Batman: Under the Red Hood Review

Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond your wildest

imagination. Night after night, I watch over

this city, but now someone stands in the shadows.

Who knows my every move before I make it? Stalking

me. It ends tonight. Welcome again to Animation

Fiction. I was crossing over with Tooncast Beyond.

We are continuing our look through the DC animated

original movies. And once again, we're joined

by my co -host, TV's Mr. Neil. Party pooper,

no cake for you. And we have with us again, the

host of Tooncast Beyond, TFG1 Mike. Hello. And

with him, his co -host. Steve Megatron. Good

day, sir. And we are talking about Batman Under

the Red Hood, which proves one thing. As I said

earlier, Bruce Timm is really good at distilling

stuff and what works here is the fact that he

took one of the lamest You know characters being

brought back to life in the lamest ways in the

comics Jason Todd the second robin the character

that was the character that was voted to be killed

by the fans no less Overwhelmingly and And there

is no superboy prime punching the fucking walls

of reality to bring him back. No it they made

it much darker much more in line with the Batman

mythos and ultimately a much more satisfying

story and That that's the beauty of this because

because continuity is a hindrance and a joy at

the same time and Tim has been around long enough

to know what to use and where and that's that's

the beauty of This movie specifically because

this movie makes you understand that the concept

of Jason Todd coming back to life inherently

by itself Isn't flawed And that's one of the

hardest things for someone who has hated Jason

Todd as a character like so many other comic

book fans hated him That's one of the hardest

things it takes to say is the premise of bringing

him back isn't flawed. It's it's just It's just

the way that the comics did it obviously with

Superboy Prime punching the walls of reality.

That was flawed But this this this this totally

shows that if you if you bring it and you tell

someone to make it work it actually can work

you just distill it take out the other elements

and make it strictly a batman story and you got

something that's almost hauntingly beautiful

yeah this this movie what like everybody even

after i saw the trailer to this and even after

i saw what little previews that they were showing

online before it got released they everyone that

is a comic book fan was like, oh, it's Judd Winnick's

work, we're not, you know, we hate it, we don't

care, whatever else. As you just said, you know,

Bruce Tim, and I swear, if you guys use this

image again, I will kill you. Bruce Tim loves

to polish turds. No, no, this one, this one doesn't

deserve that image because this one actually

has removed enough of the Winnick DNA that it

doesn't deserve that. You know, the voice cast

is brilliant in this. I mean, I mean, Bruce Greenwood,

you know, freaking Thomas Vail as Batman. And

yes, that's a very old reference, isn't it, guys?

Yes. I said this on Twitter and Facebook earlier

this evening when I was watching the movie. Outside

okay, Kevin Conroy is up on his pedestal where

he deserves to be you know voicing the character

nearly 20 25 years after the fact Bruce Greenwood

best Batman ever outside of Conroy Bruce Greenwood

is the only person at this point in time. I want

to hear Batman's voice from I agree with you

100 % It and Let's talk about the John DiMaggio's

Joker Wow. Yeah, he's got his own nice spin to

it, and it sounds very eerily close to how Hamill

would have handled it. Actually, I think there's

a much more sinister note there that Hamill can

hit, definitely, but it just takes on a completely

different role being voiced by John. I think

that's the beauty of it. Oh, no, but John can

pull off a little bit more of a creepy, like

he kind of does in a lot of his roles. You know,

he adds that extra element to it, which fits

perfectly with this film, whereas Hamill's wouldn't

necessarily fit with this film. I think Hamill

would have been able to pull it off, but he didn't

really need to. Plus, you know, tell the big

man, I said, hello. The only reason why I say

I like Dimaggio better in this than I would have

liked Hamill is because we've already seen...

that dark joker from Hamill. I mean, it would

be, if you had got him to do this, it would be

probably the exact same thing he did with Return

of the Joker. And I'm not saying that as a slight

against Hamill. I'm not saying that at all. I

much prefer, because this is a different movie.

