A rare misfire in a long line of fantastic DC animated films.
The talented folk from DC and Warner Bros. big the latest in a long line of animated films with Son of Batman. Following such great outings as Justice League: WAR and The Flashpoint Paradox, I was excited to see the return of the Dark Knight in his own animated adventure. With his last major solo outing being the fantastic Under The Red Hood, this movie had a lot to live up to; that may actually be the biggest problem the film has in not quite being able to live up to its predecessors.
Son of Batman is an adaptation of Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert’s Batman and Son storyline from back in 2006. During that series Batman learns that he is the father of a pre-teen son with Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter, Talia. This son, named Damian, is secretly being raised by Ra’s al Ghul, but when Ra’s dies after a battle with Deathstroke, Batman must work to stop the son he never knew he had from taking revenge and help guide him on the path of justice, in order for the dynamic duo to truly become family.
As we are dealing with a film, much of the story of the comic series is trimmed for time constraints. This trimming becomes the films most glaring problem as pacing issue abound. From the opening scene depicting a very bloody battle at the League of Assassins (This is not a film for children) the film never gives the audience a chance to catch its collective breath.
This reliance of pushing the story along make an already short film (It clocks in at 74 min) feel more like an episode for a TV series than a full-featured film. One second Damien shows up on in Gotham City and a handful of scenes later is already playing Robin, to the dismay of Dick Grayson. I actually felt the same way as Dick did during the film when he says “I’m not going to like this am I” when referring to Damien taking up the Robin moniker. And almost as if the film is self aware, Batman retorts with a “No.”
The pacing problems aren’t helped by the films choice to cram in so many arbitrary fights with lower tier Batman villains that offer little to the overall plot of the film. We get chunks of time devoted to Killer Croc and Man-Bat, yet we only see Commissioner Gordon only take part in a few minutes of screen time. Batman and Damian also make a brief trip to Arkham to meet with a captured Croc, and we of course get some fan service with quick Joker and Two-Face cameos. The Batman and Son storyline really needed to be told in a longer format to be give any real impact. You never really feel for Damian and the actor playing him just doesn’t have the time to make up connect with him. He’s just there and feels very one-dimensional throughout the film.
Oh, and did I mention that Nightwing is in the movie, well, because. He just so happens to be hanging out in Gotham and stop Damian from killing a bad guy whose plot line fizzled out faster than it was introduced. Beyond some snarky quips and the requisite end of film rescue, that nobody seems to thank him for I might add, (He also managed to fly the Bat Plane from Gotham to Scotland in about 30 minutes. Figure that one out) Nightwing offers nothing to the plot than to be a babysitter to some scientist.
Oh ya, that’s another plotline that the films tries cramming down the viewer’s throat. You see Ra’s had hired a scientist to create, and I quote “An army of super powered flying ninjas” that the League could use to take over the world. Look, I’m a pretty good fan of comic books, with DC being my speciality, but even I had to shake my head with this. Anyway, the good guys save him, he creates some antidote and the world is saved. It’s only in the last five or so minutes of the film that we really get a chance to see some acting and feeling between characters which is a shame, as the film abruptly ends right there.
Another thing to note is the voice acting from the cast. It’s just not that good, and that can mainly be attributed to the script more than anything. The actors never really get a chance to really become their onscreen characters as the film gives them precious little time to explore their roles. Nightwing is just there, Batman is brooding… the entire damn film and Talia is a wooden as a 2×4. The only real standouts are Damian and Alfred who gets the films best, and only memorable lines.
All in all, Son of Batman is plagued with serious pacing issues and a source material that needed at least another twenty or so minutes to really come through. That, coupled with the fact that the amazing Talia al Ghul becomes nothing more than a sad damsel in distress trope make this the weakest of the DC animated films to date.
If you are a fan of Batman, then you are going to be disappointed with the film’s pacing and runtime and if you are just a casual Batman fan, you are going to be scratching your head wondering whats going on and asking when the film is going to slow down before its abrupt end.
Distributed by
Warner Home Video
Release date
May 6, 2014
Running time
74 minutes
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