I'm going to start this review with a little honesty. I haven't been impressed with an animated Batman movie since the Dark Knight Returns two-parter. In addition to that, I've found the depiction of villains in this new DC animated continuity of films to be lacking, either being evil for evil's sake (Darkseid), made into a lesser version of themselves (Deathstroke), or not given enough focus or potential (Black Manta). These reasons are why I went into "Batman vs. Robin" cautiously. I've made my thoughts clear in my earlier review about the preceding film "Son of Batman", and given the villains of this new film would be the Court of Owls from Scott Snyder's acclaimed run on the Batman comic series, because they're such a big threat, I was worried they would take a backseat to the relationship between Bruce and Damian. I mean, the film's called "Batman vs. Robin"; I would have preferred it be "Batman: The Court of Owls" since it's a popular storyline. It's so popular, I even got one of their masks.
But I really should begin with the actual beginning of the film. We have the Batmobile heading toward an abandoned toy factory in a neighboring city, but it's not Batman, but Damian/Robin (should be worth mentioning that he's 10, and he's DRIVING). The father/son dynamic duo have been working a case on kidnapped children, and when Damian gets a lead, he heads off on his own, leaving a note for his father, who's pissed about Damian going out on his own and wanting him to wait until he gets there before doing anything, but of course, Damian disobeys.
I'm going to jump in and say that compared to the last film, the voice acting and character interaction have gotten better, especially for Jason O'Mara as Bruce/Batman and Stuart Allen as Damian/Robin. I believe that in his third going as the Dark Knight, O'Mara has finally gotten his hold on the character, with more emotion showing through, especially when he's lecturing his son, and I'm starting to see a little more distinction between his Batman and Bruce Wayne voices. As for Stuart Allen, given he's a year older now, I feel he did even better as Damian this time around. Between these two, you could really believe the interaction of a father and son, both feeling out of place with one another. There's one other voice actor I like to applaud, but I'll do that when I get to him.
Back to the story, this is where we meet our film's intro villain, the Dollmaker. He's not a straight adaptation from his current incarnation in the comics, but, while I'm not sure it was intentional, I saw elements from different villains used in him from storyline that heavily involved Damian. The first is Professor Pyg from the inaugural arc from the first volume of Batman and Robin, where the villain brainwashed and mutilated people into his henchmen called Dollotrons. In the film, the Dollmaker, who grew up abused by his father, wanted to protect children by turning them into perfect dolls, even removing their hands and replacing them with saws and flamethrowers (it's just as disturbing as I described). The other storyline I saw elements from was from the short lived Streets of Gotham series where Victor Zsasz kidnapped children and forced them to battle to the death with each other while onlookers would place bets. Damian would infiltrate this ring and put a stop to it, and you could tell that this was affecting him because of all the kids in his age group. It's a similar situation in the film with Damian becoming infuriated by what he saw the Dollmaker do to these kids. Between Zsasz and the Dollmaker, Damian also comes very close to killing them both. Overall, I feel it was a strong opening with a dark villain and good introduction of our main protagonists and their interactions with each other.
Let me now talk about the main villain of our film, Talon. He is not given a civilian identity, but his backstory is similar to Moran Ducard, AKA Nobody, from the "Born to Kill" arc, in that he was trained by his father but could never meet his expectations. He is recruited by the Court of Owls and made into a Talon, and his lethal approach to taking on criminals appeals to Damian, given his own upbringing with the League of Assassins. Given Talon's way of trying to take away Batman's role as Damian's mentor, it seems fitting that he is voiced by Jeremy Sisto, who voiced Batman in the "Justice League: The New Frontier" animated film years ago. I just have to say that Sisto brings a much stronger performance this time around. There's a lot more emotion in his voice compared to when he tried to voice Batman.
As for the larger Court itself, while I was worried they wouldn't get a faithful adaptation, I was really surprised that they were given as much focus as they did. The film does a good job of balancing the main Bruce/Damian story while still sharing the focus on the Court, their history, goals, methodology, and even the process of training and keeping Talon soldiers at the ready for their needs. I especially enjoyed the fact that the film retained a young Bruce's belief that the Court, who Bruce's father assured him was only a story), had a hand in his parents' murder, only to be crushed to find that there was no grand plan, and that some violent things just happen. Aside from Ocean Master in "Throne of Atlantis", this is the first time the villains of the new DC animated universe have been portrayed properly and interestingly
I have to give the film props on the action in this film. Usually in these movies, it's pretty over the top and violent, sometimes to the point where I'm desensitized. Those elements are still present, but in this film however, there were some fights that were pretty grounded, reminding me of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", in that they kind of made me cringe or go "Oh shit" to what was happening. There's a sparring match between Robin and Nightwing that gets pretty brutal, even getting to the point where Nightwing pulls Robin's cape over his head and just proceeds to punch him. Following that is a battle between Batman and a group of unfrozen Talon warriors, which doesn't get extremely violent like other DC animated films, but gets very close while still remaining believable. Then there's the climax of the film when the Talons invade Wayne Manor and the Batcave, just like they do in the comics. It does go into that over the top area, but I would say this if my favorite fight of the movie, if only for the fact that we get Bruce's Knight Thrasher suit, where you know he's done screwing around, and who wouldn't love to see a man in a giant armored suit fight off a bunch of kind of zombie ninjas?
