Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)

One aspect of Batman's extensive mythology that I was not at all privy to until I was in my late teens is that there's been more than one Robin. Being someone who didn't even know the original Robin's alter ego of Dick Grayson until I really started watching Batman: The Animated Series when I was ten, I always just assumed it was meant to be the same character. So, you can imagine my confusion when I watched The New Batman Adventures and saw a Robin who was much younger and clearly a different character from Dick. That was my first inkling of it, but it wasn't until I went onto forums talking about those shows that I learned there was yet another iteration of Robin they'd skipped over: Jason Todd. Reading up on it, I got the sense that they didn't do him in the show because his ultimate fate was quite gruesome (quite ironic, since Tim Drake eventually suffered a really horrific fate all his own in the movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker), as well as that he wasn't a character who a lot of fans liked anyway. I learned of his fate in 2005 in the short documentary, Legends of the Dark Knight: The History of Batman, where they talked about the infamous 1-900-number used to decide what would happen to him in the Death in the Family storyline, which, of course, led to hundreds of voters opting to kill him off. I can still remember being quite shocked at the well-known cover showing Robin's brutalized body amidst a bunch of rubble and so, when I put it all together, I understood why they couldn't do that in the animated series. Little did I know that Jason's story not only didn't end there but got even more horrific and tragic. Cut to the summer of 2013, when I was really getting into these DC animated movies and bought a few of them at McKay's, such as Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and Superman: Doomsday. Batman: Under the Red Hood was among them and I picked it up because, if my memory is correct, I'd heard it was exceptionally good. Plus, I was further intrigued when I read the back of the DVD and saw it was connected to the Jason Todd storyline.

I'm here to say that those who'd praised it couldn't have been more right, as this is both one of the greatest of these DC animated films, far surpassing many others like Batman: Year One (and remember, I really like that film), and one of the greatest Batman movies ever, totally deserving of all the accolades and high ratings it's gotten on various websites (it currently holds an 8.1 on IMDB and, until the release of The Dark Knight Returns, was the highest-rated animated Batman movie on Rotten Tomatoes). It has everything you'd want in a Batman film: great acting, incredible visuals, awesome action sequences, a tight, well-told story that just goes, a palpable emotional weight to it and the characters, and a resolution that's incredibly downbeat and sad and yet, is the only way in which this story could possibly end.

In Sarajevo, Bosnia, Jason Todd, the second Robin, is captured by the Joker, who mercilessly tortures and beats him with a crowbar in a warehouse, before leaving him to die. Batman rushes to save his partner and ward but is too late, as Jason is killed when a bomb destroys the warehouse. Five years later, Gotham City's most prosperous drug dealers are gathered together by the Red Hood, a masked vigilante who tells them he's taking control of the drug trade and offers them protection against both Batman and the Black Mask, the city's most powerful crime lord who leaves them barely anything. But he warns them not to peddle their drugs to kids or he'll kill them, and throws down a duffle bag containing the heads of their lieutenants to prove he's not to be trifled with. Later, Batman stops the theft of an advanced, powerful android called an "Amazo" meant for the Black Mask, and after he and Nightwing destroy the android itself, they interrogate the trio of thieves. One of them admits they're working for the Red Hood, when he kills them all with a sniper rifle and flees the scene. Batman chases him but the deadly vigilante manages to elude him. Since he's using the same persona the Joker once did, Batman and Nightwing go to Arkham Asylum to interrogate him. The Joker denies he has anything to do with it, but also taunts Batman with how he murdered Jason, causing the Dark Knight to almost lose his sense of morality. When the Red Hood tries to hijack another of the Black Mask's weapon shipments, Batman and Nightwing intervene and pursue him, but he proves to be a formidable foe who's not only skilled but knows of Batman's tactics and equipment. When Bruce reviews audio of footage he took during the chase, he hears the Red Hood call him by his real name. He also remembers that Jason used the same maneuvers as Robin, as well as that he grew more bloodthirsty and merciless as he got older. When he helps the Red Hood after he's lured into a trap by the group of assassins called Fearsome Hand of Four, he tells Batman he's controlling crime through his methods and killing those who aren't afraid. He also declines Batman's offer to help, saying he's only just getting started. A sample of hs blood matches that of Jason's, and when Bruce exhumes his coffin, he finds the corpse is fake. Now, Batman must stop his former partner from enacting lethal vengeance on the one who tore them apart in the first place.

The film's director, Brandon Vietti, is best known for being a major creative force behind the show, Young Justice, as well as for directing many episodes of The Batman (which netted him an Emmy) and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. As far as his involvement with these DC animated movies goes, he was one of three directors on Superman: Doomsday and would later direct Batman: Death in the Family, the interactive movie which acts a follow-up to Under the Red Hood. He's also worked in the art department on several of these films, like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, and Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and has directed episodes of other shows like the 2003 Spider-Man series, Max Steel, Jackie Chan Adventures, and Legion of Super Heroes. Notably, Under the Red Hood was written by Judd Winick, who wrote the original comic storyline the film is based on (I've heard that this film is very faithful to that story, with some changes here and there, and it's not surprising). When it was all said and done, Winick is said to have found the movie to be superior.

