DC Universe - Batman: Soul of the Dragon (DTV)

[The Caped Knight]

This was surprisingly good. It wasn’t really about Batman. It was more about Richard Dragon, also I loved the 70s era vibe, with music and style. Easily the best display of fighting in animation combat.

 

[Just_Bleed]

I love and hate this movie. Great martial arts flick, but didn’t had enough Batman. I didn’t like how they made Batman a little *****. They kind of disrespected his character. Could of made Bruce Wayne put up a better fight against Bronze Tiger.

 

[The Caped Knight]

I love and hate this movie. Great martial arts flick, but didn’t had enough Batman. I didn’t like how they made Batman a little *****. They kind of disrespected his character. Could of made Bruce Wayne put up a better fight against Bronze Tiger.

actually, this was accurate because Bruce had not yet become The Batman. He was still training and it also established that Bruce’s unbreakable will to not back down. Would serve him well in the long run.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Don't fans always complain that Bruce Timm pushes the Bat-God agenda too much?

And now that he doesn't for ONE movie (in which Bruce is clearly not the strongest fighter), he's meet with more complaints from fans for not making Batman the most bad-ass one in the movie?

Sheesh.

 

[metaphysician]

I love and hate this movie. Great martial arts flick, but didn’t had enough Batman. I didn’t like how they made Batman a little *****. They kind of disrespected his character. Could of made Bruce Wayne put up a better fight against Bronze Tiger.

You do realize that, in the comics, Batman's track record against the Bronze Tiger is not great, right? IIRC, of the three or so encounters they had before the huge wave of reboots, they went something like "one clean Batman loss" and "two ambiguous or mixed results", and Bronze Tiger otherwise had stuff like "beating up parademons with his bare hands".

Batman not being The Best Martial Artist Ever has been a fairly consistent thing when the comics actually go outside Gotham itself.

 

[Frodo]

Don't fans always complain that Bruce Timm pushes the Bat-God agenda too much?

And now that he doesn't for ONE movie (in which Bruce is clearly not the strongest fighter), he's meet with more complaints from fans for not making Batman the most bad-ass one in the movie?

Sheesh.

I haven't seen the film , but I actually prefer a Batman who's good at several fighting techniques , but isn't the greatest fighter in America or on earth.

He's human with no powers, and that's what's always appealed to me with regards to the character.

Now, I can't speak to how its handled in this film, but I actually don't have an issue with Bruce being out of his league a bit depending on who his opponents are or who he's running with.

 

[metaphysician]

I haven't seen the film , but I actually prefer a Batman who's good at several fighting techniques , but isn't the greatest fighter in America or on earth.

He's human with no powers, and that's what's always appealed to me with regards to the character.

Now, I can't speak to how its handled in this film, but I actually don't have an issue with Bruce being out of his league a bit depending on who his opponents are or who he's running with.

On a thematic level, I'd say it works best if *in this school of martial artists*, Bruce is actually the worst of the bunch. The reason is that. . . fundamentally, this is a genre jump, into the quasi-mystical martial arts genre, where things like philosophical enlightenment matter a lot. And Bruce, even at his best, is a hard headed pragmatist and dilettante, who studies martial arts as a tool for a pre-established purpose. That just isn't the mindset that leads to achieving Kung Fu Perfection, not compared to people for whom martial arts are their entire life, and where they really push into the specific philosophies. Hence why the traditional Number 1 and Number 2 are Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva.

 

[fan4stic]

I wasn't a fan of the cliffhanger. Will there be a sequel?

 

[Frodo]

On a thematic level, I'd say it works best if *in this school of martial artists*, Bruce is actually the worst of the bunch. The reason is that. . . fundamentally, this is a genre jump, into the quasi-mystical martial arts genre, where things like philosophical enlightenment matter a lot. And Bruce, even at his best, is a hard headed pragmatist and dilettante, who studies martial arts as a tool for a pre-established purpose. That just isn't the mindset that leads to achieving Kung Fu Perfection, not compared to people for whom martial arts are their entire life, and where they really push into the specific philosophies. Hence why the traditional Number 1 and Number 2 are Richard Dragon and Lady Shiva.

