Batman: Under the Red Hood (And Above Many Other Films)

[Please be advised that the following review has SPOILERS GALORE. I can't talk about everything without them. Sorry in advance, but you have been warned.]

Let me preface this blog post with somewhat of a disclaimer.

My knowledge of comic books, characters, and mythology is appallingly limited. Even after growing up with a dad who read comics as a teenager (and, if my memory is correct, still has many retro ones squirreled away in a closet somewhere) and two brothers who made most of our family entertainment center on "masculine" films and video games, my only real knowledge of any superhero doesn't stem much beyond the films that were made of them. And depending on who you speak to, that might be nothing to sneeze at, either. The only superhero I would pretend to know anything at all about is Spiderman, and that only comes from hearing/reading reviews of the Tobey Maguire films and tuning into a podcast every now and then that explains some of the mythology behind what is supposed to be going on in the movies. Plus, apparently no one likes Tobey Maguire as Spiderman. Oh well.

Perhaps my initial disinterest in comics came from the fact that they follow so closely with their ancient counterpart: Greek Mythology. Now, I personally love learning about Greek Mythology whenever it pops up in my various courses or comes into play in a film or novel or whatever other medium can possibly cram the almost cliched (at this point, at least) characters and stories into their plot. However, GM is incredibly complex--the various Gods and Goddesses are often the authority over various different things, some overlapping, and have innumerable connections to each other that make for one hell of a headache whenever I try to put anything together. Not to mention that certain characters can appear in several different forms and or with different back stories depending on the version you're reading, that it's next to impossible figure to out who the hell is who and why they're important without the aid of an encyclopedia.

Comic books and their ensuing lore function in such a similar fashion that it's exhausting to just think about, never mind trying to read. Even bypassing the comics themselves and reading online synopses doesn't do much to help; everything is still complex and interconnected, which is interesting and engaging if you're a long-time fan, but not so much if you're an ignorant sap off the street such as I.

With that being said, those of you who are rabid and devoted fans of the Batman comics, their characters, and their lore, please keep in mind that everything I'm about to say regarding this piece is strictly from an outsider's perspective and not intended to be offensive or convoluted or whatever else you might feel this comes across. I have done a small amount of research to give myself some background, but that's about all I have the energy to do at the moment.

This happened to be my state of mind when I came across Batman: Under the Red Hood while watching a YouTube countdown list by WatchMojo.com (because I wouldn't be an prime example of today's youth without wasting valuable time reading and watching lists off the Internet). I've long since forgotten which video it was; all I remember was that one of the opening clips happened to be the beginning scene from this movie, in which the Joker takes a crow bar and beats the holy hell out of Robin for apparently no real reason, as that character is apt to do if Nolan's Joker tells me anything.


Let me be very clear: I am a sick and twisted individual. This scene in which a comic book villain displays inordinate amounts of violence on one of his adversaries--and a kid at that--was what drew my attention away from the video itself and instead on the clip and the movie from which it came. Not to mention that there was blood. Actual blood. I mean sure, it wasn't a full-on gore-fest, but I had never seen an American animated film be so bold as to include any kind of display of blood if for nothing else than the problem of censorship (at the time I didn't know that this was, in fact, rated PG-13). I rewound it. I watched it closely. I shuddered. I furrowed my brows. And above all, I determined to find this movie and watch it.

Like I said, I'm sick and twisted.

Once I found a way to watch it, I realized within five minutes that I had no idea what was going on. In fact, the only thing I did recognize about the film was the Joker, Robin, and Batman, as well as the voice actors Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Isaacs (who did phenomenal work as Admiral Zhou in Avatar: The Last Airbender, albeit with an American accent). And while the opening of the film is a bit disorienting even if you read the comics, it was even more confusing for someone who, again, has about as much knowledge of Batman as the bird that's currently nesting outside my front door.

The film itself is based off of the comic, A Death in the Family, which was released in the late 1980's and gave the fans the ability to determine the fate of Robin (who happens to be the second Robin, Jason Todd, whom Batman took in after he caught him trying to steal his car tires--and no, I didn't know that going into this movie, either) via voting through a 900 number.

