Batman: Bad Blood

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.

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.

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.