Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)

Dir. Brandon Vietti

A criminal calling himself Red Hood attempts to take control of Gotham's criminal underworld, an act that doubles as a kind of challenge to Batman.

The villain's methods are extreme and permanent, but seem to be getting results. Batman tries to prevent further casualties; he's determined, brave, and overflowing with professionalism, but something about Red Hood bothers him on a deeply personal level.

The usual DC quality and attention to detail is evident throughout, besides their penchant for trying to incorporate CGI vehicles. The character designs are mostly great, and there's some timely black humour, more often than not courtesy of the Black Mask character (Wade Williams).

Regarding voices, Bruce Greenwood is an excellent Batman; so much so that in the pantheon of folks who've voiced the Dark Knight in animated form, I'd put him second only to Kevin Conroy, who's quintessential in the role. John DiMaggio is a supremely talented voice actor, but I don't feel he was the best choice for Joker. And Jensen Ackles, who excels in the Supernatural TV Series, does the job well enough as Red Hood, but doesn't stand out in any great way.

It's rated PG 13, but the violence is more extreme than any of the previous films, with multiple murders, explosions, and even a bag of severed heads being thrown around. It's perhaps a case of making it more grim in the hopes that it'll appear more mature, but the result arguably lessens the dramatic power of the storytelling and at worst sullies the purity of the series.