Ah, the days before the Internet.

And while I still think that my strange fascination with bloody things doesn't hold a candle to the desire of all those in 1988 to have the kid offed, I'm under the belief that voting whether or not a character dies is a bit lame and lazy on the writers' part. It feels a bit like a cop-out to me, especially since the 80's didn't boast a tour de force such as the Internet to overwhelm them with screaming fans who all have an opinion about how a story should go. Since it's the creation of the artists, I believe they should have the final say in anything that they choose to do...but that's a conversation for another day. Back to the movie.

I hate you.

Perhaps what impressed me the most about this film is its quality. Despite my complete lack of knowledge of any real complexities in the Batman mythos, this film never felt boring. The story itself is well-crafted, complex, and engaging. The characters are deep, interesting, well-animated, and all distinct from one another. These all seem like things that you would expect from a regular animated picture, but what makes this all the more fantastic is that it was a direct-to-DVD production. And if you ask anyone, having such a title is usually a death sentence for whatever it is attached to--you don't have to look any further than Disney to know that the dreaded "Direct-to-DVD" label is more or less a euphemism for "easily marketable, lazily put together, utter BS that, at best, leaves an ugly stain on its predecessor." 

But none of the things I really, really hate about the Disney sequels is present in this film. No stupid dance numbers, no animation that looks like a cheap knock-off of the original whose name it bears, and no half-assed storyline. In fact, over the last few weeks as I've been slogging through the lesser of the Disney features, this has become the most compelling piece of work that I've watched in a long, long time. It stirred up emotions in me that are usually reserved for my favorite Disney pieces, if we're looking at animation, and that surprised me. While this movie is undeniably marketed towards adolescent boys (a market that Disney has been itching, for whatever reason, to get a hold of since the late 90's and early 00's--and failing), I was still able to become invested in everything that went on and finished this movie with a whole heck of a lot more respect and interest for both Batman and the Robin characters. And for something that is looked at as nothing more than a cash grab, I have to say I hold a lot of respect for this film for daring to not only be good, but down right great.

I'm going to go to my old friend IMDB for the *very* brief plot synopsis here, because it's too complicated for me to sum it up in a few sentences:

"Batman faces his ultimate challenge as the mysterious Red Hood takes Gotham City by firestorm. One part vigilante, one part criminal kingpin, Red Hood begins cleaning up Gotham with the efficiency of Batman, but without following the same ethical code. Killing is an option. And when the Joker falls in the balance between the two, hard truths are revealed and old wounds are reopened." [source]

I suppose I'll start by looking at the animation, since it's probably the weakest element of the entire film. That's not to say it isn't good--it is, and light years ahead of even the best Disney sequel ever to be churned out by that studio. It doesn't look cheap and maintains the some-what iconic style of superhero cartoons, which to me always seemed like a strange blend between comic books, the more experimental Disney films, and a touch of anime. I can't explain how I see those last two, but I just do, and maybe that's only something my mind conjures up. I'll be honest here and say that I know next to nothing about the way these films are animated or who's in charge of them, but I imagine the process is similar to Disney in the sense that there's a team of animators assigned to each character that make sure they maintain a consistent appearance throughout the film. Regardless, I've always had a soft spot for this kind of animation which is, I'm sure to some degree, inspired by the comics from which these stories come. I don't even care that the body proportions of both the men and women are overdone, since I'd argue that that is just the way the style works. And I'll be darned it if isn't appealing. I love the curves that they give the females and the way they draw eyes for both genders. In this film it's of course well-executed, with a few moments where the movement of the characters is a bit stiff and strange. They all have a distinct look, even if their movement isn't perfect.


