Batman: Under The Red Hood - First Impressions

Hi Batman Fans,

I'm sure most of you have seen the exclusive trailer by now. What do you think of the new DC Animated Film and what are your initial impressions? For me, the trailer really got me excited and I can't wait for movie to be released end of July. Yup! We don't have to wait long.

Just by watching the trailer, I would say that the voice-overs were really good. I'm pretty sure Bruce Greenwood would be able to pull it off as Batman/Bruce Wayne.

I'm impressed with what I've seen so far. Batman sounds a little to raspy and not gritty enough but the rest look awesome. Keep checking GKO soon as we should start to see the more coming to us from Warner Bros. animated.

I do prefer this voice actor to Baldwin in Crisis on 2 Earths though. He was pretty weaksauce, in my opinion.

-Gary

See I'm the opposite - I think Baldwin's sounded more Batmanesque?

I'm looking forward to the soundtrack - one more Batman soundtrack to add to my iPhone can't be bad lol

I realized I hadn't heard either in a while, and so I checked 'em out on youtube. I think you're kinda right; the guy doing the voice in "Under the Hood" seems like he's trying too hard to do the Christian Bale growling/gritty voice, but is failing miserably. And Baldwin sounds like he wasn't trying at all, basically just reading his lines; but his voice was naturally closer to what Batman should sound like.

I guess my problem is I'm comparing them all to Kevin Conroy, who had the intense grittyness of Batman but still have the voice strength, whereas I don't feel like either of these guys sound tough, just kinda raspy.

Anyone knows who these two characters are? They look familiar to me but I can't seem to recall who they are.

AndrewT wrote:

Anyone knows who these two characters are? They look familiar to me but I can't seem to recall who they are.

After talking with Claudie last night on the podcast, the speculation is Taila Al Ghul, but I can't recall that costume anywhere.

The big Orange guy is Amazo - He appeared in the second issue of Under the Hood and Batman and Knightwing had to take him out.

I don't know who the girl is (the might be Shiva). But the other one is definity Amozo. I liked the preview. The only thing I didn't like is that they're not sticking close to mahnke's art which is a real bummer... But then again animating Mahnke's art would be hard. Side note- Under the Hood is one of my all time favorite batman stories.

Yeah, Bob, Claudie and I talked last night and we think it's probably Talia Al Ghul, but could also be Shiva. We're not too sure.

I really like Under the Hood too, and I'm excited to see how they adapt it!

-Gary

jondoe297 wrote:

AndrewT wrote:

Anyone knows who these two characters are? They look familiar to me but I can't seem to recall who they are.

After talking with Claudie last night on the podcast, the speculation is Talia Al Ghul, but I can't recall that costume anywhere.

The big Orange guy is Amazo - He appeared in the second issue of Under the Hood and Batman and Nightwing had to take him out.

Thanks for clarifying guys!

Amazo looks really sinister! I bet he's as powerful as Bane, or perhaps even stronger.

Hey, on what days do you guy release your podcast. Should I look for them on the website or on iTunes?

It can vary depending on when we actually record. I'm trying to remain consistent and aim for a Monday now. We record on the Sunday afternoon / evening I then edit and post on the Monday - that way we're consistent with the weeks news.

I always post new Podcast's on the website, which automatically updates iTune - it would be great if you could subscribe to iTunes as well and submit a review for us. To more good reviews we get, the higher up we get pushed making more people aware of us...

jondoe297 wrote:

I always post new Podcast's on the website, which automatically updates iTune - it would be great if you could subscribe to iTunes as well and submit a review for us. To more good reviews we get, the higher up we get pushed making more people aware of us...

Indeed!

-Gary

I have to say, I hope Jon Dimaggio's Joker sounds like Bender, with a little bit more "Crazy".

-Gary

Thats funny.

I really liked the film. It's my favorite of the new DC animated films. It's not as good as Mask of the Phantasm or Return of the Joker but it's defiantly good. I want to say that I ABSOLUTELY loved the ending in the Batcave. Such a fitting way to end that film and it really makes you think about some of Batman's choices.

matttco wrote:

I really liked the film. It's my favorite of the new DC animated films. It's not as good as Mask of the Phantasm or Return of the Joker but it's defiantly good. I want to say that I ABSOLUTELY loved the ending in the Batcave. Such a fitting way to end that film and it really makes you think about some of Batman's choices.

How come you've seen it already?

I can't wait for the release

I bought it on bluray from Amazon and can't wait to see it on that. But the sad truth of it is, when you start reading reviews online, that means they have sent out a ton of review copies. It usually doesn't take long for someone to leak it. So its leaked online, if you know the right places you can already see it. I only download it because I already bought it, so I feel like its ok to download it...I just couldn't wait any longer to see it.

