The film begins with an adaptation from the now-classic "Death in the Family" storyline where Joker beats Jason Todd with a crowbar and then leaves him to die in an exploding warehouse. They took out the part where Jason is looking for his mother and instead made a minor change in that the Joker was working with/for Ras Al Ghul.
Flashforward to modern day where Batman has continued on without a Robin (by the time Judd Winick's "Under the Hood" storyline came out, Tim Drake had been Robin for years, though this story might have taken place during one of his 'breaks' from the mantle) and a new player (the Red Hood) has set himself against both Batman and the current Gotham crimelord, Black Mask. The story continues as Batman tries to deduce the identity of the new, ultra-violent vigilante as well as keep Gotham safe from the Black Mask.
So, that's the short end of it, now for the review.
The Voice Cast: I'm a huge fan of Jensen Ackles, but I will admit I was a bit apprehensive after hearing his initial line-readings. That said, I think he did a pretty decent job with the role.
One area I was disappointed in was Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. NPH has become one of my favorite actors (after seeing him play "himself" in Harold & Kumar and then on to his role as Barney in HIMYM) and Nightwing might be my favorite DC character (he can kick ass like Batman, but he's not as broody), so I had high hopes for the character in UtRH. Unfortunately, NPH makes the attempt to sound "heroic" (think a kid playing the protagonist in the school play) and just comes off sounding goofy. It gets a little better when he's just Dick Grayson and his "Can you for once just say 'Let's get in the car...'" line was well-delivered.
Bruce Greenwood does a good job as Batman and his line about why he hasn't/couldn't kill the Joker was fantastic.
John DiMaggio (Bender from Futurama) turns in a fine performance as the Joker. Although, I will say that he seems to switch between an evil Bender (well, more evil) and a Mark Hammil impersonation, but it is still good. My favorite line comes when Black Mask breaks him out of Arkham to do a job for him.
The story itself could have used more room to breathe, but it's forgivable because of it's 70-odd minute runtime. Something that could've been improved was Batman's reaction to Jason Todd's death. There are flashbacks to show that Batman was "softer" when Jason was around, but, honestly, it wasn't all that much of a difference. Other than that, the story moves along quickly, with minor changes from the comic.
SPOILER ALERT*************************
Ras Al Ghul himself puts Jason in the Lazarus pit, instead of Talia sneaking him in there. And it wasn't to heal his mind, it was to actually bring him back from the dead. In the comics, it was Superboy Prime punching against of his paradise dimension that brought Jason back to life. Seriously. I'm not making that up. So I actually prefer the movie's version to the comic's.
The animation/art is much like "Crisis on 2 Earths," which is good. My only complaint is how some of the characters looked unmasked, namely Nightwing and Red Hood.
Overall, this is probably one of my favorite DC Animated films so far, with my only gripes being a couple of spots where the voice acting needed better direction (both in terms of the actor's delivery and in the lines themselves) and a couple of story points (again, I get that it is a 70-something minute direct-to-DVD animated film, so stuff needs to get cut).
Now, to my next topic. Last week, Marvel unveiled footage from their upcoming 'Thor' film (for the first time, to the best of my knowledge) at one of its shows at San Diego Comic-Con. A couple of days ago, the trailer shown (approx. 5 minutes in length) leaked onto the internet. Hours later, Marvel had already unleashed the law to get it taken down. Luckily, I saw it before that happened. The only thing I can say is that it looks incredible. As a comic book purist, I question why Thor has leather biker pants, since the top half of the costume comes directly from JMS' recent reboot of the character and there are some story points that I question, but overall, I'm even more excited for this film. I think after watching it I said, "Holy f***. I want it. I want it, now."