All of the fights are well-choreographed and move fluidly, although I do have a bit of a problem with the way Robin (when he is depicted as Robin and not the Red Hood) bounces around like a dang circus performer, since it seems like a direct rip off of his previous incarnation's background--unless of course, they're using the original storyline of this character which was a blatant re-do of the previous Robin just with a little more attitude. Regardless, it's a little unbelievable to see a ten year-old-ish kid doing flips better than a gold medal gymnast. It takes me a bit out of the realism that seems to pervade the Batman mythos no matter what version you're watching. Not to mention that there are multiple instances where the physical reality of things just doesn't match up, or the way people are injured. With the exception of Robin and Joker, no one sheds any blood unless they die, despite the fact that some people get socked in the face hard enough to cause some serious damage. Robin, if we're being honest, wouldn't have had a body to lay to rest after a bomb explosion. He would be in pieces. When the previous Red Hood character, explored in a flashback and referred to as Batman's first greatest failure, falls into a vat of acid (or lava...or magma...or...whatever that's supposed to be), the scene gives the impression that the person in the vat is killed, but his cards bobble up to the top of the vat, floating in the water for a few seconds before the scene cuts. If this is acid, they would dissolve (as would the person who fell in). There's also a climactic fight between Batman and Robin, in which Robin gets his butt handed to him in the form of multiple punches to the face and smashes into walls, yet he never bleeds or contorts or does much of anything other than shift his body to give the impression that he has, indeed, stuck a blunt object. I only bring these up because they felt obvious and out of place to me, and come across as lazy. If they can go into vivid, brutal, and detailed violence in the opening scene, why shy away from it towards the end? Because it's Batman beating the crap out of a teenager, not the Joker? That just feels like a cop-out.

Not to mention those underpants.

Speaking of realism, the portrayal of Gotham here is as dark as the Nolan films, with few characters exhibiting much color at all--only the Joker, Red Hood, and Robin have any element of bright color in their design. Even Red Hood is limited to his tell-tale mask while the rest of the costume is muted browns, greys, and blacks. Joker has his trademark purple suit, green hair, and stark white face and Robin's costume is it's traditional bright-ass red, green, and yellow. All of the drug lords, other minor characters, and even Alfred have a muted pallet that makes them sink into the dark shadows of the city itself. I would have liked to see a little more of the city, but I guess it has enough character here to work, especially since this was a Direct-to-DVD release.

As for the characters themselves, I pretty much had my jaw on the floor the entire time this film played out. Every last critical character has a distinct personality that goes above and beyond what I expected from an animated Batman movie (I'm beginning to think my standards are far too low). I knew that the 90's cartoon was notorious for being complex, but for a 74-minute film to capture this much story and this much character depth is pretty darn remarkable. I would say that that credit goes to the writer, Judd Winick, who also happened to write the comics that this came from, but that's only part of the whole here. Sure, they're well written across the board (okay, Nightwing's lines have a tendency to be a little lame), but the voice actors and animating team brought everything together. I know nothing about the original man to voice Batman, other than he was well-loved by fans and there are some out there who are critical of the job Bruce Greenwood did in this. I think it's fantastic; his Batman voice isn't stupid-sounding, and he has enough command and dignity when he speaks that you're afraid, but there's also a softness to it whenever he speaks to Robin or Alfred.

Robin's character I can't say much about, at least from an historical perspective. This character has had a tumultuous history, from what it sounds like, and given the arrogant nature that comes across in this Robin a lot, I'm not surprised. Plus there's the issue of his kid costume, which looks more like a Halloween outfit that someone cobbled together than an actual thing a superhero would wear and kind of makes me uncomfortable to watch when he's flipping around. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit of a sucker for tortured young male characters (like every other girl on the earth, it seems), and I found myself very much engaged in this Robin.

Two specific moments stand out to me: in the opening scene, there's a point where the Joker is taunting him and rather than just ignore what he's saying, Robin flashes this ridiculous smile that is both frightening and funny. And it speaks so greatly to who this character is. Never mind the spitting of blood in Joker's face; the fact that he had the guts to crack a twisted smile while being beaten practically to death--and with a mouthful of blood--tells the audience that this kid is serious business. He isn't a coward or a quitter, and if he has to go out, then by God he's going out with a bang (no pun intended).