Another thing I have to give the film props on are its subtle references. In one scene, we see Dick talking on the phone to someone named "Kory". Comic readers know that Kory is short for Koriand'r, better known as the Teen Titan, Starfire. When I watched that scene, I had to back it up because I didn't quite catch the name, and put on subtitles to make sure I wasn't missing an easter egg. I'll just say I was surprised that they used Starfire and not Barbara, because the contents of their conversation were very, let's just say, mature. It was also kind of surprising because aside from references to a past relationship, we haven't really seen the two of them interact with one another in the New 52 timeline. While I've found that these new animated films are only loosely based on the current comics continuity, it still surprises me when they do, especially when they brought in a non-Gotham based character for Dick to be in a relationship with.
Later on, there's a scene where Bruce is under a psychotropic hallucination via the Court where he witnesses his parents killed by a grown up Damian in a Batman suit (from Batman #666 of course), with a young Bruce telling his older self that he's just as bad as the people he fights, that he's turning his own son into one and that he'll bring great destruction to Gotham (that itself was a reference to the last Damian/Batman story from Batman Incorporated #5 from the series' second volume). I know it's just a short scene, but I loved seeing the grown-up Damian/Batman. It also brought a great emotional scene where Damian keeps shooting Bruce as he tries to get closer to him. As Bruce keeps taking bullets, he eventually gets to Damian, hugs him and apologizes, which turns Damian back into his ten year old self.
If there's one thing I find at fault in this movie, it's Nightwing's inclusion. Honestly, there is just no reason he really needs to be here. Sure, he's a good foil to Damian, in that he's the well behaved adopted son of Bruce, but other than that, he doesn't really bring anything to the film. He's either helping patch up Bruce after his fight with the Talons and recovering from his drug trip, or getting his butt kicked by either Damian in their sparring match, or getting pierced by blades from Talons like Logan did in "The Wolverine". There's even a bit where he's fighting the main Talon, who remarks that Dick would have made a great Talon; this is in fact a reference to how in the comics, Dick was about to be inducted into the Court before his parents were killed and Bruce took him in. While I appreciate that reference, and kind of see it being used for Damian, being that he's a Robin being recruited by the Court, but said reference and Dick are just wasted space in this movie. Like the previous film, he kind of fills the Tim Drake role of the somewhat brotherly spat with Damian, but that just really wasted needed this time around. That's just how I feel about it.
Once everything is said and done, Damian, believing that he's either living his life by Talia or Bruce's teachings, decided to leave Wayne Manor to find his own path, taking Bruce's advice to go to the monastery where he trained. Initially, I was really surprised by this development. In the "Born to Kill" arc, Bruce and Damian were able to have a heart to heart talk and they remained a team afterwards. But now that I've had some time to let it sink in, I think the way the film did it was actually better. When you look at Damian's path in the comics, we see him very loyal to his mother, and when he becomes Robin, there's this transitional period where he tries to adhere to his father's methods, trying to fight back his assassin instincts, eventually fully switching sides. If you think about it, Damian in the comics is more of a product of his environment and changes over time based upon it. Damian going out on his own like he did in the film makes total sense.
It also does leave me wondering what happens next.
Next year's animated films from DC haven't been announced yet (aside from a leak about a Batman '66 movie reuniting Adam West and Burt Ward which I am EXTREMELY looking forward to), but given how these Batman films have been more focused on Damian, I expect he should be returning for the next one. But who knows. They could go left field and finally adapt "The Killing Joke". It would be nice to explore other aspects and characters in Gotham, and that storyline could be what's needed, saving Damian's return for the film after that.
To wrap this up, I found "Batman vs. Robin" to be a well rounded film and a great addition to the DC animated film line. It's definitely better than "Son of Batman", does the Court of Owls justice, and I'd go so far as to say that it's the best film yet of the new animated continuity, and just as good as "Under the Red Hood". If you're a fan of Batman, and more specifically Damian, I highly recommend it.
RATING: 8.5/10
