Review of Son of Batman (2014) by Omar L — 23 Apr 2014

I like violence in cartoons as much as the next person, but the violence has to mean something. When blood and injuries are cheap, there is no impact, and it becomes tough to care about the violence.

The darkening of Batman's character over the past decade has made him less and less cool, and this movie is an example of that. Batman has now become a robot, because apparently any display of emotion would be a betrayal of a dark and brooding character. In a story where he is confronted with the knowledge that he has a son, there should be shock, concern, joy, something! But no, this movie doesn't have time for that. It just wants to exploit Damien being a badass that is skilled with a sword.

Damien is fun to watch, but only for those moments that he displays more depth than any other character in this movie. There is a tease of hope of levity when Nightwing makes an appearance, but that aspect is quickly dismissed as the movie has to get back to being bloody and dark.

Come on, DC. You've been better than this.