Batman vs. Robin (2015)

Batman vs. Robin (2015)

Dir. Jay Oliva

NOTE: there will be SPOILERS for Son of Batman (2014) in the text that follows.

A sequel to the Son of Batman movie, partially inspired by The Court of Owls crossover storyline from the comics. It has less protagonists, though, which some might argue is a good thing.

Bruce (Jason O'Mara) and ten-year-old Damian (Stuart Allan) have been living and fighting together for a few months. Having been taught by his grandfather to kill his enemies and draw power from the victory, the boy struggles with the moral code imposed upon him by Batman. That he even tries to overrule his instincts, however, suggests that he sees some merit in the non-lethal approach.

Unfortunately, the clash of egos that erupts when father and son don't see eye to eye threatens to destroy the fragile bond that they've built up. And the more Bruce pushes him to accept, the more Damian feels the need to defy his father.

When a large number of Gotham's children go missing, Damian, as Robin, tries to find out why, but as before his impulsive actions put more than his own life in danger, which means that, despite his goal, in many ways he's still a prick. But the inner-struggle that pulls him one way and then the other is much better realised and Allan's voice acting is greatly improved.

There's a secondary conflict between Damian and Nightwing (Sean Maher), which isn't as one-note as it might seem at first. In addition to the rivalry, there's an undercurrent of understanding from the elder of the two because he knows first-hand the many pressures that come with living in Batman's shadow and of how it feels to be excluded at crucial times.

The Court of Owls part of the story is occasionally excellent and occasionally awful. Their design is the former, and the subtext (certain owls prey on bats in nature) is helpful in establishing their position, but they're essentially little more than yet another gang with an egotistical agenda that includes destroying Batman. Their interest in Damian is their only real difference. In the context of the movie's narrative, it seems somewhat unlikely that Bruce hadn't discovered evidence of their existence before, seeing as how they claim to have been operating for decades.

On balance, the movie's a lot better than I was expecting, considering how crap Son of Batman is, but for every success there's something that could've been improved upon; e.g., character development for Robin is decent, but Nightwing's underused, which is a shame because his unique perspective would add valuable commentary to the Batman / Robin relationship. And the woeful characterisation of Alfred (David McCallum) is reworked, but the Owls' is weakened.

There are some disturbing tones early in the running time that may be a way to draw parallels between custody and incarceration, but in many respects the set-ups weren't taken advantage of fully. One such example allowed for an involved study of the psychology of grief and its effect on growth and cognitive development — in both parent and child — but it was pushed aside.

The second half is faster paced than the first and has some impressive movement during what might otherwise have been yet more boring fight scenes, but it has some ridiculous concepts.

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