6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Bruce Wayne is missing. Alfred covers for him while Nightwing and Robin patrol Gotham City in his stead. And a new player, Batwoman, investigates Batman's disappearance.
Starring: Jason O'Mara, Yvonne Strahovski, Stuart Allan, Sean Maher, Morena BaccarinComic book | 100% |
Action | 91% |
Sci-Fi | 68% |
Adventure | 67% |
Fantasy | 66% |
Animation | 66% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
German: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, French, German, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If various online databases are to be believed, there are well over twenty entries in the ever expanding DC Universe Animated Original Movies canon (with at least a few more already in the planning and/or pre-production stages), but a couple of things have become evident as these more adult skewed “cartoons” have become regular offerings. First, it’s virtually a given that any individual story is going to have a slam bang action sequence either right at the get go, or (worst case scenario) shortly thereafter. Second, it’s also virtually guaranteed that if a major character “dies”, well—“death” is not the deal breaker it seems to be in real life. Both of those tendencies are firmly on display in Batman: Bad Blood, a decently entertaining entry that revisits at least one major storyline in the Batman and Son arc while also providing a near ubiquitous glut of fighting sequences for those who require regular jolts of adrenaline. There are well known screenplay writing tutorials that will, for example, go over what “page number” in a screenplay should be set aside for an action sequence in a high octane (live action) film, with some mentors stating that a span of between ten and twenty minutes (or, in screenplay vernacular, ten to twenty pages) should elapse between these sequences. Since Batman: Bad Blood runs for just a bit over an hour, that approach has been telescoped rather dramatically, and so the action sequences tend to cascade over each other in a kind of breathless array that leaves relatively little time for actual exposition and plot development. Despite the somewhat frenetic energy levels on display, there is some passingly interesting content in Batman: Bad Blood, though longtime fans are probably going to be feel like they’ve already been through a lot of the plot dynamics in play, especially if they have in fact followed other media installments in the long and winding Batman storyline.
Batman: Bad Blood is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of DC Comics and Warner Animation with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As tends to be the case with the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, there's an "old school" look to many of the visuals, with a kind of deeply burnished palette and good attention paid to character design. Those elements help establish a relatively believable environment within which the story unfolds, and detail levels are generally quite commendable. Line detail is also generally very sharp, well resolved, and precise looking. As my colleague Ken Brown has discussed in his many previous reviews of this franchise, there are occasional issues with banding and macroblocking, but I found nothing here that rose to the levels that (to cite one example) Ken discussed in his Son of Batman Blu-ray review. The fight animation here is splendidly done, with excellent fluidity and a surprisingly sharp and well detailed look. CGI elements are interwoven into the proceedings fairly organically as well, with elements like the Electrocutioner's "zapping" looking nice and surprisingly dimensional at times.
Batman: Bad Blood's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is an onslaught of boisterous surround activity from virtually the get go, a proclivity that is augmented by the short film's tendency to zing from action set piece to action set piece, with only a moment or two of relative quiet in between. There is a glut of well done effects work here, including nice pans when, for instance, Batwoman starts chasing Dick and Damian in the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham or, later, when a calamitous showdown involves various bad guys (and gals) utilizing various powers to achieve their dastardly ends. The film is pretty noisy a lot of the time, but fidelity remains strong, with no distortion whatsoever despite the track's tendency to exploit floorboard rattling LFE. Dialogue is cleanly presented and is well prioritized.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Knights of Tomorrow (1080p; 23:07)
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Criss Cross Conspiracy (1080p; 22:49)
Batman: Bad Blood offers a breathless pace and some fantastic action sequences, but it's simply too short and shallow to support the huge cast of characters, none of whom is ever adequately introduced and/or explained. There's enough of a plot here to tether the set pieces together, but those looking for something with the depth and nuance of, say, the Christopher Nolan live action Batman films will probably want to keep looking. Technical merits are generally excellent, and Batman: Bad Blood comes Recommended.
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