Yeah it is unfortunate for the film makers that films are leaked online
I can imagine in Bluray it would look fantastic

I was absolutely blown away by the film, and I really think it's the best animated Batman feature I've ever seen. That sounds hyperbolic, but it's true! The story was powerful, and I think adapted even better to film than the actual source material. Amazing!

I already posted this in one of the other areas, but I really feel like this was over-hyped for me. I still think it's the best DC Animated Feature yet, and that each one just keeps getting better and better, but something about it just didn't "wow" me. And I think that's because everywhere I heard it was the most amazing thing ever, and that everything was almost perfect. But still, it was great. And Jensen Ackles and John Dimaggio were awesome!

-Gary

As I've already said I really liked the film. While I agree about alot of people's points especially the exposition and cheesy lines from NightWing, I think people need to understand this was made for people who Love batman and newcomers. I watched this film with non-batman fans. My girlfriend who is now a semi-fan and has a vague understanding of the Batman mythology thanks to me (showing her every Bruce Timm animated show) and my friend Jeff and his wife who know almost nothing about Batman besides the live action movies they've seen. They did not figure out that the Red Hood was Robin...about mid way they were also thinking it was the Joker (because Red hood takes them to the factory where Joker was created) or maybe Robin once they gave him another chase. I also think the reveal of the red hood is not the point, its the fact that Batman's greatest mistake has come back to haunt him, and after it all goes down, it doesn't change anything he still feels its his greatest mistake. Also alot of people have said Nightwing has no point in the film....Nightwing was in the film to show that the first robin came out OK. That he's a good guy but vastly different from Batman (AKA he's again there for the people who don't even understand that there have been multiple Robins.) Which is surprising because as comic fans everyone knows that..but mainstream audiences don't. SPOILERS:

Spoiler:

Everyone talking about how great anything is before you experience it your self always ruins things for me. So I try to stay far away from reviews and ration myself on looking at exclusives. And I couldn't be any happier that I did so.

This film for me, next to Batman Begins was the greatest Batman film. Ever. I fell in love with it. In the beginning where it was showing the Joker beat Jason Todd to death and the explosion... was an exciting moment for me. I kept feeling like "Finally! An actual film based on TRUE comic origins." And nobody has heard Jason Todd's name being mention in a film before. At least I haven't. And when Batman came to rescue Jason and was too late and was searching in the rubble for Jason... and that image from "A Death in the Family" was re-created and Batman remorsefully said "Jason..." that was all I needed to be sucked in. That whole scene I'm sitting in the living room floor watching it and I kept saying to myself "say 'Jason'" "say 'Jason'" and when he finally said that I yelled out "YESS!!" and my wife looks over at me like I was an idiot. lol It was great.

My take on the Joker... I really liked it. I loved the laugh too. And Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing was fantastic. Loved the cheesy humor. And let's not forget Bruce Greenwood as Batman. I never thought I would like anyone's take on Batman as much as Kevin Conroy but he was up there. Great delivery.

I have a question for everyone... who do you think would win in a fight between Nightwing and Red Hood. Jason Todd was pretty bad ass in the movie. I'm sure Nightwing didn't get a chance to show off his skills so much but I was really impressed with how Jason Todd played the role as the Red Hood. He was pretty superior to most of Batman's opponents.

Anyway... this movie has went into the books for me. And Gary... don't bring everyone down on the podcast 'cause you didn't think it was great like the rest of us lol.


-Garrey

I thought it was great lol, I'm just saying I think everyone else hyping it up as the best thing in the world made me not as impressed with it when I actually saw it. I've said it like 4 times now, I still believe that every DC Animated Feature is better than the last, and that it was great; it just wasn't as impressive to me because it was hyped so much.

-Gary

scarygarrey wrote:

I have a question for everyone... who do you think would win in a fight between Nightwing and Red Hood. Jason Todd was pretty bad ass in the movie. I'm sure Nightwing didn't get a chance to show off his skills so much but I was really impressed with how Jason Todd played the role as the Red Hood. He was pretty superior to most of Batman's opponents.

-Garrey

To answer you question, I would say Dick Grayson holds a slight advantage over Jason Todd. Dick Grayson is more focused and disciplined. However, Jason Todd is definitely more cunning and driven, not to mention a little more streetwise. Both are equally matched in hand to hand combat. If both were to face each other, Dick Grayson would have to use all his training and detective skills to outwit Jason Todd. Well, that's what I think anyways!