Batman: Assault on Arkham

Assault on Arkham can stand alone as a title without the Batman branding getting in before the colon. Bats is hardly in this movie, reduced to a bit-part player in a grander scheme which doesn't really need to involve him. The Suicide Squad never really interested me and I will probably pass on the forthcoming movie (purely because charisma-vacuum Jai Courtney is in it) but damn to they make for a great team here. I almost wished Batman was stay out of it and let their plans unfold as intended.

Shady US Govt. lady Waller (CCH Pounder) recruits Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Black Spider, King Shark, and Killer Frost to break into Arkham Asylum undetected and steal something belonging to the Riddler before finding and defusing a dirty bomb hidden by the Joker. I'm sure Batman (here, properly voiced by Kevin Conroy once more) would have done a much more efficient job without the high body count, but then we wouldn't have a movie. He and Waller don't see eye-to-eye anyways. It's fun watching them execute their plan and infiltrate the deep recesses of the island. It could have been more atmospheric though. A lot of the backgrounds look to clean and polished. It lacks the Gothic pathos of Arkham City games that inspired it. Batman soon shows up anyways and spoils everything, but does it smartly.

Assault on Arkham is a major step away (and in the right direction) from the family orientated animated Batman series and movies from the 90s. With sex, nudity, and graphic death on show for our enjoyment it's not exactly something you can distract your 7-year-old (if you're really prudish, that is). But I believe Batman should be geared more towards adults anyway.

Joker is voiced by Troy Baker but he does a great job of emulating Mark Hamill's style, and the higher rating allows him to be more violent and evil. The writing could be tighter and it could have had more of an atmosphere, but this one still comes highly recommended, even if Batman's presence sort of spoilt it a bit.

It's weird that you'll ever find yourself rooting for the bad guys to win and "Assault on Arkham" makes you do this exactly.

The film introduces you to an ensemble of villains, given an objective that depends on their lives. You find yourself quite absorbed in the plot and the characters as they interact with each other (not always harmoniously), almost wanting to see them succeed when going to the lengths that they do.

If you're turning this film on expecting it to be a "Batman" film then you may be disappointed to know that he only appears for a few minutes at a time and that the central focus actually lies on the Suicide Squad, but, knowing this in advance allows you to enjoy and appreciate the film a lot more. Thankfully, I was informed of this beforehand and equally loved seeing either Batman or his adversaries on-screen, therefore making it all the more exciting to see them all appear at once at the same time.

The animation and art style is great and superb voice acting by Kevin Conroy (Batman), Troy Baker (The Joker), Neal McDonough (Deadshot) and pretty much everyone else; they really bring the characters to life, especially Conroy who has been voicing the caped crusader for decades and practically knows the character inside out.

My only issue with "Batman: Assault on Arkham" is that it is too short, especially when the film gets going in the final act and has a lot to potentially offer but doesn't really have the time or room to explore. This is a good animated film and definitely worth the watch if you're a Batman fan, especially if you're familiar with the "Batman: Arkham" video game series.

Villains get the spotlight in BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM, a loose prequel set before the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum video game. A black ops mission to assassinate the Riddler is foiled by Batman, prompting CIA operative Amanda Waller to assemble "Task Force X", aka The Suicide Squad. Morally ambiguous Vigilante Black Spider, seductive ice queen Killer Frost, savage brute King Shark, Australian scoundrel Captain Boomerang, crazy Harley Quinn and the cynical assassin Deadshot. These sociopathic misfits have to put aside their differences to work together, lest they "lose their heads".

Playing out like a good ol fashioned heist film in the vein of THE Italian JOB or OCEAN'S ELEVEN, we see six villains assembled by Amanda Waller and sent on a mission impossible deep into the heart of the dreaded Arkham Asylum to retrieve a thumb drive containing sensitive information, that was in the Riddler's possession. From the electronic heavy rock soundtrack to the Taratino-esque roll call opening credits sequence, you know you are in for a completely different animated movie. The fun begins when we get to see how well these bad guys play off one another in a script that is chock full of dark humour and depth.