My gripe is that Marvel has yet to officially release the trailer themselves. Why? It's not like it was rough, unfinished footage meant to only gauge fan reaction. This stuff looks as polished as any movie I have ever seen (one of the complaints is that it seems over-polished in its use of CG-enhancements). Why keep this from the general public. In most cases, when something like this is shown at a trade event (like Comic-Con or e3), the company releases it after a few days (so that the attendees of the show can feel like they got something special). But that isn't the case here. No. Marvel demanded the trailer be removed from all streaming-video/viral sites and have yet to make an announcement as to when we can expect the trailer from them.
Here's my request to Marvel: Please, let everyone bask in the glory that is the Odinson. It is awesome, and you have nothing to fear of retribution from fans (well, maybe the super, hardcore fans, but they always complain about something) and release the trailer.
This coming season of Smallville is supposedly going to be its last. I have mixed feelings about that. This is its 10th season, and that seems like a good, even number to go out on, but at the same time, I almost don't count seasons 5-7. They were just...bad. It was a perpetual circle of suck (mostly caused by Lana Lang) and I wasn't at all disappointed when Millar and Gough announced that they were leaving the show after 7. From there, the show picked up and improved (except for when Lana showed up for 5 or so eps in season 8). I credit the improvements with the fact that the new showrunners made an increased effort to move the show closer to the known Supes mythology. Sure, it still has its downs (mostly the final fight with Doomsday in season 8), but what show doesn't?
My point is, and I thank Scott with sending me this link, that, at San Diego, they had a trailer for season 10. While the qualty isn't very good, this gives us a taste of what's to come, and is much better than the season 10 trailer the CW has been showing (see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfA2vSwYeIc&feature=player_embedded)
I have a feeling most of this is going to turn out to be, as my brother called it, Coma-Clark, but still. Hot damn. The trailer shows the Superman costume and Clark flying while carrying the Daily Planet's globe back up to the top of the building, but again, this could just be the visions of a dying Clark. Also, Kara (Laura Vandervoot) will be in at least one episode as 'Supergirl' and, when asked if she will finally teach Clark to fly, the producers just smiled and said, "Funny you should ask that."
Rumor has it that Darkseid will be the final villain, but that Lex is supposed to appear sometime during the season as well.
If you wish to partake in our Smallville drinking game, the rules are as follows: take a drink anytime someone says the word 'justice,' or, in the expanded rules, anytime there is a reference to chess (particularly in reference to the Checkmate organization).
Since it's been awhile since I mentioned work (like, two whole blogs), I do have something say. They announced the employee of the month for July, and it's a manager. One, I don't think managers should be eligible (but since the ratio of employees to managers is 2:1, there's not a whole lot of choice there) and two, this particular manager...doesn't do anything! Now, I had heard from other employees that this particular person didn't do a whole lot, but could never really comment because I didn't really work enough hours to observe. But since I've been working 35-40 hours a week during the summer break, I've really noticed that yes, she doesn't do shit. In the past week, I've seen her ring up three customers, responded to two manager calls (one while she was on the phone gossiping about a former employee) and give the customer the wrong product and then denied doing it. That's about it. The rest of the time she spends wandering around or hiding in the manager's office.
Now, what really grinds my gears is that, when it was announced, the sales staff (as pitifully small as it is) all voiced complaints about the worthlessness of the employee to the manager on duty. Her response? We should grow up and start acting professional. What'd she spend the rest of her night doing? Bitching about another one of the managers and throwing chairs around our stockroom. Classy.
I should state, there is no criteria for Employee of the Month, just three people, of which the winner of July is one of, who get together in secret and whisper about who should get it. Seriously, that's how they pick. I was even there for it this month because I was in the breakroom while they met. So I guess it's not much of a secret meeting. It's not even that I didn't get it after having a stellar month or that it was probably my last month to get it, it's who got the title instead that really pisses me off.
Also, today is the last day to get Project Zero: BulletProof for free from Smashwords.com. Use coupon code GE48N at checkout to get it free. Buy Project Zero: Bulletproof from Smashwords (also available on the iPad's iBook store):http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10007
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