I used to really look forward to new DC animated films. At this point I kind of dread them. I'm watching them more out of obligation and a desperate hope that they'll get good again than anything else. This continuity based on the New 52 continues to never rise above the level of being mediocre.
There is one thing I'll give this film credit for and that's the villain. It's worth bringing special mention to it because villains have been a major weak point for films in this continuity. Darkseid had no personality and felt more like a boss fight in a video game than a character, Deathstroke was just terrible (really bad voice acting on that one,) and Ocean Master was an idiot. By contrast, Talon is really head and shoulders above any of those other three. He's also superior to the comic book character on which he's based because they changed his back-story into something that isn't just stupid on it's face. Really though most of the credit has to go to Jeremy Sisto, who does fantastic voice work and his casting adds a certain bit of meta-textual weight because he voiced Batman back in New Frontier.
Now that I've praised the best part of this film, onto everything else. Damian is somehow even MORE insufferable than he was in "Son of Batman," I swear the voice actor got worse (to the point that I had to check to see if they recast.) He demands respect and trust from Batman while never giving even a tiny bit of it back (the first thing we see him do is steal the Batmobile and flat out lie to Batman over the radio.) I understand that kids can in fact be like that, particularly rebellious ones. But I will take entertaining story that stretches credibility over a slog that justifies characters I hate because they're more "real." Batman doesn't come away from this very well either. Jason O'Mara so far has been the highlight of most of these films, but I realized something in this one: we've pretty much only heard him do Batman at this point. In this film he spends quite a bit of time as Bruce Wayne and... he's just not great as Bruce. Not terrible but there's very little distinction between the two in terms of the vocal performance (certainly in contrast to somebody like Kevin Conroy.) And also, as in Son of Batman, he stretches the "Batman doesn't kill" rule almost to breaking. When facing off against the ninja style assassins he basically begins using deadly force the instant he sees under a mask and they look slightly less than human. He doesn't know if they're lab creations, some kind of undead, or innocent people infected with something but not knowing that doesn't stop him from blowing one up. Look, having Batman stretch his "no kill" rule because they victims aren't truly human isn't automatically a bad thing. However when the "no kill" rule is one of the major rifts between Batman and Robin then it doesn't work to have Batman play fast and loose with it the same time he's chastising Robin for wanting to break it. It makes Batman hypocritical and nit-picky, which makes me not like him either. This really came to bear during an extended fight between the two when I realized that I did not care who won.
I suppose the other thing I'll say is that the action is good, but that's just not a saving grace anymore. Action in a vacuum can't save a bad product. Action works best when it's in the context of a strong story, and this just isn't that. Overall this isn't really any better or worse than most of the DCAU that's been based on the New 52, but I'm just tired of it not getting any better at this point.
There is one thing I'll give this film credit for and that's the villain. It's worth bringing special mention to it because villains have been a major weak point for films in this continuity. Darkseid had no personality and felt more like a boss fight in a video game than a character, Deathstroke was just terrible (really bad voice acting on that one,) and Ocean Master was an idiot. By contrast, Talon is really head and shoulders above any of those other three. He's also superior to the comic book character on which he's based because they changed his back-story into something that isn't just stupid on it's face. Really though most of the credit has to go to Jeremy Sisto, who does fantastic voice work and his casting adds a certain bit of meta-textual weight because he voiced Batman back in New Frontier.
Now that I've praised the best part of this film, onto everything else. Damian is somehow even MORE insufferable than he was in "Son of Batman," I swear the voice actor got worse (to the point that I had to check to see if they recast.) He demands respect and trust from Batman while never giving even a tiny bit of it back (the first thing we see him do is steal the Batmobile and flat out lie to Batman over the radio.) I understand that kids can in fact be like that, particularly rebellious ones. But I will take entertaining story that stretches credibility over a slog that justifies characters I hate because they're more "real." Batman doesn't come away from this very well either. Jason O'Mara so far has been the highlight of most of these films, but I realized something in this one: we've pretty much only heard him do Batman at this point. In this film he spends quite a bit of time as Bruce Wayne and... he's just not great as Bruce. Not terrible but there's very little distinction between the two in terms of the vocal performance (certainly in contrast to somebody like Kevin Conroy.) And also, as in Son of Batman, he stretches the "Batman doesn't kill" rule almost to breaking. When facing off against the ninja style assassins he basically begins using deadly force the instant he sees under a mask and they look slightly less than human. He doesn't know if they're lab creations, some kind of undead, or innocent people infected with something but not knowing that doesn't stop him from blowing one up. Look, having Batman stretch his "no kill" rule because they victims aren't truly human isn't automatically a bad thing. However when the "no kill" rule is one of the major rifts between Batman and Robin then it doesn't work to have Batman play fast and loose with it the same time he's chastising Robin for wanting to break it. It makes Batman hypocritical and nit-picky, which makes me not like him either. This really came to bear during an extended fight between the two when I realized that I did not care who won.
I suppose the other thing I'll say is that the action is good, but that's just not a saving grace anymore. Action in a vacuum can't save a bad product. Action works best when it's in the context of a strong story, and this just isn't that. Overall this isn't really any better or worse than most of the DCAU that's been based on the New 52, but I'm just tired of it not getting any better at this point.