Batman: Assault on Arkham

Assault on Arkham can stand alone as a title without the Batman branding getting in before the colon. Bats is hardly in this movie, reduced to a bit-part player in a grander scheme which doesn't really need to involve him. The Suicide Squad never really interested me and I will probably pass on the forthcoming movie (purely because charisma-vacuum Jai Courtney is in it) but damn to they make for a great team here. I almost wished Batman was stay out of it and let their plans unfold as intended.

Shady US Govt. lady Waller (CCH Pounder) recruits Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Black Spider, King Shark, and Killer Frost to break into Arkham Asylum undetected and steal something belonging to the Riddler before finding and defusing a dirty bomb hidden by the Joker. I'm sure Batman (here, properly voiced by Kevin Conroy once more) would have done a much more efficient job without the high body count, but then we wouldn't have a movie. He and Waller don't see eye-to-eye anyways. It's fun watching them execute their plan and infiltrate the deep recesses of the island. It could have been more atmospheric though. A lot of the backgrounds look to clean and polished. It lacks the Gothic pathos of Arkham City games that inspired it. Batman soon shows up anyways and spoils everything, but does it smartly.

Assault on Arkham is a major step away (and in the right direction) from the family orientated animated Batman series and movies from the 90s. With sex, nudity, and graphic death on show for our enjoyment it's not exactly something you can distract your 7-year-old (if you're really prudish, that is). But I believe Batman should be geared more towards adults anyway.

Joker is voiced by Troy Baker but he does a great job of emulating Mark Hamill's style, and the higher rating allows him to be more violent and evil. The writing could be tighter and it could have had more of an atmosphere, but this one still comes highly recommended, even if Batman's presence sort of spoilt it a bit.