Batman: Assault on Arkham Review

Batman: Assault on Arkham is a 2014 direct-to-video animated superhero film that is part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The hook of Assault on Arkham comes in its presentation. It’s a true heist film, full of schemes and subterfuge, plans within plans that's unlike anything that has come before it. It is not based on any graphic novel or comic series like previous DC animated movies.
The film is set in the universe of the Batman Arkham video game franchise and the story focuses primarily on the Task Force X better known as the Suicide Squad, consisting of villains Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost and King Shark while Batman features in a supporting role.

In the film the Suicide Squad is dispatched by a secret government agency to break into Arkham Asylum to complete their mission assigned to them by Amanda Waller. The task force attempt to complete their mission and must contend with breaking into the high security asylum and later Batman in order to recover a data drive stored in the Riddler's cane which is stored in the asylum.

After the hard hitting opening action scene of Batman taking down a group of Waller's black op's squad in order to get the Riddler.The movie shifts up a gear introducing each of Task Force X's members in a stylized intro that signals that this is going to be something very different than were used to from the DC Animated Original Movies, and honestly that's a huge part of the enjoyment of this movie. It's a kick ass great story and something so different from before. The action, the well plotted stories, a great voice cast are always consistent with the quality of the DC animated movies. But on this occasion the tone, the humour and villainous protagonists leading the movie makes this one the best in DC direct to video animated movies.

DC Universe Animated Original Movies are direct-to-video films are aimed at a more adult audience. They feature some mild language, bloody violence and other adult themes, showing the same kind of mature-rated print and viewing from modern-day DC Comics graphic novels and comics. The first of this film series Superman: Doomsday had been released in 2007 and the line up follow with various movies featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern Lantern and the Justice League. DC Universe Original Animated Movies most recent release, Son of Batman, (loosely based on Grant Morrison's story arc) was just okay, and I wasn't overall impressed with it. In my opinion the best film of the series has always been Batman: Under The Red Hood released in 2010 and has yet to be topped let alone matched. This Suicide Squad movie is so much fun and comes extremely close but whilst being a different beast altogether.

Due to its villainous protagonists and dark comedy making Batman: Assault on Arkham a successful experiment making it DC Comic's third small screen iteration of a Suicide Squad led story after both the Arrow TV series Season 2 episode "Suicide Squad" and "Task Force X" episode of Justice League Unlimited. Maybe DC testing the water to someday getting live action movie on the big screen sometime in the future. A great source of laughs is Harley Quinn with a ton of physical humour and a pitch-perfect voice performance from Hynden Walch, which was so important because she unlike her team mates that first appeared in the Batman Animated Series rather than in pages of DC Comics. 

Assault on Arkham is the 21st release in the series and takes place in the universe of the Batman Arkham video game series, a spin off the the franchise. Here Batman's appearance is based on how he appears in the early games of the series. The movie is a kind of spin off the the games but with no real connection to the video game series other that the appearances, which is a real treat along with some neat references, connections, and easter eggs. Plus, it’s just cool to see the video game designs of characters like Bane and Poison Ivy pop up in an animated feature. Another treat is unlike previous animated Batman movies it features references to previous live action versions of the Batman including two scenes reminiscent of Tim Burton's 1992 Batman Returns. There’s quite a bit of mature content in this movie, more so that any of the previous DC Original Animated Movies. Fortunately, none of it comes off as too forced or gratuitous - something to be grateful for after the amount of carnage in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

This movie defies expectations by basing the story on the flawed but intriguing members of the Suicide Squad instead of Batman. Their fun interactions and clashing character dynamics keep the energy levels high so you won’t even notice that Batman’s appearances are being saved only for special occasions. The mature content is handled well, infusing the heist elements with real stakes. This is still a refreshingly different kind of DC animated feature worth checking out.

The action, art-style, humor, voices, and characters make it one of the best films of DC's direct-to-video lineup. A heist film, that doesn't have no real plot arc to speak of instead relies on its violent action and clever character dynamics within the Suicide Squad to carry it. Batman: Assault on Arkham is unlike any other film from the animated films of DC movies and that's one of best things about it.

Hopefully you will enjoy Batman: Assault on Arkham as much as I have.
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K