The other is when he confronts Batman towards the end of the film. He has a gun stretched out in front of him and begins a small monologue revealing why he's so interested in a reunion with the ol' Caped Crusader:

"Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me. But why--why on God's earth, is he still alive?"

And it's not even so much the lines as it is the blocking that goes along with them and how they're delivered by Jensen Ackles. The motion of him kicking down the wall to reveal Joker scrunched up inside as he says the words "is he still alive?" is just downright awesome. I might just be over thinking it, but MAN does that pack a punch. Of course the Joker interjects a few dark, dry lines that are, frankly, hilarious even given the context of the situation and maybe because of it--Bruce's stone-cold-expressionless-face-reaction to his jokes cracks me up--but it's after that that Robin adds a final punch to what he's saying:

"Ignoring what he's done in the past; blindly, stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled--the thousands who have suffered, the friends he's crippled--I thought...I thought I'd be the last person you'd let him hurt."

And dammit if I didn't pause this movie right there and take that in. Because jeeze, Robin has a point. Sure, we all want to side with Batman, but given the evidence that this film has brought before us, every last thing Robin says here makes absolute sense. I'd even go so far as to say that Robin becomes the stand-in, at least in this moment, for the audience. He's the one who just wants to see the Joker dead. He even admits that he "does what you won't do" to Bruce earlier in the film, and he's right--and I think it's ingenious that the writers set the story up in such a way that gives credit to Robin's anger, because SO MANY angsty teenage characters never get that kind of credibility. They're just grumpy because that's seen as bad-ass to boys and sexy to girls. Here, he isn't just psychotic and angry; his revenge is justified. The guy freaking beat the crap out of him with a crowbar and then blew him up with a bomb. After beating him up. WITH A CROWBAR. It's about justice, and after seeing so many clips of this Joker character and watching The Dark Knight, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to pour gasoline over this guy and light him on fire. Sure, Robin takes it to the extreme--the scene where he comes back with a crowbar and essentially does the same thing to Joker is a bit melodramatic, but it gets the point across. And damn, did it feel good to see that.


But then, of course, Batman is right as well. As much as he wants to kill the Joker, he can't--killing him is too easy. It will only open the door to more killing. And no one, not even the audience, wants to see other people die. Just Joker. Bruce admits that he has wished every day that he could destroy the Joker, and what I think makes this a home run is not the fact that he laments this feeling throughout the entire movie, but that he is shown either staring at the Robin costume or thinking back on his memories with Jason, all done through very clever flashbacks. It's a great example of the show-don't-tell rule of writing, and here it works great. You get that Bruce deeply loved Jason without him saying, "I deeply loved Jason," and so when he's pitted against this very character and the person responsible for his death, it takes an incredibly controlled individual to not either burst into tears or take that gun right out of Robin's hand and fire every last bullet into Joker's head. And so Bruce's decision not to kill Joker--though mocked as antiquated--still has potency because the audience believes that he is struggling to do that very thing and has the ability to rise above it.

And thus you have conflict and depth and fantastic story telling.

What was I talking about? Oh right, characters.

Batman himself is pretty typical, so I won't ramble on much about him other than I loved getting to see the fatherly side of Bruce because I am female and that kind of gooey stuff gets me. It's charming and sweet and endearing. His stiff movements, whether they're the result of lazy animation or a calculated decision, work well, and I enjoy watching his cape flutter about as he jumps and runs and swings and throws things. What can I say, I'm easily amused.

As for the Joker, I feel like this character has been beaten to death (again, no pun intended) with the huge success of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. He's done well here, though John DiMaggio is no Mark Hamill in terms of legacy, and maybe because I'm messed up in the head, I find so many of his lines freaking hysterical no matter what deranged context they're delivered in. Like this one:

"Hey look at you! Mr. Hood! Or do you prefer Red? You know I used to wear an outfit like that. Mine was more flashy maitre-d than motorcycle fetish."

