Batman fans for as long as the character of Batman has been popular he's been appearing in most forms of animation be it movies or TV shows. However in recent years it seems like Batman is the go to character for DC Animated Movies with the character appearing in more and more of them be it as a side character or as a main character and so here is my review of
2016's "Batman: Bad Blood" enjoy.
The plot of the movie is two weeks after Batman disappears The League of Shadows are trying to create the perfect solider while also trying to brainwash people starting with Bruce Wayne and so it's up to Robin , Nightwing , Batwoman and new hero Batwing to stop them and find Bruce Wayne before it's to late. As for what I thought about the story it was honestly really good and it's not something that i've not before with the idea of what would happen if Bruce Wayne was kidnapped and then brainwashed being a generally good idea it's just a shame tho that the film doesn't go all the way with that idea which is something that I will talk more about later on in the review.
Reprising their roles from previous the previous DC Animated Movie Universe films are Jason O'Mara as Bruce Wayne / Batman , Stuart Allan as Damian Wayne / Robin , Sean Maher as Dick Grayson / Nightwing and Morena Baccarin as Talia Al Ghul. Joining them are Gaius Charles as Luke Fox / Batwing , Yvonne Strahovski as Kate Kane / Batwoman , Geoff Pierson as Colonel Jacob Kane , Ernie Hudson as Lucius Fox , Travis Willingham as The Heretic and James Garrett as Alfred Pennyworth.
Now then as for what I thought about the acting in the film given that pretty much all of these actors aren't voice actors at all they do a pretty solid job in this movie. Alot of these actors have been playing these roles for close to six years as of this writing and up to two years when this film came out so they would have an idea of what type of performance to give and in my opinion they make the right choices and thus give solid performances , altho I will admit that Yvonne Strahovski didn't really impress me as Batwoman but hey she's doing a better job then Ruby Rose is so there's that at least.
Doing the animation for the film is The Answer Studio who as far as I can tell have mostly worked on anime with the only American productions that I found being two separate Transformers series. I will say that the anime influence can be seen in this film now that I think about it with alot of the fight scenes visually looking like something that you would see in an anime and with that being said the animation quality is pretty high with alot of care being put into each and every frame.
This is the third film in the DC Animated Movie Universe otherwise known as the DCAMU for short. This is a kind of spin off line of films separate from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line of films since films set in the DCAMU are all connected where as all of the other films effectively sit in there own universe with each film occupying it's own world with it's own set of rules and continuity.
Now I hate to bring up the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a DC related post but I really do feel that Marvel Studios has done a better job of creating a cinematic universe then DC has. Now don't get me wrong when it comes to creating a universe in animated form DC has done a really good job the problem is tho none of the stories set up in the films and so none of them feel like they are set in a universe which trust me is a huge issue when it comes to things like character development and characters arc , look at example Tony Stark in the first Iron Man film the character we meet in that film is alot different from the one we see at the end of Avengers: Endgame now let's take a look at Batman the character we see in Justice League War is the same one that we meet in this film with only very mild character development given to him in this film with his latest film Batman: Hush offering none whatsoever.
That is a huge issue because when your starting a cinematic universe your expecting your viewer to invest years of their lives into these characters and they can't do that if there's very little to no character development. Otherwise what's the point in starting a cinematic universe other then to be hip and trendy since apparently every film studio needs to have there own cinematic universe now. Also not helping matters is the fact that these films really aren't telling a story that's spanning these films again look at the MCU they started a story in Iron Man it took them over ten years spanning twenty two films in order to fully tell it here there's no story being told and so why should we invest our time and energy into these films which yes are still good films and I will still get the latest one because of that fact but still if your going to start a cinematic universe then you need to give me a reason to care about this universe.
This film sees the debut of Kate Kane as played by Yvonne Strahovski into the DCAMU which if you recall stands for DC Animated Movie Universe. I have to say that I like this version of her more then I do the version that's currently on The CW and granted i've not seen much of the live action show but i've seen enough to form an opinion on it but getting back to this version of the character tho this version of Kate is a tortured soul much like how she is in the live action but unlike that show she also hides her pain sort of in a way like Bruce would whenever he meets someone new in his live which I thought to be rather interesting.
This film is only an hour and twelve minuets long which does actually feel about the right length if i'm being honest. Simply because there's not much there in terms of story and you this film isn't one that you can get up to ninety minuets at most you'd be able to get it up to an hour and twenty and that's if you include Batwoman's backstory but there would be no way in hell you could get it any longer then that without the film feeling bloated.
Now then boys and girls this is an action film and so that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in the film. Like I said this is where the film in my opinion becomes inspired by anime since like in an anime fight the fight scenes in this film leap f the screen and like in an anime there are alot of crazy moves and alot of camera moves done and I hope that more DC direct to DVD animated films take on an anime inspired style.
Overall this is an entertaining film and if that's all your looking for then your going to walk away happy. Now with that being said if your looking for a film that gives you heaps of character and character development then outside of one scene with Batman then your going to walk away very disappointed since the film has very little of that in it with the focus being more on the action then on the characters as such this film gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