It's a different universe. You know, this is

more of, hate to say this, and I know this isn't

right, but To me, this is more of, could have

been a tie -in between Begins and Dark Knight

than Gotham Knight ever was. I know this is its

own story, and this comes from the comics and

all that stuff, but this movie has the feel of

the live -action movies to me. Until you have

Amazo show up. Oh, God. The one thing I... Lasers!

He has lasers! That's the one thing I liked about

that scene was NPH, Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing,

and the comedy. I like that about the Nightwing

character in the movie, but Neil Patrick Harris

actually played Nightwing really well He did

considering he plays the comedic role More often

than not and Nightwing is always coming up with

quick quips that he throws in there Yeah, so

I mean it that was a nice choice for that character

I especially like the scene where he where he

freaking stabbed the mezzo in the ears Yeah Well,

that's because Batman said he has the exact same

- Weaknesses as a human. As a human, yeah. Which,

I don't know, that's kind of weird to me. Like,

okay, for those of you who are listening to this

show, I - the only Amazo I know is the silver

and gold Amazo from Justice League. The original

Amazo in the comics looks like an elf, so...

So there and uh in number two what I like about

this is in the comics they actually said which

metahumans that version of mazo absorbed so it

sort of made the fight with batman a little bit

more unbelievable because it was basically that

winking the batman stuff in the comics but here

they didn't say which ones just batman said big

ones and that one sort of left it to your imagination

that one that way you don't have to like roll

your eyes and say come on that mentioned be able

to do blank to uh to an android that has the

powers of superman that that way you don't roll

your eyes as much right yeah and like i said

i just i just love that whole fight because it

was just so dynamic and and neil patrick harris

with all those quips i i just love that lasers

he's got lasers God that was that was that was

brilliant and I especially like the way that

they for anyone who is a casual Batman fan that

doesn't know anything about Nightwing I Love

the way the thugs explain it Yeah, so that way

that way doesn't stop the movie to show another

flashback of The original Dick Grayson doing

that know that the thugs know and they explain

it and see you didn't need that I mean the way

they explained it you didn't need a a Nightwing

Dick Grayson Robin flashback. You needed the

Jason Todd Robin flashbacks I know and any sort

of any sort of Dick Grayson Robin flashbacks

would have Overpowered any of the Jason Todd

moments and that was that was the right thing

to do And another great, you know, Wade Williams

has black mask That was creepy And what I love

was his assistant, Miss Lee, who didn't do anything

except for just standing around and looking pretty.

Well, that's what Kelly Hu does, so I mean, you

know. That's a OK, but that thing is a thumbs

up from me. Yeah, the two things that popped

out to me just now looking at the behindthevoiceactors

.com side -by -side cast listing for Batman Under

the Red Hood. I did not know this before because

I've seen this movie two times just now before

we did the recording tonight and I saw it when

it initially came out. I haven't seen it since

then. Did not know that Kelly Hu, I mean I knew

she was in it but it didn't really register with

me till tonight. Kelly Hu and the young Jason

Todd Vincent Martella. Phineas and Ferb reference,

ladies and gentlemen. Vincent Martella is the

voice of Phineas from Phineas and Ferb, and Kelly

Hu voices Stacey from Phineas and Ferb. Well,

actually, the thing is this. Jason Todd was played

by three different actors. Alexander Martella,

Vincent Martella, and Jensen Ackles. Jensen Ackles.

Yeah, Jensen Ackles. Supernatural. Yes. The thing

is this the thing is this you know, Andrea Romano

must have done a really good job of making sure

that they all were like on the on the same page

because a lot of a lot of the Lot a lot of nuances

and the voices made you believe it was the same

character growing up. Yeah But that's what that's

what happens when you have pros doing this craft

and and you know What I really enjoyed was also

was just a lot of the little hints. I mean, I

mean, you know this this Rachel goal wasn't close

to the David Warner one that I love but was still

very classy and still very well played I don't

I'm not sure if you had okay Jason Isaac's voices

ration this I don't i think he fits this version

of race the best because the david warner version

is awesome it's great don't get me wrong but

eventually as that story in the dcau went on

and on and on he got crazier and more maddening

this one for this individual movie you needed

a a voice for race that was still that complex

You know Calculating person that Ra's al Ghul

is but you didn't need the maddening part of

it Because obviously that's where Jensen Ackles

Jason Todd comes in and I think it was a I think

it was a shade better than the D Bradley Baker

Sorry the Bradley breaker, but your race needed

some work Which series was he ration Steve should

know this one Who? Dee Bradley Baker was Ra's

al Ghul in which series? He was in Arkham City.