Or this one:

"I'm going to need...something to wear. And a very big truck...I'll need some guys. Not these guys, because, well, they're kinda dead."

Or THIS ONE:

He's not as cackling and maniacal as Hamill's Joker, and maybe to some degree that's for the best. Hamill has a tendency to overact in the sense that his reaction sounds to being beaten up are kind of exaggerated (he even did that a little as Firelord Ozai in Avatar). This Joker is still insane, no doubt, but the straight way in which DiMaggio delivers the lines gives it a more tempered and sarcastic flavor of insanity. And I like it, though the voice did sound strange when I initially heard it. The watered-down element can be seen even in his design, which isn't as smeared and smudgy and distorted as Nolan's, but his eyebrows and hair are drawn with plenty of flair. He's also extremely contoured, at least in the face, which gives the impression of inner turmoil. This is a man who is so out of his mind that he needs to be dealt with in the harshest way possible. He's a great foil for Batman in that sense, since Batman always looks like the epitome of order and control as far as his design goes, and he's also an almost gaudy bit of color that contrasts with Batman's all-black get up and the dark palette of the rest of the film. He's always bright and obnoxious, even when he's wearing the orange prison jumpsuit.

Oh, and that smile.

There is one character that I think is fantastic because she does not a damn thing and is never, ever injured or killed: Ms. Li, Black Mask's assistant. Despite all of that character's ranting and raving, she maintains the most monotone and relaxed attitude of any character throughout the entire film. Just her presence I find hilarious and a nice touch next to the kind of irritating Black Mask who spends most of his on-screen time screeching at people.

As for everyone else, they kind of fade into the background, and for the better--this movie is ultimately about Batman confronting and dealing with his guilt over the loss of Robin, which he blames himself for even above the Joker. Had he not taken Jason in and made him Robin, his death never would have been a possibility. But then there's also an element of joy derived from the flashbacks that lead me to believe that Bruce doesn't regret creating Jason Todd as Robin, even though he didn't turn out the way Bruce had hoped. I could go on about the plethora of themes that pour out of that dilemma alone, but I'll just say that it's a heartbreaking situation that is handled very well for such a film that really, at the end of the day, had no right to be this good.

The last thing I will say about the story itself is the final scene, which is a flashback of the first day that Jason became Robin. Some of the dialogue is a little clunky here, particularly the whole "I'm Robin, the Boy Wonder!" thing, but after showing us a sweet bonding moment between Bruce and Jason, the last line of the entire movie is so stinking poignant that I almost chucked my laptop across the room:

"This is the best day of my life."

And that's it. The movie ends on that note, that Jason considered the role of Robin to be the best thing that has happened to him, which makes everything that unfolded because of that persona kind of like taking a brick to the gonads. It's tragic, it's sad, it's powerful, and OH MY GOSH I SWEAR I'M NOT CRYING. *sniffle*

Source

I would say that this is all a result of my lady-ness spewing out like a severed carotid artery, but other people seemed to feel the same way I do: Under the Red Hood has received a 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 7.3/10. IMDB has it rated 8.0/10, higher than even some of the most successful and beloved Disney films.

There are still weaknesses, as this is far from a perfect movie, but they don't take away from the overall experience. And as I said before, after dragging my heels through the Disney features of the 2000's, this was a breath of fresh air. A twisted, dark, and turbulent breath, but refreshing nonetheless. It always makes my heart smile a bit whenever animation is taken seriously and done well. This is, at the end of the day, not a kid's film. It's a damn fine film that anyone can watch if they're looking for a deep and moving story with lots of character and pretty good animation. And I tip my hat to Under the Red Hood for not being another bit of sludge intended to amuse children for an hour and a half. Ambition is a great thing to have, and this is loaded with it.

One final note, in which I will display my blatant femininity:

Kenneth Rocafort's version of Jason Todd MAKESHIMREALLYSTINKINGHOTOKAYIMSORRY.

Darn me and my involuntary affection for twisted, hot male characters that may or may not actually be age-appropriate for me.

Also, I am not alone in this.