Whenever we think of the Batman character we usually think of him appearing in American made films with the character only twice appearing in films made by another country. Well now we can make that three times as there is a new Batman film out that actually wasn't produced in America and doesn't feature Bruce Wayne as Batman and well you all just knew that I had to check this film the very first chance that I got and so then join me as I give you mu SPOILER FILLED review of the film that gives us a very different take on the dark knight with the film in question being called simply just "Aztec Batman: Clash Of Empires" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when his father is killed right infront of him a young prince must do whatever he can to find his father's killer and stop him once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty person ally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as to give the film some credit it does try to tell a story that's true to it's Spanish routes but in doing so it makes the film feel less like a Batman story and that point you might as well make the main hero a new character all together a while yes there have been dozens of different versions of the caped crusader but the one thing that they all have in common is the fact that they have plots that are true to that character and that's just something that this films plot is lacking as the film is more focused on giving us the backstory to this new main character then it is in telling a good story and yet when the film does feature scenes that are all about the main plot of the film that's when the film gets good again as this films can be pretty good at times with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film know how to tell a good story and while it is understandable that they have to tell an origin story in this film and it is woven into the film in an organic way it oddly feels like that there stopping the plot inorder to show us how this version of Batman gets all the things that the American version got so easily with the the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Jay Hernandez as Yohualli Coatl / Batman , Raymond Cruz as Yoka and Teresa Ruiz stars as Jaguar Woman. In a rather odd move there's no complete cast list for the English dub of this film with the only three actors listed being the only three that are either confirmed to be in the English dub of the film or in the case of Teresa Ruiz are English speaking and therefor more of an educated guess then anything else and yet there's pretty much a full cast list for the Spanish speaking dub of the film as yes this film does have two dubs out there which is understandable is even in anime they don't just produce it for the American audience and so having dub for the home grown country does make some sort of sense but at the same time tho it would have made just as much sense if there was a complete cast list for the English dub out there as alot of people are just going to be watching that cut of the film and therefor it makes sense to list of those actors and while one name has had to be edited because it does contain a spoiler what can be said is that that person does make for a pretty good version of that character but it would be nice to find out who played the main villain of the film as he was really good in the film with this being yet another example of why we should have a complete cast list for the dub of this film and yet for one reason or another we don't get that which does make it hard to say who it was that was playing who and it means that alot of educated guesses do have to be made just to give the actors the credit that they so rightfully deserve in this film something which can't be done as there's no full cast lost out there right now at this moment intime.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With this films actors really turning in some really solid performances something that couldn't have been easy given the fact that there not playing the iconic versions of these characters and so they can't look at what the other actors did when they were playing the characters they now have to make the character there own and turn in a good performance at the same time something which really isn't all that easy to do as alot of actors struggle to nail there characters down the first time around and yet that's something that lot of this films actors do perfectly and while it is of course far to early to tell if there going to become THE voices for these characters for alot of people you can see them perfecting there characters and getting the chance to voice them again in different projects with the best actor in this film being Jay Hernandez as Yohualli Coatl / Batman as while he does start to sound a little bit like Kevin Conroy near the middle to the end of the film with him giving his character a gravely voice his performance does more then make for it even if the character isn't that well written in the first place with the acting that's in this film not really being helped hy the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Doing the animation for this film really is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Anima Estudios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with this film having some pretty decent looking animation to it which whilst it's not the best looking Batman animated film out there it is alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this films animation should have been really bad as it was done by the studio that did the terrible animated Top Cat movies from the early 2010's but they actually put alot of thought and effort into this films animation with all of the films backgrounds looking really good and alot of the characters having some really fun character designs with the same thing even being true for the Batman characters as well as the animation team behind this film are quite clearly having alot of fun imagining what these truly iconic characters would look like if they were Spanish and were islanders but in saying that tho the films backgrounds as nice as they are to look at do feel pretty lifeless and flat whereas if you look at Gotham City from any Batman movie they make that city feel like a character in it's own right where as with this film the makers of this film make the island that this film takes place on feel alot more like a prop then an actual character as there's nothing visually interesting about this island from a design point of view with even the characters at times having these really stiff looking movements which just look weird.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This film does feature alot of classic Batman villains some of them in cameo roles like for example Poison Ivy and others like Joker and Two-Face taking on main roles in the film. With Joker getting alot of screen time as we see him as Yoka who is a servant to a kind but when he pushes the king to far with him saying that the Two-Face character is to be trusted when everything else says differently the king rightfully kicks him out something which does force him to start going even more crazy then what he already is to the point wear he kills his willing mother who believes that she's doing the right thing to appease some god who both she and Yoka believe are telling him to do these things. With Two-Face in this film taking on the role of main villain and is here called Hernán Cortés and doesn't really get called Two-Face at any point during the films running time with him in this film being someone who is obsessed with gold and will do anything to get more of it even if it means killing them which is something that does make him a a solid villain for this film but at the same time tho we don't get to find out all that much about him as a character where as due to the scene with his mother and siblings we do get to find out more about Joker but both of those characters get better treatment then what Poison Ivy got who only appears in two very brief scenes with her role in this film is to basically be a spirit guide to our new Batman with her speaking in riddles for quite literally no reason whatsoever whereas it would have been more interesting to see her interact with Yohualli Coatl outside of the dreamlike world that she makes him go to whenever she visits him as she does have a pretty solid design and having her be the spirit guide to our new hero could have worked if the makers of this film put alot more effort into making her an actually good character in the first place.