Oh Okay, yeah, I He was alright, but there is

still something that was left to be desired in

this character though That's in seeing that's

what I picture every time I hear him. Yeah Or

something closely resembling that I Something

just it never sounds right hearing anything other

than David Warner do the voice Yeah, and what

I really liked with this movie though was the

action I mean some of these action scenes were

just non -stop, you know action movie thriller

stuff and It knew how to slow down just enough

to where it when the action popped up pumped

up again Like the fight with the cyber ninjas.

That was pretty cool The fight with the cyber

ninjas I can see why this movie is PG -13 at

the end because holy crap Yeah, an eye gouging

experience with blood on the wall What about

that? What about what I love was that scene where

the the big one threw that car at Batman and

Batman? Jumped through the door. Yeah. Yes. Yeah,

that was so cool And I love how Batman used a

miniature rockets, yeah, yeah What about you,

Neil? How do you feel about this one? Well, going

into it, I really didn't know what to expect.

But once it started, I knew exactly where it

was going. Because, well, I was starting to get

worried that, you know, because it's really obvious

that the Red Hood is going to be Jason Todd.

I was really worried it was going to be the slow

progression of hints. I'm like, OK, I already

know. But no, they really let you know pretty

early in the movie. i really like that that they

didn't waste a lot of time with that and also

what yeah and i really like the formula between

uh... batman and nightwing that just uh... batman

uh... you know being batman and uh... you got

nightwing with all of the funny quips i really

like all that what were you going to say ben?

Well, I also I also like just the just that scene

that You know, they didn't have to show it but

just saying what was in that duffel bag. Oh The

heads eight heads in a duffel bag How's that

for a Joe Pesci reference but and I also like

how You know black mask is just He just feels

like a nobody that wants to be a somebody and

and You know when when he's sitting with you

know, John DiMaggio's Joker and you know Joker

says can I have some water, please? And then

I'm gonna need some guys not these guys are kind

of dead. Yeah Again when I cuz when I was watching

this I was getting What the fuck Okay, edit point

on that mark when I was watching this I was getting

screencaps from both this and last week's episode

crisis on two earths When he Joker stands up

in the prison cell and is pointing the gun at

black mask I Screencapped that and I'm like hmm.

This movie's not for kids because there's no

orange cap What I also enjoyed was Was just the

it showed the the flashback of how the Joker

was born with the original red hood red hood.

Yeah Well, they kind of made it a point that

you were gonna expect to see that in this because

They had said in the beginning that oh the red

hoods back. It must be Joker. Well, no, he's

locked up There's no way it's him. So I mean

motorcycle fetish. Yeah. Yeah Mine was more panache

made or D. Yours is more motorcycle fetish. Yeah

And I just absolutely love the, you know, circle

of life in this movie, where in the beginning

you have Joker beating Jason Todd with a crowbar,

and at the end you have Jason Todd beating Joker

with a crowbar. Yeah, the crowbar was an instrumental

element of the original Jason Todd's death comic,

I mean... Yeah, when the artist was drawing the

Joker going to town in Jason Todd in the original

comic, he was venting the frustration of thousands

of fans because at that point nobody liked Jason

Todd in the comics. Steve, any other thoughts

on this one? Well, I mean, aside from the nice

casting choices that they have in here, I like

the similar but new takes on the character designs.

