Batman vs. Robin

[The Laughing Fish]

We'll be getting another Batman-centric animated movie this year, Batman vs. Robin.

It looks like it'll be a sequel to Son of Batman.

I'll see it but I'd be expecting to be just a one-time watch only. Damian Wayne is probably my least favourite Robin ever because of his constant too-wise-for-his-age, know-it-all attitude.

[Seantastic]

Watched this, meh not liking the last few animated movies tbh, since TDKR they haven't really been that great IMO...i.e since they lost Bruce Timm :/

I want to see more older stories be brought to life, how about TDKR2, or Knightfall?

This one was fun though, wont watch again like, very violent, maybe too violent and was a way to maybe appeal to more adults and make it more anime, but either way I just thought it was ok - nothing special.

[The Laughing Fish]

After reading The Court of Owls a few weeks ago, I decided to give this another watch because it's loosely based on that storyline. Just as I thought in my first time viewing, It's an okay film, but the story by Scott Snyder is much superior.

Before I gather my thoughts, there is a moment in the fight scene between Batman and the Talons where it appears to pay homage to the alley fight scene with the Joker's ninja swordsman in B89.

Now onto my little review, so if you haven't seen BvR yet even though it's three years old, stop reading.



...




BvR continues to explore the tense father-son relationship between the two main characters, as Damian Wayne struggles to earn his father's trust and fights off the urge to adhere to Batman's moral code. The Court of Owls look to offer membership to prominent people in society, as opposed to assassinating them like in the comic, with one of the Talons trying to befriend Damian and encouraging him to give into his assassin instincts, with the intention of adopting him as his successor on behalf of the Court of Owls. The Talon himself is an even sadder reflection of Damian - a professional thief who grew up trying to gain his father's approval, but was met with disdain and abuse. Because of the tension between Batman and Robin, it makes the Talon in this film a formidable villain as he tries to manipulate Damian to satisfy his own secret society's goals.

There is some good character development going on in spite of the strange plot contrivances. The scene where Batman is drugged and trapped in a maze inside the Court's hideout is similar to the comic, except instead of beating the Talon once finds the will to fight near death, Batman has a hallucination of Damian following a dark path which results in Gotham City's destruction. What I took away from this is while Bruce felt justified in his discipline of Damian, he learns he has to trust him and treat him with dignity, instead of only treating him as a soldier. He realises his lack of compassion for his own son risks of losing him forever. It's a good little moment of maturity for Batman as a parent, and it makes me nearly forgive the convenient and somewhat anticlimactic ending to that scene, as opposed to using his near superhuman willpower to fight back against the insanity inflicted upon by the Court of Owls in Snyder's comic.

I still find Damian annoying, but I have to credit the character's arc as he wrestles trying to figure out whose approval is he looking to satisfy: if it's his father's morality, his grandfather Ra's al Ghul's legacy, or Talon's influence.

But there are some issues I have with the film. As I said before, Batman getting lost in the Court's maze and hallucinating ends too conveniently, as he is revealed to find his way back and is taken care of by Alfred and Dick. It's definitely not as exciting or fulfilling as surviving the psychological torture against all odds in the Snyder comic. Maybe I'm not being too fair because this story is about the lack of trust between Batman and his son is being manipulated to suit the villain's needs, whereas the comic focused how the Court of Owls were a menace towards Batman's family legacy and challenges his own knowledge of Gotham City. Still, I think the scene could've ended more than simply waking up in a medical table in the Batcave. Why the hell would the Court want to psychologically torture Batman but let him escape so easily? In the comic, their torture made sense because they wanted to make him lose him mind before trying to kill him.

The weirdest of all is Batman, despite drawing a line against taking lives and expects Robin to follow an example, kills the Talons while in combat because of the fact they appear to be dead already. In the comic, the Talons' bodies worked like electrical generators; even when they're technically dead, their bodies are synthesised with a chemical compound to generate any dead tissue. In other words, they have a healing factor that lets them come back to life and recover from any fatal injuries, as well as physically stay in good condition without decomposing once they die for a temporary period of time.

But in this film, not only do the Talons have no ability to heal; the Court of Owls struggled to resurrect them through cryogenic experimenting, as chosen assassins appear to succumb to death in their cryogenic states or only last for mere hours. Because of this, they're basically reanimated into brainless zombie-looking husks, instead of the conscious talkative assassins from the comics. As a matter of fact, the Talon befriending Damian is the only one who can talk, as far as I can remember. Batman is unsure if they are alive, as he remarks to Nightwing at one point, but he still uses lethal force against them about several times in this film. So the question is, did Batman really break his moral code even if the assassins were kinda dead already? I suppose judging from what is implied in the story, the answer is no. We should remember he had fought and killed off Parademons in Justice League: War, so I suppose he draws a distinction when it comes to killing living people, and those who are reanimated and unconscious beings.

The Court wanted to reclaim the city from the freaks and degenerates in this film and offer Bruce membership, whereas in the comic, they tried to assassinate Bruce because his plans to restructure Gotham threatened their stranglehold the city, and eliminated every important person in the community. I understand Samantha Vanaver wanted Bruce to join the Court of Owls, but it doesn't make much sense that she'd put him through a deadly car chase. I do think the main Talon's turn against the entire Court was sudden, but then again, he always had reservations with their plans to reanimate his body like all the other assassins. And his refusal to do as they demanded and kill Damian once they learned of Batman's true identity is understandable because he grew some attachment to the kid as some sort of surrogate "son".

Verdict: I suppose it's alright. But the Court of Owls story written by Scott Snyder about is a much better experience. There's a lot more in the comics which has a lot of rich symbolism that's lacking here i.e. the owl is a predator hunting bats and how that translates with William Cobb and Lincoln Marsh going after Batman, and it offers a deeper story than this, in my opinion.

[The Laughing Fish]

This is quite shocking. I found this YouTube video by a martial artist claiming his moves were directly copied into the final fight between Batman and Talon.

The side-by-side comparison definitely shows the scenes are identical. It's too bad this guy can't sue Warner for plagiarism, because by his own admission, martial arts moves aren't copyright protected, regardless if the scene recreates every shot and camera angle. That probably means studios are exploiting a legal loophole to avoid paying any royalties.

Seeing as Jay Oliva directed BvR, I find it hard to believe he didn't know where the fight moves came from. Very disappointing.

[thecolorsblend]

This is quite shocking. I found this YouTube video by a martial artist claiming his moves were directly copied into the final fight between Batman and Talon.

The side-by-side comparison definitely shows the scenes are identical. It's too bad this guy can't sue Warner for plagiarism, because by his own admission, martial arts moves aren't copyright protected, regardless if the scene recreates every shot and camera angle. That probably means studios are exploiting a legal loophole to avoid paying any royalties.

Seeing as Jay Oliva directed BvR, I find it hard to believe he didn't know where the fight moves came from. Very disappointing.

It seems a little too similar to me to be a coincidence.

As to Oliva's culpability... maybe, maybe not. He would've approved the storyboards for sure. But it's 50/50 that he would've drawn the storyboards himself. For me, that's what tells the tale here. Whoever drew the storyboards and basically blocked out the fight is most likely the person who went cruising YouTube for "inspiration". Could've been Oliva. But there is a legit job title called "storyboard artist". It's not necessarily the director who does that stuff in an animated feature.

Either way, no matter who's responsible, I maintain that it's pretty unlikely to be coincidental.