Knight with Bale and Ledger . I was almost expecting Greenwood as Batman to say I have One Rule.

I also loved when [Blackout]Batman admitted to Jason that not one single day hasn't gone by when he hasn't thought of killing The Joker for all the pain he's cause him and the people close to him.[/Blackout] But then give such a damn good reason why he upholds that one rule he won't break.

 

[jondoe]

I also loved when [Blackout]Batman admitted to Jason that not one single day hasn't gone by when he hasn't thought of killing The Joker for all the pain he's cause him and the people close to him.[/Blackout] But then give such a damn good reason why he upholds that one rule he won't break.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Mike059jig]

I thought this was great, DC animation is so good. I thought the joker scenes where just superb and I love John DiMaggio joker voice; he was so reminiscent of Ledgers joker. The Climatic ending was also great, 9/10

 

[The Joker]

I've watched it three times now, and it got better with each viewing. It's now my firm favorite animated Batman movie. MOTP and ROTJ have been dethroned.

Btw, the extras on the Blu-Ray are really great. I just watch the Jonah Hex animated short. It was terrific.

 

[The Caped Knight]

I just watch the Jonah Hex animated short. It was terrific.

Basically this is what the live action film should've been .

 

[Septon]

I have just seen the movie and the unrealistic unbloody violence just spoil me everything! Worse of all, blood appears and disappears on Robin in the opening sequence! The floor is full of blood but the boy is perfectly clean! Even after the explosion : no one ******g drop of blood. It's RIDICULOUS !!!

I'am a huge fan of Bruce Timm and its team, but this time it's RIDICULOUS! And the car chase sequence is so UGLY. Please, PLEASE stop with this ******g 3D ugly sequences!

So bad because the movie is really awesome.

Enough of ********s, we want separate releases for this DCUAOM collection. PG-13 and uncut ones. An uncut version of Under the Red Hood need to be release, please.

 

[Rumpy Bulge Dubz]

10 More Days

 

[Crook]

Anyone know if there are any store exclusives associated with the BluRay release? All I could find was Amazon's litho offer, but it doesn't seem worth it.

 

[biggles2000uk]

I have just seen the movie and the unrealistic unbloody violence just spoil me everything! Worse of all, blood appears and disappears on Robin in the opening sequence! The floor is full of blood but the boy is perfectly clean! Even after the explosion : no one ******g drop of blood. It's RIDICULOUS !!!

I'am a huge fan of Bruce Timm and its team, but this time it's RIDICULOUS! And the car chase sequence is so UGLY. Please, PLEASE stop with this ******g 3D ugly sequences!

So bad because the movie is really awesome.

Enough of ********s, we want separate releases for this DCUAOM collection. PG-13 and uncut ones. An uncut version of Under the Red Hood need to be release, please.

spot the teenie

 

[Gold Samurai]

I thought it was great!

With Timm involved, this DTV felt the closes in capturing the spirit of the Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures.

Shame Nightwing was taken out so early. Would have been nice to have seen him react to who Red Hood is.

"May I have glass of water?"

That Joker scene could have been out of "The Dark Knight"

The music would intensify like the scene in "The Dark Knight" where Joker would proceed to slit the mobsters mouth.

"I'll need some guard's, not these guys because they're dead"

When DiMaggio said guard's it was very Ledger joker


I know that Batman the animated series and The New Batman Adventures all had Japanese influences(In character drawings etc) but this almost felt like an anime at times.

Perhaps it was the style of violence.

Bruce Greenwood at times sounded like Solid Snake.

Nice incorporation of flashbacks

 

[Prison Mike]

Saw this movie last week. Easily one of the best DC Animated Movies. Probably my favorite. I know a lot of you have been comparing it to Mask of the Phantasm and while I think MofP is still better, this one has some good emotion to it as well. The guy who voiced The Joker stole the movie for me. He reminded me so much of Hamil's Joker and I think that's a good thing. If we can't have Mark Hamil, then this guy is the next best thing. All in all, I enjoyed this movie tremendously and will get it on blu-ray (once I get myself a blu-ray player).

 

[Rob Lobo]

The guy who voice for Joker is also Bender from Futurama too

 

[The Joker]

"May I have glass of water?"

That Joker scene could have been out of "The Dark Knight"

I think that scene was this movie's version of Joker's magic trick with the pencil in TDK. Shocking, awesome, and so unexpected.

 

[Rumpy Bulge Dubz]

can't wait to see this and the Jonah Hex short

hurry up 10 days, and you're probably going to drag now that it's almost here

and people, Spoiler Tags would be appreciated

 

[Mr. Earle]

I didnt like the Joker that much. When he sounded like Hamill he was good, but the rest of the time he sounded like an old man and looked like an old man, what with his serious attitude (he was more like Nicholson's Joker than BTAS) and his old man eyebrows...

 

[Mr. Earle]

can't wait to see this and the Jonah Hex short

hurry up 10 days, and you're probably going to drag now that it's almost here

and people, Spoiler Tags would be appreciated

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Jason dies!

Spoiler

Or does he?

 

[Gold Samurai]

07.27.10.

Dammit! I never paid attention to the release date and ASSUMED it was already released. I'm so sorry.

 

[Rumpy Bulge Dubz]

yea, you people tend to "sleep with the right people" and get these damn things a month early. It's always the same with every single animated movie

well we all don't have those "connects"

some of us, you know, actually have to wait for the release date in order to see these

and apology accepted Samurai

 

[samsnee]

The ending was bittersweet and kind of sad. Greenwood was very good as Batman, but I kept hearing Bender come through a couple of times with Joker's voice. By far the most violent DTV film yet though. The scene where

Spoiler

the dude got burned alive

was completely unexpected.

 

[Venom]

The ending was bittersweet and kind of sad. Greenwood was very good as Batman, but I kept hearing Bender come through a couple of times with Joker's voice. By far the most violent DTV film yet though. The scene where

Spoiler

the dude got burned alive

was completely unexpected.

Interesting trivia: that scene was lifted directly from the comics, in the Red Hood story arc.