Wednesday, February 17, 2016

ANI-MOVIES, *Batman Vs. Robin

Before his overhyped mash with the Man of Steel, the Dark Knight battled his own sidekick/son in Batman Vs. Robin. This was a DC Universe animated movie which acts as a sequal to Son Of Batman, and part of the official "New 52" timeline which takes place post-Flashpoint.

Bruce Wayne's newfound son Damian goes as Robin to track down some missing children that have been kidnapped by the Dollmaker(oddly voiced by Weird Al Yankovic!), but the villain is ultimately killed by a masked vigilante called Talon. Bruce and Damian's relationship becomes more estranged as Robin keeps sneaking out to fight crime on his own, while Batman investigates Talon's involvement with a mysterious organization he remembers as a child called the Court of Owls, who Bruce originally thought were the ones who killed his parents. Batman is attacked by a few of the other Talons, which are like enhanced zombie assassins that can only stay re-animated for up to a few hours, and sends for Nightwing to bring him back home. Fed up with Batman, Robin chooses to ally himself with Talon, who the main assassin of the Court of Owls, and lover of the Court's Grandmaster(aka: Bruce Wayne's current love interest). Batman goes out looking for the Court's hideout, but get caught in a labyrinth pumped full of fear gas, which is probably connected to the Scarecrow's deleted scene from Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis. Bruce is once again rescued by Nightwing and brought back to Wayne Manor, while Robin reveals his identity to the Court. Damian however refuses to join in their cause, which prompts Talon to go all blood crazy and slaughter the entire court. After the bloodbath, Talon releases all the other zombie-Talons for an all out assault on Wayne Manor. The Batman Family manages to take out all the Talon-drones, but the main Talon gets into a final battle with Batman, where Robin comes to the rescue at the last minute, but Talon decides to take his own life making Robin feel like he was the one who killed him. Bruce and his son reconnect, but Damian decides to go discover his true identity by travelling to a Himalayan monastery to work on his feng-shui.

This worked an effective adaptation of the Court of Owls story arc from the comics, while merging it with Batman breaking in Damian as his son and the new Robin post-Son Of Batman. Most of the cast from the previous movie chapter return, with Jeremy Sisto performing a believable Talon, which the story adds a little more backstory to than was given of the character in the original comic. This animated film leads into the current third chapter, Batman: Bad Blood, that further expands the Bat-Family, but Batman Vs. Robin does make for a good enough viewing on its own too.

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