Oh, yeah. They give a more detailed definition,

whereas the DCAU stuff is kind of more streamlined

and more, you know, more cartoony, whereas this

is more, you can see more of their facial expressions,

more of the lines in their faces. I mean, there's

a lot more detail put into this. Over previous

DC universe or DC animated universe stuff. Oh,

yeah. Yeah, this was definitely this was definitely,

you know much more much more a feature film Animation

style and I think it actually worked and one

thing I really did enjoy was Talia's little non

-speaking cameo Yeah Thank God race was still

alive at that point because we are not going

to be talking about out of the past Dini wrote

that episode. Yes. I know he wrote that episode

Paul Dini as much as I love him as a writer.

He's a very sick man He gave race what he always

wanted The one thing that really interests me

about this film Even even going into it if you

don't pay attention to the credits at all And

you didn't know that it was gonna be Bruce Greenwood

voicing Batman the fact that you don't hear Batman's

voice for the first good ten minutes of the film

Because he's just riding his motorcycle trying

to get to Jason you don't hear him talk until

after the building blew up Yeah, and I really

I like like I like that way that they portrayed

Batman. He is someone who is silent in his movements

and you know he's not gonna be sitting there

you know talking to Alfred on the motorcycle

or anything like that and it's really the you

know it's race you know doing the exposition

of you know where is he is he gonna get there

in time no he's not you know so I really really

did enjoy that and then when obviously Batman

spoke I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more well

you know Batman you know like six shot You never

waste a lot of time talking. That was terrible.

Now is like shooting cyber ducks in a barrel.

So we are the IGN replacement crew, Steve, zero

to four. Five. OK, Ben. I'll definitely give

us a four and the four is a double four because

you have to get this and also get one for. fit

friend or family member i'll give it a four i

give it a four as well uh... it is on dvd uh...

the dvd really kind of makes me mad and no it's

just no it's not even that it it's on single

disc it's on two disc edition and it's on uh...

uh... I think it's on 2Disc Blu -ray as well.

The problem I had when I bought the thing was

the first ever Blu -ray I bought because they

started doing this thing of, oh hey, if you get

the 2Disc regular edition, you get all these

features, but if you just buy the Blu -ray, you

get one more feature that we're not gonna put

on the regular edition. They put an extra feature

on the Blu -ray for this movie about the history

of Robin that wasn't on the 2Disc regular DVD,

and I was like, okay so I bought this and I thought

at the time because when I bought my my new tower

at the time my computer it said that it was equipped

for you know it has a blue blu -ray drive in

it it said it was equipped to be able to you

know show run blu -rays well didn't realize at

the time you had to buy an actual extra cable

for it to actually run, you know, see it in Blu

-ray high def. So I'm like, crap, I just wasted

24 bucks on this Blu -ray for one special feature.

That's a little ridiculous. Was there a short

with this one? Wasn't the green arrow short on

this one? There's that I believe so and I think

it was I did not enjoy that short that much it

was it was an okay story with it didn't really

do anything for me because That's the that's

the next one this this the short that was with

this was the Jonah Hacks short Oh, I love that

one Thomas Jane The right casting decision In

this in man that madam that evil madam Wow, yeah

Yeah, that's awesome. Alright, so we're gonna

take a break here on tooncast beyond you're gonna

hear some ads and we'll come back to close the

show The Webcast Beacon Network has been covering

and promoting creativity and the creative process

since 2007, starting with the Web Comic Beacon,

a topical webcomics podcast with a jovial bunch

of misfits like your local morning radio show.

Also, the Web Comic Beacon Newscast recaps reviews

and discussions of community and industry news

relative to comic creators, especially of digital

distribution. Also, the TROCAST, the ever -tangential

discussion of literary and visual memes. And

finally, web fiction world. Before web comics,

there was independent and self -published web

release written fiction and literature. Find

this all at webcastbeacon .com. Be sure to grab

a master RSS feed or master iTunes feed and not

miss a thing. Like animation? Come listen to

Animation Aficionados. And if you disagree with

us, you can be a guest on a future show. Available

on iTunes, the Zune Market, and AnimationAficionados

.com. I know. Yeah, sometimes Chuck makes fun

of himself. Right! Hey! It's What's On Joe Mine,

every week on the GeekCast Radio Network, insidepulse

.com. Stitch your smart radio and iTunes. Download

and listen today. Can I say something about Transformers?

