caffienekitty | Reaction: Batman, Under the Red Hood

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Reaction: Batman, Under the Red Hood

Yes, I have a deadline, and I needed to get an extension for it, but if I didn't watch Red Hood now, I'd get spoiled for it and be really crushed. So, writing break tonight, I'm watching a movie.

Short live-ish reaction for Batman: Under the Red Hood. Contains much blithering, profanity and MASSIVE SPOILERS

Seriously. I'm dead serious about the spoilers, turn back now if you have any qualms at all.

Okay then.

-Doooood. Massive Robin whump. Like serious violent Joker-beatdown-with-crowbar whump. It's like fanfic in here. o.O

-Ohshit bomb. O.O

-Fantastic "sonofabitch" face on Robin just before the bomb goes off.

-Wow. Robin may actually be dead. This movie is not messing around. o.O

-Titles ROCK HARDCORE!! Aaaaand I need to go buy the soundtrack from iTunes. Just for the song playing during the credit sequence.

-Titles still playing. So damn awesome. Need to buy this DVD.

-Hi Jensen! Hell yeah it's your meeting! \o/

-I'll have to see how it plays out, but I totally got an AU!Dean vibe there while he was talking about kids.

-This is so damn awesome I can't even describe it. See, personal revelation here, I'm not a fan of this style of animation really. Usually it drives me nuts. Particularly drives me nuts when characters don't have some indication of mouth movement or flashing lights or something for speaking because my hearing is so crap. However, there was just now some awesome, awesome character interaction and stuff in this scene, and for a second, I forgot it was animated and just followed the story. This is good stuff here. *nods*

-Caltrops! \o/

-Ohshitdemontrap! Not demon, cybernetic meta-human-sucking power guy... thing.... Amazeo. Crappy name.

-Combat rather extremely awesome in this. *nods*

-Yeah. If he's on fire and still chasing you, you have a problem.

-Ohhhhh, and he can flyyyy. Greaaaaaaat.

-Note on other voices: NPH is voicing Nightwing here, and I'd swear he was no older than 24. Hardly recognize him too, and that's not a bad thing, because it's better to hear the character than the actor in voice-work. Also Bruce Greenwood IS goddamn Batman.

-Oh, and laser eyes. Of course. Why not.

-C4! Or plastique! Whatever! Hahahahah. Oh man. Oh sound effects crew, how I love you and your evocative splorting noises.

-There isn't enough O.O in the world for this interrogation sequence. Not violent, just, homigawd.

-Bat Plane! Mild sexually suggestive content! (Uh, not with the Bat Plane, just randomly occurring on a rooftop.)

-No way! Okay, my animated car ID skills are way off, but does the Red Hood's car not look a bit Impala-ish around the headlights?

-AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!! That is the first time in a long time I've seen a convertible roof be useful!

-Not at all Impala-ish from the side though. Good thing Batman's a rich guy, he's racking up collateral property damage at a fearsome rate.

-Um, reeeeeeeeally lucky landing there among the boiling vats of stuff, Bats. O.O

-Action sequences are very actiony in an awesome way. Still a little cartoon-convenience here and there, but excusable.

-Interesting, a tie-in to the Joker? There's plot in here you guys!

-"Could you just once say 'let's get in the car', is that so hard?" Heee!

-Not keen on the Joker's voice. Too... hm. Lawyery? Not sure who does the voice but he's reminding me of someone a lot less chaotic than the Joker, though I can't put my finger on it. (ETA: He's reminding me of Powers Boothe (Cy Tolliver - Deadwood, VP Noah Daniels - 24) and I have no idea why. The guy who did the Joker's voice here is John DiMaggio, who among a crapload of other things was the voice of freaking Bender on Futurama. o.O)

-Oooo. Robin is dead. Or at least Joker thinks so. Wow.

-"Oh good. He's pissed." Hahahah. Cute.

-*headshake* Omg. I just really need to own this now. XD I'mma stop typing reactions because they're making less sense as I go along.

-NIGHTWING GINORMO STAPLE GUN!! XD What the hell? What would he even use that for? I guess it'd be an effective method of restraint.

-GAS TANK FLING SHOOT EXPLODE WHEEEEEEE! \o/

-(See what I mean?)

-Randomly, I want Red Hood's hip-knife. And boots.

-BOMB!!! \o/ WHEE COLLATERAL DAMAGE!

-TRAIN!!

-Ooo. It cut through Batman's rope, which I'm guessing is not nylon. Okay, now I really want that knife.

-Audio background noise clearing program OMG. "You haven't lost your touch, Bruce!" OH SHIT!!!! O.O

-Oh. Crap. Red Hood was a ROBIN???? O.O

-Okay, guy set on fire and screaming. It's gonna sound weird that I love that, but I love that because It's not kidsifying violence. That said, what the hell is this rated???

-Laser swords! They beat everything! Except of course a former Robin.

-"Shut up and fight." YAAAAAAAAAH!!! I. Need. This. DVD.

-Whoa! Head go 'splody! Holy crap!

