Batman:Under The Red Hood Movie Review 141

Batman:Under the Red Hood is an animated movie and it is the eight in the DC Universe Animated Original movies line. Bruce Greenwood is the voice of Batman here when usually Kevin Conroy does it. Greenwood does a good job, but to me Kevin Conroy will always be the voice of Batman.The Joker is voiced by John Di Maggio and again, Mark Hamill will always be the voice of The Joker to me. These two quibbles aside, this movie is a very entertaining one with a good story and good action.

The story begins with R'as al Ghul voiced by Jason Isaacs of Brotherhood fame and he is lamenting getting into business with The Joker. We cut to the The Joker beating up Robin in Sarajevo with a crowbar and cackling as he does it which is classic Joker stuff! This Robin is the second Robin who is called Jason Todd. He took over from the original Robin, Dick Grayson, who is now Nightwing. Batman is seen hurrying his way to save Robin but he fails to get there in time. BOOM!!The building explodes and Batman is seen with the dead body of Robin.. Now the credits roll and things get going!!

It is now 5 years later and the Gotham City mob bosses meet up for a chat as they always seem to do! Someone called The Black Mask has taken over the city and they don't know what to do about him. Then out of the shadows, the mysterious Red Hood appears. He offers protection from Black Mask and Batman as long as they pay him 40 percent.To make them comply he shows them a bag full of their top guys' heads. Naturally, they agree!

This sets up a confrontation with Batman later on as Red Hood is part vigilante and part crime lord. Is he a good guy deep down or is he just another bad guy? Who is he? Where did he come from? Jenson Ackles voices the Red Hood with Neil Patrick Harris voicing Nightwing. Wade Williams voices Black Mask and you will recognise his voice as he played Bellick in Prison Break. There are some other great voice work by Gary Cole, Kelly Hu, Phil LaMarr and Dwight Schultz of A Team fame.

The story here is very good and the movie only takes one hour and fifteen minutes. There are some great action scenes with fights and explosions, all leading up to a showdown at the end!! The Joker is involved also and this movie is very good. If you like the animated series of Batman and the animated movies, then you will love this so check it out now!It gets marked down only for the voices of Batman and The Joker as they will always be Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill!!

Batman: Under The Red Hood-8/10