Batman: Under the Red Hood is an animated movie based on the comic storyline of the same title. Now I know you might be thinking that because it’s a carton it’s for kids and isn’t your cup of tea. Well you’re dead wrong this is a very mature and dark story arch, they didn’t water down the source material in order to make it kid friendly. It’s meant for an older audience like Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies.
The story in Batman: Under the Red Hood starts with the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd after the Joker beats him half to death with a crowbar and then blows up the building he left him in. Naturally this takes a heavy toll on Batman, not being able to protect his family. Then a new enemy shows up using the same name that the Joker originally went by before meeting Batman. This does involve the Joker’s origin tale for anyone who hasn’t read The Killing Joke and doesn’t know I won’t go into too much detail but basically in it Batman accidentally creates the Joker. Anyways Red Hood wages war with Black Mask and his criminal organization in order to cleanup the streets of Gotham his own way, by killing every criminal he can find.
The movie is full of terrific action scenes and incredible drama. The struggle for Batman to stop a man who is stopping crime, saving lives and getting the type of revenge that Batman so desperately wants after losing Jason. Red Hood wants Batman to join him, help him to protect the city from all the vile criminals that plague Gotham’s streets. Dick Grayson or Nightwing wants to help Batman to stop the Red Hood but Batman doesn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of him. Black Mask becomes so pressured by Red Hood that he makes the same mistake as the mobsters in The Dark Knight and hires the Joker to kill the Red Hood. This war between Red Hood, Batman with Nightwing and Black Mask with Joker leads to some intense scenes that work really well because of the fact that the movie is animated it isn’t limited by the movies and actions that the actors can do.
Speaking of the actors Batman: Under the Red Hood has a spectacular voice cast. Bruce Greenwood plays Batman and does a great job he isn’t Kevin Conroy who is the voice of Batman that we all know and love but he is good enough that after awhile you don’t mind, and that is saying something. It is no small feat to replace a beloved voice actor that we’ve all heard play Batman for years, although I don’t know why they didn’t just hire Kevin Conroy, I mean he is still playing Batman in the video games from Rocksteady (Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City). John Di Maggio who plays the Joker is similar in the respect that he is replacing a beloved voice for an iconic character usually played by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) but still is able to make it his own. Neil Patrick Harris is a terrific actor who I love in How I Met Your Mother and has been in superhero roles before as Spiderman and the Flash and does another great job as Nightwing. His role isn’t the largest but he fits Nightwing quite well. The best voice actor however is the one that I have saved for last and that is Jensen Ackles who may be the single greatest actor ever. Yeah he is that good he’s from the TV series Supernatural which if you haven’t seen it you need to go out and buy the first season right now. Don’t Google it because it will lead to spoilers, I intend to write a recommendation for it as soon as I figure out a way to write about it without using the word awesome in every sentence. However I digress, Jensen Ackles does a phenomenal job as Red Hood the best of anyone in the movie, which is impressive judging from how many more lines Bruce Greenwood has and the fact that it’s about Batman.
Batman: Under the Red Hood is an incredible movie, the best of DC’s animated movies and my second favorite Batman movie after The Dark Knight. In fact it may even be my second favorite superhero movie (it’s a toss up between it and Kick-Ass). Don't let the fact that it is a cartoon fool you the movie is full of great acting, drama, and action if you’re a fan of superheroes you owe it to yourself to pick this one up because it is one of the best films of the year.
Score: 4/5
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