The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Brer really wanted to watch Batman: Under The Red Hood. He said it was good, and he wanted to see it. So I said I’d watch it with him, so he saved it. And then I stalled for weeks not wanting to watch it, because I’m awesome. Then, last Sunday, we finally watched it.

So how was it?
Eh, it was okay.

Apparently this is based off of a really famous story in the comic books, and it really kind of shows. The story itself is just all kinds of fan service for very rare characters in the Batman universe. People show up just because. It tries to do flashbacks, and has a few very awkward pieces of exposition, in order to catch people like me up, but it only kind of works. As someone who had only really known Batman through the animated series and Batman Beyond, it wasn’t particularly easy to follow.

Luckily, though, I have very vague knowledge of Batman history, and a boyfriend who will lecture on anything, so I was taught the important information, and could follow the narrative. What’s there, though, is both good… and also just kind of indicative of how stupid comic books are. The story is a basic, and strong one, based around Batman confronting another element of his past, but it’s tied up in so much shit. The Joker is there, because the Joker must be in everything. Ra’s Al Ghul is involved, just because. None of this is important to the actual character stuff, which is the core of the narrative. It’s just there because it’s a comic book, and continuity, and bleh.

This stuff comes with the territory, though, and if you can accept it, it’s pretty good. There’s some solid fights, and some solid confrontations. One must applaud John DiMaggio for taking up the shoes of being Joker’s voice actor. It’s hard to follow up Mark Hammil’s near-perfect version of the Joker, but he brings a very nice voice to it. Much more “cold-blooded murder” than “crazy person,” and I think it works very well. He gets extra props.

In any case, yeah, it’s a movie based on a comic book. The animation is fine. The voices are fine. The story is… comic book. I enjoyed myself, but I have no need to see it again. If you were thinking of watching it, go ahead. You’ll enjoy it. But it’s not something to sell to non-fans. You know if you’d like this before you actually watch it. That’s just how it is.