Ah, I see. I'm totally fine with that. I agree with you that martial arts is a tool for Bruce, and it's only one of many tools for him. I see Bruce as someone who would dabble in several different fighting styles from Karate, to Tae Kwan Do, to Jujitsu , to kickboxing, to Krav Maga, but it doesn't mean he's the master of all of those styles.

Like anyone else, he may be more proficient at one more than the other, and he may excel at one style over the other. In most instances, even with villains like Joker, Two Face, Riddler, or just common street hoods and mob capos, he's not gonna need to use all of the fighting tools in his kit since he's gonna be the most physically dominate figure in that battle.

However, as his master once said to his opponent in The Night of the Ninja BTAS episode, " There's always some one better". Just because he can physically dominate in the majority of his encounters, doesn't mean he couldn't be bested or have his bum handed to him if his opponent or opponents are better than him.

So, I've always accepted the aspect of Batman that he may not always be the best fighter or physical specimen ,depending on the circumstance.

 

[metaphysician]

Ah, I see. I'm totally fine with that. I agree with you that martial arts is a tool for Bruce, and it's only one of many tools for him. I see Bruce as someone who would dabble in several different fighting styles from Karate, to Tae Kwan Do, to Jujitsu , to kickboxing, to Krav Maga, but it doesn't mean he's the master of all of those styles.

Like anyone else, he may be more proficient at one more than the other, and he may excel at one style over the other. In most instances, even with villains like Joker, Two Face, Riddler, or just common street hoods and mob capos, he's not gonna need to use all of the fighting tools in his kit since he's gonna be the most physically dominate figure in that battle.

However, as his master once said to his opponent in The Night of the Ninja BTAS episode, " There's always some one better". Just because he can physically dominate in the majority of his encounters, doesn't mean he couldn't be bested or have his bum handed to him if his opponent or opponents are better than him.

So, I've always accepted the aspect of Batman that he may not always be the best fighter or physical specimen ,depending on the circumstance.

Pretty much. Its analogous to how, while Batman is usually a decent scientist, he's not able to keep up with the true supergenius experts. Its not that he's stupid or anything, its just that he's not a single field expert like someone such as Atom or Steel.

( So what *is* Batman best in the world at? Investigation, stealth, and tactics/strategy, I'd say. In all those fields, he is at the top, with others *maybe* being able to equal him, but not exceed. In everything else, he is varyingly good, but relies on "jack of all trades" as his primary schtick. Its just that, in a lot of situations, "not actually the best at ____ in the world" still leaves him massively better than the average opponent at it. )

 

[Holy Slapper]

I watched it last night. I'm split. I liked the story, setting or atmosphere. I didn't like the animation, it was too much like the animated series. I expect better from a movie. Batman's cowl especially looked off. I felt like some villains needed more background. And I definitely hated the cliffhanger ending.

 

[Batmannerism]

Just saw this on Netflix.

This is great - basically Batman does Enter the Dragon. A wonderful throwback to 70s kung fu flicks, including a 70s animation style and soundtrack. Terrific voice cast too - and sideburns, pure awesomeness.

While it is a Batman film, the real star is Mark Dacascos as Bruce Lee....I mean Richard Dragon.

I give it a 9/10 for pure fun value.

 

[Longshot777]

Just saw this on Netflix.

This is great - basically Batman does Enter the Dragon. A wonderful throwback to 70s kung fu flicks, including a 70s animation style and soundtrack. Terrific voice cast too - and sideburns, pure awesomeness.

While it is a Batman film, the real star is Mark Dacascos as Bruce Lee....I mean Richard Dragon.

I give it a 9/10 for pure fun value.

Netflix??? On what country??? It’s not in America.

Why is this not on HBO Max??? And the executives wonder why they can’t beat Netflix.

 

[Batmannerism]

Netflix??? On what country??? It’s not in America.

Why is this not on HBO Max??? And the executives wonder why they can’t beat Netflix.

New Zealand.

 

[Babillygunn]

Just saw this last night. 9.5/10. I loved it. Loved everything about it.

 

[Slick]

That opening with King Cobra was dark as hell like wtf I did not expect that.