Batman - Mala Sangre

First things first: this film is good but some major flaws stop it from being among the best of its kind. If you enjoyed the other films DC's released since its universe restarted, this one is definitely a nobrainer.

The pros are definitely good animations with some really strong pictures, crazy ideas and an interesting story that allows some character development.

You could say the film tries to be an action film with story - unfortunately the fusion doesn t quite work. One reason for this is, that the film favors action over story. This wouldn t be as bad, if the protagonists wouldn t turn to punchline-swinging clichés while fighting, just seconds after they had some actually interesting conversations that drive a plot that is supposed to give them depth. This luckily applies a bit less to Batwoman and not at all for Robin.

The second major flaw for me is that I feel like the writers don t respect the motivations, aims or morals of the protagonists. Some other reviews also mention the ridiculously accidental dying of super-criminals. Your protagonists can t kill someone, so Karma has to do justice or what? If Batman would take his code of honor seriously, he had to kick all of them, due to them being unable to watch out.

A last minor flaw for me was Batwing. This guy got some clichéd background and then continued to just being there, well and kick major ass. Maybe he marks the point where the writers didn t have time for more plot, since Batwing really misses some dialogs to make his integration into the Batfamily somehow authentic.

On the bright side of characters there is Robin, who gets just little screen time but I think they got really a lot out of it. I think Batwoman also deserves a character-development shout out, even though I feel like she would have been more plausible if she wouldn t be the clear loser on the "Kick Ass-O-Meter".

I personally feel like if the film had given the story more room, it would be a contender for the likes of Batman and the Phantom. This way it s "only" a good film.

Love animation and have really enjoyed to loved many superhero films, animated and live-action. Justice League has always interested me too. Of the DC animated films, there are some good ones out there as well as some disappointments.

'Batman: Bad Blood' is one of the bigger disappointments and towards the weaker half of the DC animated films. To me, it is not as bad as has been made out, there are some good qualities here, but agree with a lot of the criticisms made and feel it could have been much better. There was actually a good idea on paper here, this good idea just on the most part didn't make it on screen and this is a big shame.

Starting with the good things, the best thing about 'Batman: Bad Blood' is the animation. There are some very nice detailed backgrounds, the characters are designed well and the colours are dynamic and atmospheric. The music is both haunting and rousing, a good fit for the film's mood.

Alfred is awesome as one can hope, just wish there was more, and Dick and Nightwing are also handled well. The voice acting for the heroes is pretty decent, from especially Sean Maher, Stuart Allan and James Garrett. Jason O'Mara is credible as Batman, but has little to do. Morena Maccarin actually does a quite good job as Talia Al Ghul all things considered, that the character is disappointingly written does not rest at her door in terms of blame, it's the writers' fault entirely. Some of the action is well animated and has its thrills.

However, 'Batman: Bad Blood' does have a lot against it. Namely that it has too many characters (most of them handled in a way that underwhelms), trying to include too many subplots of very variable quality, crammed into a far too short running time, meaning that the film . As said, few of the characters are satisfactorily handled.

For a title that indicates that it's a Batman film, even when one is reading the film's summary, there is far too little of Batman and far too much of the significantly less interesting Batwoman, who is not an interesting or well explored character at all and is instead one-dimensional, clichéd and very difficult to like let alone engage with. Saw absolutely no point to the inclusion of Batwing, whose character suffers from all the problems with Batwoman except the screen time issue. A much better job could have been done with the villains, devoid of much menace or complexity on the whole with very vague motivations. The exception is the suitably mysterious Heretic, but needed more to do. Meanwhile Talia Al Ghul is particularly wronged here.

Writing on the most part takes simplicity to the extreme and becomes simplistic and feels stilted as well. So many cringe-worthy lines here. The main story was potentially interesting but wasn't gritty enough or focused on enough, even getting lost amidst the attempts at developing the new characters that come off unsuccessfully. It is agreed that the male villains' voice acting is too similar, mainly because at least three of them are in multiple roles that they all sound too samey in, John Di Maggio a particular example and usually Di Maggio is very good at voicing villains. While Steve Blum is a very talented voice actor and has often excelled in voicing villains, he's over-parted. The action on the most part lacks tension, and the far too easy, abrupt and insulting dispatching of some of the villains does them no justice.

In conclusion, disappointing but not unwatchable. 4/10 Bethany Cox

The loss of Bruce Wayne left a void in Gotham. Nightwing and Robin replaced Bruce by patrolling Gotham. Meanwhile, Batwoman tries to investigate Bruce Wayne's disappearance.

Showing and introducing members of the Bat-Family gives a special impression for this film. By bringing the story of Batman's disappearance, the existence of Batwoman, Nightwing and Batwing to replace Batman's position is actually enough to provide a good story. However, all of them do not have a strong motive so that the stories that are brought at a glance seem ordinary and overlap between them. Making Talia al Ghul a villain does not create an evil atmosphere. Likewise with Talia's group of villains who appear too much but don't add anything to the story. The threat as a villain also doesn't make the story in this film develop. That way, the ending of the film is also not interesting.

The appearance of Bat-Family members is indeed something interesting in the DC universe. However, too many characters enter into too many conflicts that are created without strong motives from each character. The main portion of this film falls on the characters Batwoman and Nightwing. Seeing the Batwing perform actually doesn't make much of a difference either. Not with Robin who does have a bond with Talia.

Out of the other Son of Batman type movies this was probably the one I enjoyed the least, its fighting is alright and it has a clear story, I just feel as though it's lacking something the other movies had and I think that's overall progression with the characters. This movie felt as though the beginning and the end were on the same sort of level whereas the other movies felt as though the circumstances had changed for the characters alongside or as a result of the plot. There wasn't really any 'figuring out who I am' or 'adapting to something new' sort of stuff happening which just made it seem empty compared to the other ones in my eyes. Apart from that though I'd say it's generally okay, it's got action, mind control and abduction. So if you're into that and don't mind the character progression stuff I'd say give it a shot.

While on a routine patrol of Gotham City, Batman (Jason O'Mara) encounters a mysterious new villain known as Heretic (Travis Willingham). However during his investigation of this new evil, Batman goes missing and Batwoman (Yvonne Strahovski), a new addition to the Bat tree, was the last one to see him alive. Due to the absence of Batman, Gotham plunges into chaos and Alfred is forced recall both Damian (Stuart Allan) and Nightwing (Sean Maher). In order to fill the void of the Bat and restore order to Gotham, Nightwing must wear Bruce's mantel. In addition to temporarily being Batman, Dick must not only solve the mystery of his former mentor's disappearance, but keep his crime fighting family cohorts together.

Though Batman was fairly absent throughout this movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the new roster of crime fighters added to the roster. As many of us know, Batman's vast universe is constantly evolving as well as expanding and Jay Oliva masterfully presents us with a daunting dangerous universe that requires more then just the presence of Batman. That being said, it would be nice to see a future Batman movie that primarily centralizes on just Batman. A great area to focus on for such a project would be the Arkham atmosphere portrayed in the video games. In the end, the story, animation and music of Batman: Bad Blood made this animated Bat film an excellent addition to the DC animated film series.

7 stars.