Review of Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) by Rhynal R — 11 Nov 2014

As the first animated movie based on Rocksteady's Arkham universe, Assault on Arkham has a lot to live up to; and satisfyingly, it does. It manages to defy expectations and is worthy of the Arkham title.

Interestingly enough, the movie's not all about Batman; it's actually about the Suicide squad. The movie's a sequel to the Arkham Origins game and picks up right where they left off, well, despite no Deathstroke. Instead, we get a list of C villains who, voiced by some great voice actors, manage to entertain and surprise largely due to the well written script and humour that is evoked through various character interactions. Deadshot's the 'main character' if you will, and he makes a great one; managing to sort of replace Batman in terms of lead role. The movie's pretty dark though; with extreme violence and times and gore, but nothing too sadistic to be worried about, especially after the likes of "Flash point paradox" .

It's a gorgeous movie that's well animated and its packed with action. In fact, I'd have to say there are no slow portions of the movie; it's incredibly well paced and when the action is happening, it's fantastic. Batman kicks ass as usual, despite some of the usual 'he can't actually do all that because he's human but meh; He's Batman'. There are easter eggs all over for fans of the franchise; Two Face, Ivy, and of course, how could I forget the Joker. About half way in he's introduced and as always, he completely steals the show. Troy Baker just owns the character and I should mention that it's so great to have Kevin Conroy as Batman again, despite that he had minimal activity in this one.

It's not all great though; with some plot holes and an awkward time line based on the universe I'm well versed in; on top of that, because they're C list villains, though I don't recall seeing some of them in the comics, some of them were killed off and I thought that was a little excessive. Black Spider being the most disappointing as he had such a great introduction and was sacrificed for a plot twist; granted I saw it coming, it was still a good one. It's unfortunately also got that hollywood blockbuster movie ending which sets up, possibly, either another movie or to continue in the game, which is not necessarily a bad thing; just felt cheesy.

All in all, Assault on Arkham is a good movie and just goes to show that even movies based on games can actually be good, given that they stick to the source material and that they have a good script. All DC animated fans will love it; and all fans of Rocksteady's Batman franchise, probably already own it as I speak. Nicely done, DC. Another one in the vault. 8.0/10.