Batman: Assault on Arkham (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

THE FILM: I was, quite honestly, blown away by this. It's only the third DCAU movie I've seen, but I am quickly becoming impressed. The basic plot is that Amanda Waller needs something from the Riddler, so she assembles Task Force X and has them break into Arkham to retrieve it for her. Batman and the Joker also have key supporting roles that round out a fast-paced, action-packed story. So, as you might be able to tell, despite Batman's name being part of the title, this is more of a Suicide Squad movie. And in that respect, this film succeeds in every way that David Ayer's live-action one failed. Little time is wasted setting up backstories, opting instead for short clips to introduce each squad member AFTER the title card. There was also a lot more internal tension as each squad member is forced to work with each other to complete their mission, something that was also lacking in this year's SUICIDE SQUAD. Put simply, what I saw here in terms of character work was amazing. The film was also really funny at times. Everyone had at least a couple moments to shine in that regard. In particular, King Shark and Captain Boomerang were comic relief. As for the animation, it had an anime-like style that was very beautiful and fluid. I was also surprised at how mature this was. While not terribly explicit (this is PG-13 after all, but kind of pushes the edge), Harley Quinn and Killer Frost (the female Squad members) were quite sexy in a way that I didn't exactly remember from the animated series. However, what really put's this among the best DC animated films I seen (so far) is the economy and efficiency of the storytelling, excellent animation, and brilliant voice work. The problems I have with it are rather minor. There was a particular score cue that reminded me of the worst electro-house, and the voice actor doing Gordon sounded a little too young for how he was drawn. That's it. If you saw SUICIDE SQUAD and didn't like it, give this a try. If you didn't, see this anyway. And if you already have, maybe now's the time to watch it again.THE EXTRAS: There's a decent assortment of bonus features provided that go deeper into the characters and DC lore. Chief among these (although by no means the best) is an 8-10 minute featurette on Harley Quinn, starting with her origin on BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES and continuing with her different runs in comics. There was also a 5-minute look at (what was the next, at the time) the DCAU film JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS, centered around Arthur Curry/Aquaman. Rounding out the features common to all releases were four cartoon episodes from JUSTICE LEAGUE, et al, particularly on featuring Task Force X. Exclusive to the Blu-ray is a roughly half-hour documentary on Arkham Asylum. The most interesting part to me was learning where it came from. The name comes from H.P. Lovecraft, while the idea of Arkham Asylum came from a big expose in the 1960's, with itself being introduced in the comics in the 1970's. There was also a general discussion of Arkham as a character, and an existential conflict between dark and light. Pretty cool, if I say so myself. The cherry on top is a feature-length commentary on the main film.OVERALL: Whatever DC/WB Animation has been doing that makes their films so good, DC and the Snyder-verse should take some notes. BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM is a lean, mean storytelling machine that treats the characters and audience with respect, and is certainly one of the best efforts of their direct-to-video animated films. There was also a decent amount of bonus features to round out one's viewing experience. Simply put, this is a must-see for fans of comics and animation.

The movie is great and delivered in a manor that reminds me of a Guy Richie film. Well worth the watch.

