After the success of the first installment of Animated Asshole Reviews, I decided to continue the tradition with the 2nd-to-last animated feature released by DC Comics/Warner Bros., Batman: Under The Red Hood. For some reason, I cannot actually find it to watch/review, so I will try to conjure up the scenes from memory. This should be exciting. I have no idea how much of the movie cribbed from the original comic book. However, if I recall correctly, there were a ton of similarities.
Hmm… this is going to be a lot harder than I originally thought. Welp, time to just say fuck it and say that you need to buy this movie. Joe DiMaggio, the voice of Bender from Futurama, is the Joker and does an admirable non-Mark Hamill job. The laugh is mediocre, but he does a decent job setting the general tone of the character. He is a scary, competent psychopath, able to dispatch all of Black Mask’s bodyguards with relative ease. His excitement at the family reunion between Jason, Batman, and himself was genuine and fit into his “Batman is my life” mindset. It’s no Hamill, but it wasn’t offensive. Despite the good work, he is completely trumped by Wade Williams as the Black Mask.
For those unfamiliar with the supervillain, the Black Mask is a former CEO of a makeup, company I believe. He came from an incredibly rich family and a business background. He was your typical rich kid with an infatuation, specifically masks. Unfortunately, he created some makeup that proved to be toxic and it ruined his family’s business. It led to a chemical accident that fused a black mask to his face permanently or some shit. I don’t know how much is from memory vs how much I made up, but there’s always wikipedia. Anywho, the guy is immoral and not actually insane like the Joker.
He’s in complete control of his actions and has colorful language. The man is hilarious. He has people around just punch when he gets angry. There was a hilarious scene of a new guy in the fold who quickly learned what his true role was: punching bag. Another great scene involved him belittling his troops and desiring to find the Red Hood, who he made clear that he wants him dead dead. While looking outside the window, he notices a red laser dot rising up his body and settling onto his head. We look out and it’s the Red Hood with a laser-scoped bazooka. The Black Mask gets a “ah fuck me” face, states “ah hell” and bolts for the door.
Despite the funny scenes, the Black Mask is a sadistic character, at least in the comic books. He was in a feud with Catwoman. So, as any respected member of the villain community would do, he kidnapped her familiy. He murdered her brother-in-law in front of her sister, which she fed with the man’s dead body. The Black Mask was also involved in the excrutiating torture of Stephanie Brown, at the time, Batgirl, that lead to her death. It’s a tossup which version I like best, but there’s no denying that the angry crimelord depicted in the animated movie and The Batman cartoon series is the funniest. The villains were great… not so much the heroes.
Neil Patrick Harris, Doogie Howser MD, is the voice of Nightwing who only gets a few fun lines before disappearing after the first few acts. It’s a shame. The man is not only a great actor, but he is a huge fan of participating in comic book movies/shows. Oh well, he does play off well to Batman’s stern, serious nature, like in every form of entertainment involving the Dynamic Duo. Unfortunately, he does not get into a real scuffle with his replacement, Jason Todd, but that’s okay. In the comic book, Jason eventually becomes a member of Nightwing’s rogue stable. Speaking of which, in Grant Morrison’s current run of Batman & Robin, featuring Nightwing or Dick Grayson, as Batman.
In one of the main archs, Jason Todd returns as the Red Hood, with his own sidekick. As an anti-hero, he manages to secure his own villain to fight as a hero and Dick Grayson as an enemy when being villainous. The man is a bi-superhero/villain. Hot. We also found out that Jason is a natural redhead, but dyes it black because Batman wanted him to look like Dick. Another Batman dickery moment.
Jason Todd, the star of the film, is a tragic figure. He was always seen as the lesser Robin out the two, mostly for his short-temper and lack of patience. After Batman’s falling out with Dick, who wanted to be his own hero, Jason probably did not receive the same training and discpline. Whatever the case may be, the man was not Dick Grayson. With his brash nature, it was only a matter of time before he died on the field… and died he did, but not by any supervillain per se, but by comic book fans, themselves. DC Comics, in response to their fanbase’s disapproval of Jason Todd, placed the poor fellow’s fate in the hands of comic book readers. Should Jason Todd die? By a majority, the answer was yes.
For the first time in comic book history, comic book fans had a direct hand in a character’s fate and they decided that his time was up. Collected in the trade paperback, A Death in the Family, Jason Todd was brutally beaten by the Joker with a crowbar, locked in a room, and then was blown up. His death is in the movie, nearly scene-by-scene and it is gruesome. Of course, if he died, how did he come back? Like nearly every comic book character that has ever died, he came back to life, of course.
The culprit was Ra’s al Ghul. Feeling partially responsible for the boy’s death (he hired the Joker), he tried to wrong what was right and resurrected Jason with the use of the Lazurus Pit. I forgot what happened in the film, but I do remember that it’s different from the comic book. Both resurrection stories are fairly retarded, but at least this one is the least convuluted. Ra’s role didn’t have that much of an impact to the main story, so let’s just move on to Batman.
Batman is the same ol Batman. He has his beliefs and code of whatever the fuck. He felt incredibly responsible for the death of Jason, so much that he had the Robin suit the boy died in mounted up in his cave so he has to see it everyday. Jason called him out on it and claimed that it was Batman’s biggest mistake. However, no matter how much anger and spite he felt towards the Joker (he even put the clown in a bodycast at one point), he never “avenged” Jason’s death via murder. Batman’s staunch anti-killing stance was one of, if not the sole reason Jason comes to Gotham to clean up crime. He wanted to show that murder can solve things. If he kills the bad guys, there won’t be bad guys to commit crimes. Sticking to his guns, Batman criticizes Jason, asking who the bad guy really is.
In the climatic showdown between the Red Hood and Batman, the Caped Crusader admits that he wants to kill the Joker. He wants the psycho to pay for all of the miseries he has caused. It takes strength not to go the easy route, but he carries on. If he murders the Joker, what’s to stop him from justifying murdering others? Sure, the Penguin and Killer Moth are relatively harmless villains, but if Batman crossed that line once, what would it take to lead the bad guys to Batman’s guillotine?
Each comic book character was represented well and the storyline was enthralling enough to keep me interested. This is DC Comics’ darkest animated flick yet and by god it’ll be hard to top. A dufflebag full of heads. If you’re a Batman fan, you already own this DVD. If you’re not a Batman fan, you should watch this to justify your hatred for the man. He is, after all, considered the source for all the costumed problems in Gotham. He motivated the supervillains to come out of the woodwork and now he has inspired anti-heroes who have no qualms in sending a missle through a skyscraper. What a dick.
The best part is the ending, so be sure to at least get to that. It’ll make you go 🙁
