The Red Hood Returns
You don’t have to have a deep knowledge of the Batman comics over the years to appreciate the story in Batman: Under the Red Hood. While the film is directly based off of events that occurred in years past in the ever-popular comic book, there is enough information given within the film to understand and appreciate what the producers have done here.
The film opens up with Batman desperately trying to get to Robin (the Jason Todd version) before the Joker beats him to death. It’s in these very opening minutes that you can clearly tell this is an animated films aimed at a PG-13 and above audience. While the language stays clean, there is a lot of brutal violence. Much of this violence is dispensed by none other than the Joker, voiced by John DiMaggio. I was impressed at how raw and psychotic Joker was in this film. After beating Robin to a pulp with a crow bar, he then blows up the building, leaving Batman to hold the body of his sidekick, something that happened in the comics back in 1988.
Five years later, Batman still considers his inability to get to Robin in time his greatest failure. But a new distraction in Gotham has caught his attention — another Red Hood. The idea of a criminal wearing a Red Hood has been mimicked by several copycats over the years. The original Red Hood, which I didn’t know before watching this film, was The Joker. This newest Red Hood is agile, smart, good with firearms, and ruthless. He is both a crime lord and a vigilante, and he’s not above killing those who get in his way. This is obviously a fundamental difference that becomes a large part of the plot as Batman seeks to reveal who the Red Hood is and stop him from harassing Gotham.
I thought the plot unfolded interestingly and I was very entertained and captivated by the story for its seventy-five minute duration. It has a serious and dark tone from start to end, with only Nightwing providing some brief pockets of comic relief early on. Bruce Greenwood, who recently starred as Captain Pike in Paramount’s Star Trek film, does a great job as the voice of Batman, too. Simply put, it’s a very well put together movie that is highly entertaining.
Red Hood On Blu-ray
Can I say again how much I like the box art? Great stuff! Underneath the removable jacket you will discover a standard Blu-ray case with the Blu-ray disc and a digital copy disc. Everything from the menu to the closing credits, with this gorgeous raindrops effect, is excellent from a presentation perspective. Animation, when done properly, is some of the best HD demo material around. I thought Warner did a superb job with the technical image quality and the direction of Under the Red Hood. While primarily 2D animation, some seamless moments of 3D, like when Batman is piloting the Batwing, are mixed in. These sequences didn’t seem forced or out of place.
The blend of good art direction and high technical quality is a treat. The audio track is led by a solid cast of voice actors, complimented with a nice score and effects. Overall, a job nicely done indeed.
As for extra features, Warner didn’t skip out here. The extra features total up to more than three hours, although a significant part of this is four animated episodes:
-DC Showcase Presents Jonah Hex – A twelve minute animated short presented in HD that gives viewers some insight into Jonah Hex.
-Robin: The Story of Dick Grayson (25m, HD) – A very interesting look at Robin. Lots of images from comics over the years keep things visually appealing while a half dozen folks provide their thoughts in interviews. Several of these are current and former DC employees that have much experience with the Dynamic Duo.
-Robin’s Requiem: The Tale of Jason Todd (20m, SD) – Another highly entertaining and interesting feature which brings back the DC Comics folks and industry experts from the previous feature to talk about Jason Todd. This feature is in the same format as the Story of Dick Grayson, utilizing a lot of still images from comics over the years. The story behind Jason Todd, not only from the comics, but also the backstory behind the events involved in his demise (and resurrection), are fascinating.
-A First Look At Superman/Batman Apocalypse (12m, HD) – Bruce Timm and several other DC employees talk about the upcoming animated film. Comic book stills are shown along with interviews. It looks like Warner Animation has another intriguing film coming up.
-Bruce Timm’s Top Picks – Four full length episodes from Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. The episodes include “Robin’s Reckoning” (Part 1 and 2), Mad Love, and The Laughing Fish.
-Trailers – There are several trailers included, too. These are “Jonah Hex Motion Comic,” “The Lord of the Rings, Animated,” “Legend of the Guardians,” “Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths,” “Batman: Gotham Knight,” and “Superman: Doomsday.”
That’s honestly more extra features than I expected, but the important thing here is that they are quality features. Let’s get to the summary…