In July of 2013 at the San Diego Comic Con, the DC Animation Panel announced BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM as a fall 2014 release, intended to tie-into Rocksteady Studio's latest "Batman: Arkham" game - which at that time was set for an October 2014 release. It sadly reeked of DC/Warner Bros. interdepartmental cross-promotion, and left little for fans to look forward to.Fortunately, the talent assigned to the film had their own agenda with regard to what type of film they wanted to make. When it was decided the plot would focus on sending the Suicide Squad into Arkham on a mission, everything began clicking. Co-director Jay Oliva, who looks for distinct stylistic approaches for each of his films, saw the opportunity to turn the DC Universe Film into one unlike any other - a Guy Ritchie stylized pic: "Normally, I direct epic, sweeping animated films, but this one I wanted it to be more like a Guy Ritchie film. If I'd directed like I'd directed an earlier project I'd done in the past, it might not be so good, so I pitched it as a Guy Ritchie film or a Soderbergh film. Like "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels". So that's how we did it. Even the music isn't done in the operatic style, the Hans Zimmer feel. It's more contemporary, and it made it more fresh. It was a challenge." (www.flickerkingmyth.com, SDCC Interview: Jay Oliva, director of Batman: Assault on Arkham, AUGUST 4, 2014 BY GARY COLLINSON)Screenwriter Heath Corson wasn't just a fan of utilizing the Suicide Squad in the film, he was in total sync with director Jay Oliva's `Guy Ritchie' heist approach, and had a specific Steven Soderbergh film on the brain as well: "I said it's sort of like "Ocean's Eleven " if, at every step of the way, Brad Pitt is trying to kill George Clooney...They really liked that and they wanted me to go in that direction. ... I realized I had pitched a heist movie and heist movies are super hard, so I had to build it from the ground up...It's not an adaptation (of the video game), so I had a little bit of a freer hand to (pace it) as fast as I could...Also, because we're doing a heist movie, those things are breathless. They gotta move so quickly that you're just keeping up. So that sort of was baked into the concept, that it needed to move as fast as it possible could." (www.animationmagazine.net, Heist Style, AUGUST 8, 2014 BY THOMAS J. McLEAN)And move it does.An action-pact opening involves Batman (legendary Kevin Conroy back in great form) defeating Government Agent Amanda Waller (the great C.C.H. Pounder) and her attempt to capture Edward Nygma (Matthew Gray Gubler). Once directors Jay Oliva & Ethan Spaulding, along with writer Heath Corson, set-up their plot, and the film hits the 32 minute mark, it's an insane, dark, profane, sexualized, hilarious, sick wild ride, right down to the last notes of Robert J Kral's energized end titles, which equal the balance of his greatly varied, highly stylized overall score.Once you're a half-hour in, BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM moves faster and hits harder each minute as it builds upon and exceeds the previous 60 seconds. Like the best work of Guy Ritchie, Steven Soderbergh an Quentin Tarantino, the film hits that stride of outrageous unpredictability. That line-shattering mix of the entire gambit of humor, combined with 'traditionally' inappropriate subject matter that drives America's conservative, senior citizens crazy when they accidentally stumble into it at the cinema.In this case? A hilarious scene with a couple of exploding heads, and a certain villain who picks one up -post dismemberment from its body - for a casual conversation. An Arkham Guard who is suckered via a VERY partially nude female Suicide Squad member, only to end up facing off with the `Jaws' of a hilarious cannibal, who announces after eating the guy, "He hates Italian."If your tastes include films such as Ritchie's SNATCH, Soderbergh's SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, and Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and DJANGO UNCHAINED, odds are high while watching BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM, you will find yourself unable to restrain your own verbal reactions.Don't be surprised if the film's countless, unexpected, and character-motivated moments of perfectly mixed hilarity, one-liners, horror, over-the-top violence, sex and vulgarity elicit verbal responses such as: "Oh no they didn't!"; "Holy (fill in your favorite expression)!"; "Now that's how it's done!"; and countless other reactions (from G to NC-17 rated, depending upon your tastes and whomever else is in the room).Jay Oliva has noted, "I'm a huge horror fan. I would watch "R"-rated films that I was way too young to watch, and I think that kind of influenced me a little bit...I love "The Shining" and "The Exorcist". I've done a film here that is very psychological, and I tried to hearken back to what I loved as a kid. I tried to balance the videogame feel to the heist movie and a little bit of scary elements at the end. It's my nod to Sam Raimi and John Carpenter. I've been asked how I took on my directing style, and my style comes from studying the greats. You learn something from everyone. I've tried to integrate everything." (www.flickerkingmyth.com, SDCC Interview: Jay Oliva, director of Batman: Assault on Arkham, AUGUST 4, 2014 BY GARY COLLINSON)With the goal of the Directors and Writer being to make a film in the style of both Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh, it should come as no surprise that BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM is the most flat-out violent, sexually graphic, profane, dark, twisted and ADULT DC Universe Animated Original Film ever produced. The film is laced with several moments of partial nudity, exploding heads with blood splattering, corpses taking gunshots, a heated night of sex for 2 characters, violent knife and chain-hook fights with bloody body impaling. BATMAN: ASSAULT ON ARKHAM makes Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT look like Joel Schumacher's BATMAN & ROBIN.The MPAA must have found Oliva, Spaulding and Corson's first 30 minutes of plot `set-up' so hard to follow, they fell asleep. More than any other DC Universe Animated Original Film, this one EARNED an "R" rating. Furthermore, its seems that - in just this one case - Rocksteady Studios and DC Universe Animated Original Films would have WANTED an "R" rating on the film. It hits the demographic of the "Arkham Game" series, and it would have gotten the film and upcoming 2015 "Batman: Arkham" game some real publicity.This isn't to say the film is perfect. Following the opening action sequence, the plot set-up could have used much more `one-liners,' humor, and tighter editing. A surprise early plot appearance by one of the Gotham's Rogues is a nice touch.These are minor flaws. What could have been nothing more than a throw-a-way promotional tie-in, Directors Jay Oliva & Ethan Spaulding, along with writer Heath Corson, Casting and Voice Director Andrea Romano, Composer Robert Kral, and the entire cast - especially Kevin Conroy - deserve high praise for delivering one of the best and unique DC Universe Animated Original Movies since the days of Bruce Timm. The praise doesn't get ANY higher for a DC Universe Animated Original Film.

