Review of Son of Batman (2014) by Kyle E — 28 Apr 2014

Oh boy, calling this a misstep would be a disservice. How about, complete and utter garbage?

For the first time ever, a DC Universe animated feature has managed to piss me off and disgust me. The culprit? An "adaptation" of Grant Morrison's epic and fantastic first part in his Batman legacy, Batman & Son. But don't let the word adaptation fool you, because Son of Batman shares absolutely nothing in common with the source material other then a few of the characters.

The League of Assassins are always shown as this incredible badass group of ninja's helmed by Ra's Al Ghul (oh and don't worry, his name is pronounced wrong the entire time through this debacle), but instead, here they are shown as a group of pussies who seem to only care about technology from the 1800's. The film opens with Slade Wilson, of all people, launching an attack on The League, which makes no sense because he is not apart of this story whatsoever. But don't worry, he is now apparently.

After then ten minute opening, we are treated to Tali dropping off Damian to Batman for safe keeping while she plans a strike on Deathstroke. Oh and your buddy Ra's, he's dead. Don't worry, apparently he is "too beyond repair for the Lazarus pit this time", which wait, huh? Yeah that left me scratching my head for awhile.

We see Batman fighting Killer Croc whom now sports a wicked tail, because that makes sense right? But rather then go through the whole story, let me just bullet point what's wrong with this garbage fest:

- Damian doesn't actually kill anyone after the opening ten minutes, huh?

-Kirk Langstrom isn't Man-Bat here, but he's totally allowed to just chill at the Batcave after Batman and Robin pick him up. He's later seen flying with Nightwing in the Batplane, shooting guns that house his cure for the Man-Bat serum.

-Every voice actor in this with the exception of Batman and Damian sounds awful. They are all flat, and fully aware they are in a shitty direct-to-dvd animated film.

-Batman fights a Bat-Gorilla at one point, which literally has nothing to do with this movie and I'm not sure why it was included.

-There is no mention of Tim Drake Robin in this movie, and instead the film replaces his character for Dick Grayson's Nightwing. That might be the least offensive thing here, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

- Batman not only uses a Lazarus Pit at the end of the film to revive Tali, something he would never do, he commits the cardinal Batman sin of getting in the pit. What? Have these people ever read a Batman comic?

-Why is Kirk Langstrom's daughter a wannabe punk rocker?

- Why are half of the character's eyes Green in this movie?

-Why is Deathstroke in this, and why did they decide to let Damian be the origin story for why he is missing his eye? That's just awful.

Honestly I'd say even for diehard Batman fans, avoid this one. It makes absolutely no sense especially if you've read the graphic novel it is supposedly adapted from, and rather then give the money and support for them to adapt the next part in Morrison's legacy, you should avoid it and wait for the next DCU release, which is Batman: Assault on Arkham, which should be better. Or hell, spend less money on the graphic novel and read that instead, it's a much better use of your time.