No! Tunecast is dedicated to the cartoons we

grew up with. 100 episodes and more make up one

of the GCRN's most popular podcasts. Join host

TFG1Mike, Optimus Solo, Terra the Rising Star,

and tons of guest hosts. We also have voice actor

and writer interviews. Tune in to Tunecast as

we look back on the cartoons that defined us

as geeks. You can find Tunecast on iTunes and

the web at www .geekcastradio .com. Tune in.

2012 marks the 30th anniversary for Masters of

the Universe. We here at the GCRN are celebrating

with a brand new series of podcasts. The Powers

of Grayskull series will cover every episode

of every MOTU cartoon. Yes, even that crappy

new adventure stuff. Join Optimus Solo and TFU

and Mike as they tell tales of Eternia, discover

the myths of Etheria, become Masters in Space,

and finally Masters of Grayskull. You can find

the pods, podcasts, and iTunes and the web at

www .geekcastradio .com. Good journey! And when

you download Stitcher to hear Geekcast Radio,

you'll have the chance to win money. Downloading

is quick and easy, just find Stitcher in the

App Store. During registration, hit the promo

code box and enter Geekcast Radio, all one word,

to get automatically entered to win $100. The

latest episodes of the shows will be waiting

for you in your favorites. You'll get access

to lots of other amazing shows too. Always available

to you on demand, no sinking. It's Stitcher Smart

Radio. Don't forget to enter promo code KEYCASTRADIO

when you register. Now back to Tooncast! We are

back here on Tooncast Beyond. Alright Ben, sum

it up really quickly, final thoughts. My final

thoughts is, like I said, it just amazes me how

someone could take - such a flawed concept and

prove that the concept that wasn't flawed, it

was the execution. Under the Red Hood makes me

believe that there could have been a way in the

comics to bring back Jason Todd without it being

utterly retarded. This proves that it was just

a question of who was doing it, not it was done.

Definitely this is one of my favorites. Neil,

what about you? Final thoughts? Well, like I

said, I came into it, I didn't know what to expect,

and I went away liking it. I don't really have

much else to say. It's got a lot of action, a

lot of humor. Go watch it. Steve? I'd have to

say it's ultimately my favorite out of all of

them now, topping the previous episode, obviously.

Between the voice acting the action the comedy.

I mean there was in this movie was dark Yeah,

which was the great part about it. Yeah, I Mean,

I don't think there's a single scene of daylight

I mean there may be like one scene where it's

daylight, but the rest of it. It's all done at

nighttime That's just perfect. Yeah. Well, it's

a Batman story. So, you know and and for me I

agree with you guys. It was very well done. The

voice cast is great. The action is great. The

animation is great. Thank you for joining us

here on Tooncast Beyond. There are several ways

to get in contact with us, so leave feedback

for the show. Visit the website skeetcastradio

.com and animationoficionados .com. You can comment

on each of our episode posts. Leave the show's

feedback in iTunes. Please do this. Follow us

on Twitter. The show I'm there is Tooncast Beyond.

Mine is TF2 and Mike. Steve, what is your Twitter?

SCP21. Neil. Neil Saba. Ben, what's the AA Twitter?

AA Efficient Autos. Become a fan on Facebook.

Go to Facebook .com slash GeekCast or Radio Network

and Facebook .com slash Animation Efficient Autos.

Call the voicemail line, tell us the show you're

leaving the message for, and your name. 502 -526

-5821. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the

Tooncast Beyond Animation Aficionados Crossover

and wish you would join us next time when we

will be continuing the DC Universe Animated Movie

Spotlight with Superman Batman Apocalypse. The

pain already begins. Oh stop it for now. I am

DFG one Mike with TV's mr. Neil Steve Megatron

Phillips and Ben the host. Thank you for joining

us until next time good night We're all here

because each of us, in our own way, fights with

the hope of a better tomorrow. You didn't think

you could just walk away, did you? This ends.