-Yep, blood on sword, hello DNA! I'm gonna ignore the whole "if it was a laser sword or heated or electrified or whatever made it glow blue, the blood would have burned off" because. Just because.

-Yup. He was a Robin. Holy crap!

-Laser sight, waving Hi, bwahahahahahaha!

-Wow, Batman must have been wrecked not to realize his dead protege was made of rubber. But how... when... Hm...

-Raj al Ghul. Okay, that sounds familiar. I suspect osmosis transfer knowledge from

lurkingwombat

-MAGIC GLOWING POOL OMG RED HOOD IS ZOMBIE ROBIN HOLY CRAP!

-SON?? Okay WTF? Oh, adopted. I guess. Okay!

-Too much awesome, cannot type. Also, and ongoing, I keep forgetting this is animation, the story has got me that focussed.

-Heheh. Sneaky. When he takes the hood off and there's the lightning flash, there's a single frame insert of him in red with the Robin 'R'. Niiiice.

-Bathroom fight, shades of Matrix, yeah?

-See above re: too much awesome to type and multiply it by a billion. Holy crap. O.O

-Man, this Joker is annoying.

-Did Red Hood/Jason Todd/Robin2 get away? I think so. Yeah. Batman threw him out a window before things blew up. Yeah. That totally happened. *nod*

So, yeah. In short, I'm going to buy the DVD as soon as I possibly can (ETA: Done, although the sensibility of doing so right now is arguable. :-P) As far as I'm concerned, this is the best Batman movie I've ever seen, live or animated, and would be even if I didn't know any of the voice actors. (Although there are a few I haven't seen including Dark Knight)

lurkingwombat, if you haven't watched it yet, watch it right now.

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I wanna read...but I don't wanna be spoiled...BUT I WANNA REEEEAD.

*frustrated wibble*

Don't read it until you've seen the movie!! Find the movie, rent it, whatever you can manage, as soon as you can. Spoilers are going to be everywhere for this.

But, but --- the Jensen? How was Teh Jensen? I'm assuming from your reactions that he didn't suck, but... specifically, this being his first animation VO role... adequate, held his own, or owned it?

His voicework was excellent, and I can see why the director teared up in the sound booth, but because Red Hood had no mouth with the mask on I was having a hard time connecting his voice to the character depiction. I could much more easily see Jensen's face saying the words. That's just my personal issue about speech-indication in characters though.

I think Jensen did fantastic, there only were a few times where I could tell he was struggling a little with the lack of the other actor being present to bounce off of, but for the most part, those were the sections where the character would have been saying something he'd been repeating over and over in his head since his rebirth, so it actually served to make the character seem more compulsive and obsessed and off the rails.

That's my impressions though, and mileage varies widely. :-)

I loved it. I agree with you, it's VERY adult (no idea what it was rated) but it's very much in line with the graphic novels, and some of the other more adult animation recently!

Loved Jensen and Neil. Both were superb. Great stuff.

Absolutely. I love the darkness in this and to my mind that's how Batman should be.

OMG I KNOW RIGHT?

Though I think my favorite bit is in the middle of the fight with the five glowy assassins of doom when Red Hood lands after getting hit several times and just kinda casually goes "Ow."

Heeeeeeeell yeah.

Heee! Yeah! :-D

(deleted comment)

why some decent amounts of nuance make them go bananas

Because emotional nuance hasn't been very present in North American animation, not to that level of intensity. A lot of it has been more line-reading with emphasis in my experience. There are good ones, but they're rare, I think because for the longest time, animation and voice work hasn't been taken seriously.

I take it you weren't familiar with Jason Todd.

Sounds like a knowledge of the comic canon isn't conducive to enjoying the movie. :-/

Sounds like a knowledge of the comic canon isn't conducive to enjoying the movie.

I wouldn't say that, actually. One of my first Batman purchases as a new fan was A Death in the Family, which is what you see right at the beginning of the movie here (Robin/Jason being beaten to death by the Joker). And I LOVED this movie. :)

Yeah, mileage seems to vary on knowing the story before watching. I guess it depends what people go in expecting.

*does spoiler conga*

*pets Jason* Oh Jason Todd, you adorable little prick you. Oh does Joker give his little speech about how he was doing Batsy a favor when he blew him up? Because seriously, that was always was one of the top ten creep-tastic Joker moments.

I don't recall anything like that, and it does sound awesome, but I'm rather glad they kept the focal point off the Joker for the most part. I don't know what it was, but the guy doing his voice was a decent enough voice-actor, but wasn't terribly Joker-y to me. Personal opinion.

*hee* So you didn't go into the movie knowing the story?

I really enjoyed it, but I wish that the Joker had a better voice.

*hee* So you didn't go into the movie knowing the story?

Absolutely not. I haven't read many of the Batman comics, and while I have a couple friends who know the comic lore inside and out, I don't. Batman hasn't ever really been one of the 'verses I follow regularly, so I went into this blind and damn! :-D

I really enjoyed it, but I wish that the Joker had a better voice.

I know! He was too balanced or something.

For me, the Joker is either Heath Ledger or Mark Hamill (he played the Joker in the Batman cartoon for over a decade). This guy was okay, but nowhere near their level.