Like what alot of the now officially ended DCEU used to do this film puts alot more thought and effort into setting up sequels to this film rather then making this film good enough in the first place. As during the end of the film we get not one but two scenes which are there just to set up a sequel with the best one showing Joker meeting Two-Face for the first time and Joker asking Two-Face if he can work for him and promising to help him take down Batman and the second one featuring a recently killed Batman coming back to life only now he has yellow eyes neither scene adds anything to this fil and both scenes would have been much more better of if they weren't included in the film at all as the main focus of any film regardless of if it's a superhero film or not should always be to make the best film possible and then if the film is hit film then you can talk about sequels with this being something that lot of comic book movies seem to have forgotten all about as there more focused on setting up the next film then they in making sure that the current film is good enough that people want to see a second film and yet when it comes to this film there's not really been all that much chatter from fans about wanting to see a second film with these characters which granted is most likely due to the fact that alot of people might not even know about the film coming out in the first place but the very fact that the makers of this film thought it was a good idea to have scenes in it that are just there to set up sequels without actually making sure that this film is good enough in the first place does say that the makers of this film care more about the sequels to this film then they do about making sure that this film is actually good in the first place.
To be fair to this film it does have some pretty gory moments in it all of which were shocking to see as when when you think of Batman you don't usually think of gory moments. Yet that's exactly what we got in this film with even the death of Yohualli Coatls chief father being one that whilst it is quick is pretty gory as Two-Face just calmy walks up to him and sticks his sword through his throat and that's it which is a simple kill but it's also one that's really effective with the film even doing a good job of making sure that our new Batman has the proper motivation to become the dark knight and not just straight up copy the origin story for Bruce Wayne as while yes Yohualli did loose his mother as well he lost her before the events of the film even took place with the death of his father being the kill that really motivated him to go and seek out revenge on Two-Face with even his arc in the film goin from someone who just wants revenge and has tunnel vision about reaching that end goal to someone who is willing to lay down his life to save people who he really doesn't know all that well is a flawed arc that's done decently well as it is is something that does come out of the blue as he spends alot of the film moaning about how this one Batgod wouldn't help him out which is fine for a scene or two but it does noting to make the character likable or even interesting and even his romance with this films version Catwoman does feel like it came out of nowhere and was most likely only there because of the fact that the American versions of those characters have a one again and off again romance with each other both of these things are thing that having alot of gore won't fix as while gore can make your film fun to watch it's not a substitute for good storytelling and characters.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty nine minuets and thirty seven seconds. Which again to be fair to this film is a perfectly solid running time for this film to have with the film even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time with the film being more focused on either setting up possible future films ad giving us the backstory for all of it's main characters then it is in telling a good with this possibly being because of the fact that the film has far two many characters which does take up screen time that would have been better spent in further developing the plot of film since as things stand it does feel like that the characters are just going through the motions alot of the time for rhyme or reason with this even effecting the films characters again there so many characters to keep track of that none of time get the chance that they really did need to be fully developed characters as we know as much about all of the characters coming out of the film then we did coming into the film with this being something that very easily could have been fixed just by cutting down on the amount of main characters in the film as we don't need to see Catwoman or Joker in this film as they add nothing to the overall plot of the film with the same thing also being true for Poison Ivy as her role could have been played by Yohuallis dead mother and it would still work just as well but for whatever reason the makers of this film chose to overstuff this film with alot of main characters and because of that the film really does suffer because of it but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty i in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With it being made clear as day that the makers of this film put alot more thought and effort into giving this film some really good looking action in it then they did into giving us a genuinely good film with alot of this films action scenes whilst they are yes really simple by Batman standards that is something that does work well for this film as this is a Batman that doesn't have alot of money and therefor can't afford to buy all of his gadgets and therefor has to make everything himself that and coupled with the fact that this film takes place years in the past it does make sense that we wouldn't get to see any over the top action scenes in this film with the films best action scene being the films third act battle scene as we get to see alot of the characters minus Poison Ivy and Joker for some off reason all get to do something that feels true to there original self with Batman even inventing what is basically the Batplane to help to take down this films version of Two-Face with there fight being one that's really well done and filled to the brim with tension as it does appear like Two-Face could actually win and while this is the best action scene in the whole entire film the film on the whole does have a bounce of really good looking action in it in the first place in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall out of this and the Batman Ninja films the Batman Ninja films are the better films as those two films are at the very least fun to watch whilst also doing something fresh and new with the Batman characters whereas with this film whilst it does have it's moments this film just isn't that much of a fun film to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official DC Movies fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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