I’ve been a fan of DC Animated movies since the beginning. They’ve always been leagues ahead of Marvel in what they can deliver and it’s amazing that their voice cast has stayed consistent (pretty much) from the animated television shows, video games, and movies. Lately, they’ve had a formula for how they are going to put out the films. One New 52 Justice League movie (War, Throne of Atlantis), a one-off film that doesn’t fit into continuity (Gods & Monsters) and a Batman-centric film (Assault on Arkham, Son of Batman). We’ll be focusing on the former, as this is a direct sequel to the events from Son of Batman.
As a very brief history to SOB, we learn that Bruce Wayne has a son with Talia al Ghul named Damian. He is a ten year old trained assassin and becomes Bruce’s ward after Batman defeats his grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul. I enjoyed that first movie as it was super violent and featured Deathstroke and I liked the dynamic between Bruce and Damian. I didn’t ultimately think we’d have to see another film with Damian Wayne in it though; but DC most have gotten enough positive response because here we have Batman vs Robin.
The title of the film is not based off of a comic, but a lot of the story elements are. The film decided to take pieces from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo‘s ‘Court of Owls’ storyline. You can read our review of it HERE. If this film was simply about Court of Owls, it would have gotten a 10 outta 10. Instead, it suffers by mixing in the strained father/son relationship between Bruce and Damian and hardly giving Court of Owls any justice.
What Snyder and Capullo did was change the way you saw Batman and Gotham forever. I remember reading it and having my mind blown. This film does nothing even close to the same effect. I like the
‘talons’, I like the actual ‘Court’, but neither have any real reason for being in this film. Their inclusion only seems to be there to get the comic book readers interested in seeing Damian Wayne in a movie. I don’t have anything against Damian; but I come from a world where Batman does not have a son. It just makes my life easier that way.
Personally, I think the reason that we’re continuing to see Damian is because people trust DC Animated films. They have a backlog of being fantastic, even if some of the story elements lack. There is also ZERO competition out there. We don’t see any other comic book companies turning their works into animated features, so we gotta stick with the company that does. I just hope that the fans will start getting their voices heard after more reviews come out about this movie.
Let me get to what I thought worked. Even though I didn’t initially like Jason O’Mara as the voice of Batman, he’s not going any where; so I’m just accepting of it more. Kevin Conroy did show up to voice Thomas Wayne, and I have no complaints about that. Stuart Allen did a great job as Damian, and Grey Griffin was fantastic as always as Samantha. Finally, Jeremy Sisto as Talon stole the show. I’ve always liked Sisto as an actor and it was great to see his return to a DC Animated film since his role in Justice League: The New Frontier.
The fighting in this film was probably my favorite part aside from the voice acting. Jay Oliva directed another top-notch action film from the beginning with The Dollmaker (voiced wonderfully by Weird Al), to the epic fight scene at the end. I don’t want to give too much away, but keep your eyes out for another Snyder/Capullo addition at the end. I also LOVED that Nightwing (Sean Maher) was in this movie. It was fantastic to see him and Bruce square off, as well as fight again side-by-side.
Overall, it was a solid movie, just really bogged down by the addition of The Court of Owls story elements. If there was a different story involved, I think I would have liked the movie a lot more. I do recommend you watch it if you’re a fan of DC Animated movies, and if you’re a fan of Damian Wayne. If you’re not, I hope you didn’t read this entire review. TL:DR, I give the film 7 outta 10 for action, voice acting, and weak story.