love it & watch it

Esta película en formato 4K es de excelente calidad así que sólo es necesario tener una pantalla de alta gama para poder disfrutar de este contenido no decepcionada excelente calidad de imagen sublime a decir verdad y sonido de primera pesar de ser 5.1 ah Master audio

No deja de ser una pelicula del escuadron suicida pero batman sale mucho mas que en la primera pelicula.De hecho esta es la mejor del escuadron suicida.Imprescindible para fans del murcielago

Wo Suicide Squad im Kino doch irgendwie enttäuscht, bietet dieser klasse Zeichentrick-Film alles was es braucht. Eine gute Story, die Squad mit Harley Quinn, Deadshot und Co., ausreichend Screentime für den Joker und auch 'Bats' bekommt seinen Auftritt ... was will man mehr?Vllt. wäre der Suicide Squad-Film besser gewesen, wenn man diesen Streifen als Realfilm umgesetzt hätte?!Comic- und Cartoontechnisch finde ich DC weitaus reizvoller ... aber was Realfilmumsetzungen betrifft, sollte DC/Warner mal bei Marvel "schmulen", denn Marvel hat sich von den ersten Superheldenfilmen wie Spiderman, Hulk und Co. bombastisch entwickelt und uns Unterhaltungsperlen wie Guardians of the Galaxy, Return of the First Avenger, Age of Ultron und zu letzt Civil War beschert. Dawn of Justice und die Supermanfilme waren unterhaltsam, blieben aber irgendwie recht weit hinter der Marvel-Konkurrenz zurück, einzig Nolans Dark Knight-Trilogie war wirklich herausragend! Ich hoffe DC würzt den Justice League-Film in 2017?/2018? mit einer gehörigen Prise "Marvel" was Drehbuch, Storytelling und Inszenierung und Humor angeht. Mal gucken was uns Ben Affleck mit dem Batman-Solo in 2017/18 beschert?!? Ansonsten sollte man sich vllt. mal die Gebrüder Russo bei Marvel ausborgen!

No Spoilers- Yes, this is a Suicide Squad movie but sadly not mentioned in the title as it wasn’t as well known as little as a year ago. So the Suicide Squad (a bunch of DC Villains) are put together and sent to break into Arkham and steal the Maguffin. We have a pretty similar line up to the new movie with an excellent voice cast. Batman is used really well, he only has a little screen time but it’s tied into the plot nicely. Overall, this is excellent, animation kicks ass, correct tone of funny, wild and action packed and the plot is simple but with some nice twists. I had a couple of problems with Harley Quinn, the voice, look and dialogue is great but she is nearly naked so often in this movie. The woman is a sex symbol, no, an icon but she didn’t need to be semi-nude, she’s already gorgeous. It’s a tiny flaw in an otherwise excellent movie. You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned the huge number of characters who turn up in this and that’s because a lot of the fun is the unexpected cameos but I will say there is a lot of them and Bat Fans wont be disappointed. You can find it on Amazon Instant Video. Essential Viewing if you want something that’s fun and kicks ass.