Although each villain does not get much development, we do get a "keynotes" look into their personalities, their motivations and their minds as the brisk pace of the movie sprints from action scene to action scene. Their roles in the team are familiar archetypes for classic villain teams: the alpha male leader (Deadshot), the butt monkey backstabber (Captain Boomerang), the dumb muscle (King Shark), the seductress (Killer Frost), the mysterious odd one out (Black Spider), and the psycho (Harley Quinn). Yet in this familiarity comes the opportunity for the characters to truly shine thanks to some magnificent chemistry and voice acting.

Alas, for a title named "Batman: Assault on Arkham" the titular Batman plays a supporting, almost cameo, role. But when he does appear, he exhibits a powerful on screen presence. Those barely visible eyes staring intensely from within the cowl, the new look of the costume which blends the dark blue streamlined design of Justice League Unlimited with the armoured detailing of New 52, not to mention the return of the classic Batman voice Kevin Conroy. But I digress. Batman is not the focus here, the Suicide Squad is. And they get one hell of a 75 minute showcase. Throughout the movie, you get a sense that some of the team members have their own agenda and secrets. What looks like a crazy outburst turns out to be a well calculated distraction for example. This movie keeps you guessing and keeps the tension up from start to finish.

Like previous DC Animated movies, ASSAULT ON ARKHAM does not shy away from bloody violence or semi-sexual depictions. The near nudity, the blood letting, it is insane, threading close to an "R" rating. Action is smooth, fluid, with a very high budget quality which combines detailed artwork with dynamic animation. Visually, Moi Animation studios have outdone themselves once again delivering top notch animation that surpasses many of their Japanese anime counterparts. For quick comparison, take a look at the animation on SON OF BATMAN done by Japanese anime studio "TheAnswerStudio" and then compare it to the visuals in BATMAN ASSAULT ON ARKHAM. No contest.

BATMAN ASSAULT ON ARKHAM was a risky experiment, but an experiment that pays off. Edgy but fun, dark but not brooding, intense but not shallow. There seem to be things you can do on screen and a dark sense of fun you get with villains instead of heroes. Here I am hoping that DC would consider releasing a villain centric animated movie for every two hero centric movies per year. The DC rogues gallery needs to be tapped and tapped well. This is a good star

I just finishing watching Son of Batman, and I was thinking to myself, this movie is pretty edgy and leans more toward adults than I would ever expected. Than I saw Assault on Arkham, and can see were the DCAU is going. This is far more Edgy.

The movie takes elements from the recent run of Suicide Squad of the new 52s revamp at DC comics and mixes it with elements of the Batman Akrham game series. Batman wears the costume from the game, but has the voice of the greatest man ever to play (voice) Batman, Kevin Conroy.

Batman takes a slight step back in this movie as Amanda Waller assembles the suicide Squad to get a thumb drive the Riddler has on all the members of the Suicide Squad before he makes it public. They have to infiltrate Arkham in order to do it.

The animated film is Dark, it reminds me of the late 80's early 90's anime like Gogolo 13 and fist of the North Star that got me into anime in the first place. I'm happy to see Warner Bros. animation go in this direction.

Two thumbs up!

This is damn near perfect in every way, all the things that WB got wrong with Suicide Squad (and they have got everything wrong), DC animations got just right. The villains! Oh my God! The villains! The Joker! All hail the voice acting of Troy Baker as the Joker, rivaling only the performance of Mark Hamill in other DC animations. If you are a DC fan, you have to watch this movie, it's everything you wanted Suicide Squad to be, but came out of the theater saying "WTF was that?", this is everything that's right about the concept of Suicide Squad, and nothing of the cringe worthy stuff that we've gotten in the theatrical live action release. This movie is dark, gritty, bloody and mature, a true animated masterpiece!