{"id":7854,"date":"2014-08-13T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T06:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=7854"},"modified":"2022-01-01T13:26:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-01T21:26:29","slug":"review-batman-assaultonarkham-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2014\/08\/review-batman-assaultonarkham-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman: Assault on Arkham Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a bad entry into the DC Universe Animated line but the title is misleading with the title character has been relegated to supporting role status as the bulk of the story is centered on the members of the Suicide Squad as well as some on The Joker, though that\u2019s hardly a bad thing.<\/p>\n

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Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/span>
\n(2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Animation, Action, Adventure
\nWarner Bros. | PG13 \u2013 76 min. \u2013 $24.98 | August 12, 2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n <\/b>MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Jay Oliva, Ethan Spaulding
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Heath Corson (written by)
\nVoice Cast: <\/strong>Kevin Conroy, Neal McDonough, Hynden Walch, Matthew Gray Gubler<\/p>\n
\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Commentary, Featurettes, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/p>\n

\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>NA
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> is based, at least loosely, on the hit video game series and in this movie Batman (voiced by fan favorite KEVIN CONROY) is more or less a secondary character. And even though this is a weaker entry into the DCUA line of movies, it\u2019s still entertaining and makes the most use out of its PG-13 rating. This animated flick is not for the kids…<\/p>\n

Amanda Waller (CCH POUNDER reprising her roles in \u201cJustice League: Animated Series\u201d and the \u201cArkham Asylum\u201d video game) dispatches the Suicide Squad comprised of: Louise Lincoln aka Killer Frost (JENNIFER HALE), Nanaue aka King Shark (JOHN DIMAGGIO), Eric Needham aka Black Spider (GIANCARLO ESPOSITO), George Harkness aka Captain Boomerang (GREG ELLIS), Harleen Quinzel aka Harley Quinn (HYNDEN WALCH) and lastly Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot (NEAL MCDONOUGH). In order to keep them under control, Waller has each one implanted with a nano explosive on the back of their neck. With little choice but to join, or be killed as one KGBeast discovered, they accept the mission to, with stealth, get into Arkham Asylum and retrieve a flash drive hidden inside The Riddler\u2019s (MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER) cane.<\/p>\n

With the assistance of Oswald Cobblepot\/The Penguin (NOLAN NORTH), who has the necessary weaponry and costumes (like Deadshot\u2019s eye-scope), this Suicide Squad manage to break in to Arkham vie way of Trojan horse by Harley Quinn getting arrested and the others manage to also infiltrate using creative methods. Once inside, as Deadshot, dressed as a cop, escorts Harley Quinn through the cellblock, she encounters her love, now scorned, in The Joker (TROY BAKER) which, of course complicate matters.<\/p>\n

In any case, the crew must make their way through Arkham, avoid all contact and detection as possible but of course Batman spoils their plans and we get fight scenes that, despite their oft on-target shooting (as demonstrated in an earlier scene between Boomerang and Deadshot), are unable to take Batman down. We get some misdirection with the plot and a couple twists regarding Amanda Waller\u2019s true intentions as well as The Joker having planted some kind of explosive devise somewhere in Gotham which also divides Batman\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

Where does Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> measure up against the others in the DC Universe Animated Movie line? Well, as I said before, it\u2019s not in the upper tier, that\u2019s for sure and having \u201cBatman\u201d in the name is a bit misleading, although calling it Suicide Squad wouldn\u2019t help sell the movie, which is why recent DCUA movies, and those in the future, will have \u201cBatman\u201d, \u201cSuperman\u201d or \u201cJustice League\u201d in the title with other characters like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (although he did get a couple animated movies) or any other DC Comics character their own movie.<\/p>\n

So, although Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> is probably in the bottom of the tier, and it\u2019s nowhere near as bad as Superman: Doomsday<\/em> or Superman vs. All-Star Superman <\/em>(though that one has its fans), but it also doesn\u2019t come close to the likes of Batman: Under the Red Hood<\/em>, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The voice casting, while missing name recognition compared with the others, is still pretty damn good. You\u2019ve got fan favorite Kevin Conroy reprising his role as Batman (and it\u2019s a welcomed departure from Jason O\u2019Mara who has been chosen to carry on the shared universe that started with Justice League: War<\/em> and continued in Son of Batman<\/em> and the upcoming Justice League: Throne of Atlantis<\/em> is the third); Neal McDonough is great voicing Deadshot; Hynden Walch, a veteran voice actress is fantastic as the psychotic yet oh so sexy Harley Quinn (she voiced in three previous DCUA films and voiced Quinn in a couple episodes of \u201cThe Batman\u201d); Matthew Gray Gubler (\u201cCriminal Minds\u201d) does well in his small part as The Riddler; and finally Troy Baker is probably the biggest surprise that, and please don\u2019t hit me, rivals Mark Hamill as The Joker.<\/p>\n