I looked up the Jason Todd story after I heard about Jensen voicing him, and then I read Death in the Family. I think Jason's right; Batman should have made an exception and totally slaughtered the Joker.

I still haven't seen the Heath Ledger Joker, but I still agree. The guy who did this has a massive mount of voice-acting behind him (including Bender from Futurama) but he wasn't quite chaotic enough.

I looked up the Jason Todd story after I heard about Jensen voicing him, and then I read Death in the Family. I think Jason's right; Batman should have made an exception and totally slaughtered the Joker.

I think I'll end up tracking that down in time, but I agree with you. I'm not sure if it's something that was in that comic or one further down the line but there's that '6 months in a body cast' line in the movie that makes me think he almost did, but stopped. I think if the story had run in the comics today instead of, when was it, 1986?, he probably would have.

My hubby actually said he liked this than how they handled the story arc in the comic.

So awesome that you came in unspoiled - thus receiving the full effect of the reveal. :-)

My hubby actually said he liked this than how they handled the story arc in the comic.

Cool! I would guess that it was more drawn out over the comic series since they could extend the mystery over a long streak rather than needing to wrap it up in the length of the movie.

So awesome that you came in unspoiled - thus receiving the full effect of the reveal. :-)

Movies like this are exactly why I'm a spoilerphobe. Not knowing what's coming, there's a HUGE impact from when things are revealed, rather than just knowing what's going on and seeing how they reveal it. Makes the watching experience more immediate and involving, because I'm mentally processing what's happening on screen a different way if I know nothing. I'm trying to figure out what's happening as the characters are, and so my attention level and active-watching and active-listening are all at a more focussed level. If I know what's going to happen, I have much less focus, don't get nearly as drawn in to the story, and miss details I would have caught if I were watching actively.

Also, I find that if I'm unspoiled, it's a lot easier to get immersed in what I'm watching and time seems to stretch, so watching something an hour and a half long sometimes feels like days because I've been focussed on the story.

So um, anyway. Yay spoilerphobia! \o/

Cool! I would guess that it was more drawn out over the comic series since they could extend the mystery over a long streak rather than needing to wrap it up in the length of the movie.

That's exactly why the hubby preferred the animation. He felt that in the comic it became drawn out (maybe, too drawn out) and that the animation seemed tighter and a bit more coherent.

He didn't know why I was so eager to watch it but gave me a knowing AHA look when he saw the opening credits. Hehe.

And yeah, I'm the same way about being spoiled but I had no choice with this since I already knew the source material. That's why I really enjoyed your reactions because it was nice to see the impact on someone who didn't know what was coming. While reading your review, I kept thinking....

"Oooh, she doesn't know what's coming!"

"You think that's a surprise just wait!"

"Yes, exactly!"

And other variations thereof.

So thanks very much for posting your review. :-)

Anytime! I'm glad people find my random blithering entertaining on occasion. :-)

Watched it last night. I used to be a huge Batman comic fan, about 20 or so years ago, but I didn't know what to expect from the movie, and Red Hood came in after I quit reading. But I remembered Jason and was horrified to have to relive his death in the beginning of the movie. I didn't particularly like Jason, but his death was brutal.

It could have been longer, and I'd have loved more Nightwing in it, cause I still have a thing for Nightwing. :)

What I liked the most was that Jensen didn't sound like Dean. I got so into the movie I almost forgot it was him. I gotta find time to watch the special features stuff soon.

I didn't particularly like Jason, but his death was brutal.

Holy crap, yeah!

It could have been longer, and I'd have loved more Nightwing in it, cause I still have a thing for Nightwing. :)

I'll take more NPH anyday, although some of his lines were kind of awkwardly written. I think in the presentation as it stands he was mainly there as an opposite to Red Hood in terms of 'what happens to Robins when they grow up. A longer thing would have let them explore some things more, but as is, it seems fairly well-paced. A sort of mini-series would have been cool too.

What I liked the most was that Jensen didn't sound like Dean. I got so into the movie I almost forgot it was him. I gotta find time to watch the special features stuff soon.

Because of the speech-indication issue I have making a minor disconnect for me between the voice and the character sometimes, I heard a little Dean here and there, but a kind of AU Dean. Overall though, he did sound different; much younger and much more bitter and sarcastic. And there were many times, like I said, where I forgot it was animated. :-)

Using what is left of my birthday money to buy this Fri. Jensen+Batman = epic awesomeness and masterful things:) Yes, my vocabulary is fried after insomnia:P And dammit, you need to see Dark Knight one day!!

Using what is left of my birthday money to buy this Fri.

I'm surfing plastic on this one. :-P Phone around first, Walmart has a 'first three days' discount and I got the 2 disc edition for $25. There doesn't seem to be too much on the second disk (a fascinating thing on the history of Dick Greyson/Robin and some animated series episodes) though, and the one disk edition was about $6 cheaper.

And dammit, you need to see Dark Knight one day!!

I really do. :-/

Headed to HMV tomorrow, and they have the 2-disc edition for the same price, so that works:)

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Reaction: Batman, Under the Red Hood

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