Batman: Bad Blood

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.

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.

Batman: Bad Blood has way too many characters, specifically villains and has two separate third acts but it's still a really good continuation of animated Batman franchise with an enjoyably epic sense of scale.

Sean Maher gives his strongest performance yet thanks to a more depth and screen time. Stuart Allen is reliably determined and cold and Yvonne Strahovski is an excellent Batwoman with the required charisma stoic nature.

The animation has once again improved on it's predecessors and the fights are a standout as usual. The music by Frederik Wiedmann still lacks any memorable themes but sounds great in the moment and fits the tone.

REVIEW FOR THE FILM: I have been a huge DC Comics fan for about 15 years. Read a ton of comics, read all the acclaim graphic novels, seen all the live and animated shows and movies, and have played all the video games. So I obviously have seen all the Original Animated movies from Doomsday to this. After the launch of the new 52 the original movies have taken elements from that. This has resulted in some okay to meh movies. So what about this movie? It's decent. Nothing too special but enough to keep me entertain and left me somewhat satisfied. This movie isn't anything new or groundbreaking like Under The Red Hood or Mask of the Phantasm but it is an improvement from Throne of Atlantis or Son of Batman. What are the pros? Good artwork, great fights, and was good to see characters from the comics make it here. Cons are somewhat poor story and villains, new characters could have been establish better, and the lack of Batman is disappointing. Over all it's was good. Again nothing to impressive but with this and Gods and Monsters it's an improvement from DC recent movies.

RESPONDS TO THOSE SAYING THIS MOVIE IS BEING POLITICAL CORRECT: For those complaining this movie being Political Correct READ SOME COMICS. Batwing has always been black since the new 52 and he was completely original character (like Batman Beyond Terry McGinnis) added to the Bat family. They didn't turn Dick Grayson or Red Hood black. Same thing can be apply to Kate Kane Batwoman except she was an already establish character who now just happens to like Woman. Seriously what a crime (Sarcasm). Some people have different traits and the creators decided to experiment around with that. Their traits does not push some diverse or LGT agenda. Batwing being black and Kate Kane being lesbian does not make affects this movie or story what so ever. They didn't have some transgender main character or some gay sex scene. An example of Political Correctness was turning the Human Torch from the most recent Fantastic Four movie black. He was an establish white characters and they turn him black for no good reason but for the sake of diversity. But Batwing being black and Batwoman being lesbian has nothing to do with political correctness. Hardly anyone is complaining about Cyborg or John Stewart being black because they were establish as black characters before Political Correctness was a thing so this should apply to Batwing or Batwoman. Complaining sounds idiotic and stupid. So stop complaining and being salty.

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