Outside of the voice casting, which is mostly wonderful, Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> has its moments but compared with the rest, is mostly unremarkable. Yeah, the animation actually isn\u2019t bad save for giving Batman two faded pupils for his eyes which really looked weird. If you are a fan of the DCUA film line, and considering the low MSRP, this might be worth adding to your collection, otherwise you can go ahead and skip this entry.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This release comes with a matted slip cover<\/strong>. Inside the case is the standard DVD Copy<\/strong><\/span> and a code for the Digital Copy<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Commentary<\/strong><\/span> features Mike Carlin (Creative Director of Animation), Heath Corson (Writer) and James Tucker (Executive Producer). It\u2019s a decent enough commentary, straight to the point track where each give their own perspective on the story.<\/p>\n

A Sneak Peek at Justice League: Throne of Atlantis<\/em> (9:10; HD)<\/strong><\/span> gives a glimpse at the next DCUA movie featuring the voice talents of Matt Lanter (Aquaman), Sam Witwer (Orm), Sirena Irwin (Queen Atlanna), Jerry O\u2019Connell (Superman), Christopher Gorham (Flash), Jason O\u2019Mara (Batman), Sean Astin (Shazam), Nathan Fillion (Green Lantern), Rosario Dawson (Wonder Woman) and Sean Patrick Thomas (Cyborg).<\/p>\n

The Joker\u2019s Queen: Harley Quinn (13:50; HD)<\/strong><\/span> is a profile on the hottest bad girl in comics and features interviews with people within DC Comics about her origins and her revamping for the New 52 and within Assault on Arkham<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Arkham Analyzed: The Secrets Behind the Asylum (27:16; HD)<\/strong><\/span> gives a look at the iconic crazy bin housing all of Gotham\u2019s greatest super-villains.<\/p>\n

Under From the DC Comics Vault<\/strong><\/span> are two episodes, one from \u201cJustice League Unlimited\u201d and the other from \u201cYoung Justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 1080p high-definition transfer for Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> is more or less similar to other DCUA films where colors are bright, darker scenes are nice and stark but it also has banding issues and some aliasing, though nothing heavy. Also, and this is about the animation style than the transfer, but some of the distant shots don\u2019t look the best and being in HD, you get a clearer look at the shortcuts animators took.<\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The disc includes a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which actually is one of the better sounding animated movies from the DCUA where dialogue is, as expected, crisp and clear but it\u2019s the action sequences show a fair amount of depth from explosions which envelope every channel as does gunfire, punches, etc.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Batman: Assault on Arkham<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a bad entry into the DC Universe Animated line but the title is misleading with the title character has been relegated to supporting role status as the bulk of the story is centered on the members of the Suicide Squad as well as some on The Joker, though that\u2019s hardly a bad thing. It does have a few things going for it from the character designs and voice casting (highlighted by Conroy and Baker), so it\u2019s not a complete waste, just falls short of the high standards these animated movies have had.<\/p>\n

The Blu-ray released by Warner does have a fair amount of features and the video and audio transfers are both well done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Movieman
\n<\/em>Published: <\/strong>08\/13\/2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Batman: Assault on Arkham isn\u2019t a bad entry into the DC Universe Animated line but the title is misleading with the title character has been relegated to supporting role status as the bulk of the story is centered on the members of the Suicide Squad as well as some on The Joker, though that\u2019s hardly … Continue reading “Batman: Assault on Arkham Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3078,52,2555,347,3080,3079,448,1044,1139,3081],"class_list":["post-7854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-assault-on-arkham","tag-batman","tag-cch-pounder","tag-dc-comics","tag-giancarlo-esposito","tag-hynden-walch","tag-kevin-conroy","tag-matthew-gray-gubler","tag-neal-mcdonough","tag-nolan-north"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27855,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7854\/revisions\/27855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}