Quick Reviews: Batman- Assault on Arkham

After many good, but not great DC Animated films, it was a surprise to get something so different...

Based in the same Universe as the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City/Knight games, this tells the tale of The Riddler being targeted by....Amanda Waller.  I guess Batman too, if he has time.

He has secrets that she wants kept that way, so she has to assemble a team...

The Suicide Squad (or Project X if you are on a show like Justice League) is made up of crazy villains and killers like, well, Killer Shark here.

It also includes classic foes like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn and, just for fun, poor KGBeast.

He was good in one Story Arc in the 1980s before becoming 'that guy with the gun hand' for the next thirty years.  Nice of them to throw him a bone.

Speaking of which, does the team engage in some inter-team relations?  More importantly, will this get awkward when they run into The Joker later?

He did kill several people for not letting him Patent some fish, so...probably.

Good for them to throw in a random reference to The Dark Knight.  You've got to prioritize.

The Story is full of twists and turns and I don't want to SPOIL any of them for you.  Some will live, some will die.

To find out who does what to whom (with a giant mallet), watch the movie.  The End.

Damn- this was a surprise!  I have never been truly disappointed with a DCU Animated Film, just a little underwhelmed.  Stuff like Justice League: War and Superman: Birthright have just been too close to their recent source material.  Seriously, we're only about 3 years into New 52 and we're getting a SECOND Animated Adaptation (Justice League: Throne of Atlantis) already?!?  This company has been around for 80 years, so you'd think that they'd have more to work with.  That's part of this movie's charm.  Yes, it is based on the Arkham: Asylum game series, but that's mostly a cosmetic thing.  You get to see cameos from Bane and the like, although it just serves as a cosmetic thing.  Deadshot and company take center stage, even while they kill and rob people.  It works since they are all actual Characters and you get to know them so well.  The villains working a heist is also a unique thing for these kinds of films, which also works in its favor.  Solid Voice Acting and strong presentation make the whole thing even better.  If you like to see a harder edge in your Comic Book Stories and want something new, this is a big recommendation.  All the killing and implied Nudity does make it a strong PG-13 (how they got that is anyone's guess!), so bear that in mind.  Oddly enough, they work in a plug for...The Looney Tunes Show.  Weird.

Kudos to DC for giving us a Story from a different perspective and with a new edge.  Now when do we get 'The Judas Contract' again?