Review of Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) by David B — 09 Apr 2011

I derive great pleasure whenever I see a film whose villain has great motivation for the horror and calamity they wreak. The Red Hood in this film is one such character, which makes him a fascinating personage. In fact, I was intrigued at thier choice of the Red Hood as the villain, since he is not really a specific character like the Joker. Red Hood refers to the moniker, mask and identity that any criminal in Gotham could assume for the sake of anonymity. There is so much you can do with such a versatile template upon which to build your villain, and they use him to great avail.

I was a little bit sorry to see that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hammill weren't brought back for this film: I mean, in the minds of most die-hard Batman fans, they are the quintessential actors for Batman and the Joker. Everyone else is absolutely wonderful in this though, especially Jensen Ackles and Neil Patrick Harris as Red Hood and Nightwing, respectively. Ackles' voice is absolutely terrific, and he's got a really scary quality that he can turn on when he wants to. I found it especially menacing when Red Hood speaks quietly ("You're going to be as quiet as possible..."). Another thing that I really love about this movie is how faithful it is not just to the tone of the Batman comics (that is, very dark - shockingly so for a children's film) but to the mythos as well. They take a few liberties here when assigning identities to Red Hood, but they make it work spectacularly. It's been a long time since I saw an explosive action ending as jaw-droppingly ingenious and wickedly delicious as this one. I was on the edge of my seat. What killed me about it is that the writers GOT EVERY CHARACTER EXACTLY RIGHT. Everyone rings true. The icing on the cake was the role that the Joker was given in the climax. He's not the main villain, and he makes very clear his profound amusement at being a pawn in the game. Oh man. I'm going to buy this movie.