I always like it when these movies delve into the psyche of the characters and Under the Red Hood absolutely excels at that, as it really goes into how Batman (voiced by Bruce Greenwood) feels responsible for those he takes under his wing. At the beginning of the movie, he's devastated by his inability to save Jason Todd, but then, five years later, he's shocked and horrified when he learns that the mysterious and lethal Red Hood is Jason, literally back from the dead. He begins to suspect

as much when the Red Hood proves to be exceptionally skilled in battling him, knowing his methods and equipment, and remembers that Jason used the same maneuvers. Hearing him say, "You haven't lost your touch, Bruce," while reviewing video of him really begins to bring it home for him, much to Bruce's horror. But it's when he helps the Red Hood when he's ambushed by the Fearsome Hand of Four that he confirms his identity without actually saying it, telling Batman that he's never understood that no one can stop crime and that he's doing what he won't, which is kill those who aren't afraid of him. Batman asks what happened to him and offers to help, but the Red Hood answers, "It's too late. You had your chance." After that, he positively confirms Jason's identity by analyzing a sample of the Red Hood's blood that was shed during the battle, and when he exhumes the coffin, he finds that the body inside is fake. Enraged and distraught, Batman blames himself for allowing this to happen, saying that not examining the body when he brought it back from Bosnia was, "Stupid and careless!" Because of his involvement in what happened years before, he goes to Ra's al Ghul's hideout and confronts him about Jason. He learns that Ra's, feeling responsible for his death, used the Lazarus Pit to resurrect him from the dead, only for him to emerge completely insane. On his way back to Gotham in the Batwing, he speaks with Alfred over the communicator, with Alfred trying to tell him not to blame himself, but Batman insists, "His life and his death are my greatest failure." He then adds, "I knew, even from the beginning, he was dangerous. If I hadn't made him into Robin, he would have grown to do wrong. Then I got him killed. My partner. My soldier. My fault. I own that. I'll carry that like everything else. But now there's this. He's taken everything I've ever taught him and turned it on me. It's a hell of my own making." Alfred then suggests that maybe Jason's knowledge of his affection for him should be enough to ease the guilt but Batman grimly says, "It's not."

You get a sense of Batman's relationships with his apprentices in this story, with flashbacks showing how he first encountered Jason Todd as a young punk who was in the process of stripping the Batmobile and made him the new Robin to replace Dick Grayson, as well as to give him an outlet to channel his aggression. He acted as a fatherly figure and mentor to Jason, one who enjoyed his youthful enthusiasm and zeal for being Robin when he first started out, but then had to try and

give him focus and guidance when he grew older and became much more needlessly violent. One such moment was when Jason broke a drug-dealer's collarbone and put him into shock, making them unable to pry valuable info from him. While Jason later admitted he went overboard, he also commented, "But he deserved it," which really concerned Bruce. And as stated above, he feels his greatest failure was not being able to shake him out of his bloodlust and failing to save him, which has been further compounded by his resurrection. Also,

during the first act, Batman is assisted by Nightwing, and while Nightwing himself is a pretty peppy, cheerful hero, Batman acts rather chilly towards him, initially saying he doesn't need his help, although he doesn't outright refuse it, either. It's likely that, after what happened to Jason, Batman is reluctant to involve another of his former pupils in his work for fear of history repeating itself, even though Dick is now older and has become a very talented crime-fighter all his own. Sure enough, Nightwing does get injured when they chase after the Red Hood and is put out of action for the rest of the film. Though he insists he can still help with the case, Bruce sincerely tells him, "You already have. Thank you. Now go rest up."

The movie also explores Batman's moral code and refusal to take another human life dead-on, with the Red Hood challenging his methods by becoming a crime lord all his own in order to simply control crime rather than stamp it out, as well as kill those who aren't scared of him, which Batman counts on. But it really comes to a head at the end, when Batman and the Red Hood have their final confrontation, with Jason Todd removing his mask and suggesting that, rather than having driven

him insane, the Lazarus Pit simply brought out the real him. After a brutal fight between them, Batman tells Jason that he tried to save him back then and is trying to do the same now, but Jason reveals that his actions center around the fact that, even after what he did to him, the Joker is still alive and well. Batman simply says, "You don't understand. I don't think you've ever understood," and when Jason asks if his moral code makes killing the Joker too hard, he tells him, "No! God

Almighty, no. It'd be too damned easy. All I've ever wanted to do is kill him. A day doesn't go by when I don't think about subjecting him to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others, and then... end him." This was proven earlier, when Batman and Nightwing interrogated the Joker at Arkham Asylum and Batman came very close to snapping his neck when he taunted him with Jason's death. He then tells Jason, "But if I do that, if I allow myself to go down into that place... I'll never come back," adding that he can't make an

exception, not even for him. Angered at this, Jason throws Batman a gun and threatens to kill the Joker, saying the only way to stop him is to kill him. Batman, naturally, refuses to play this game, and when Jason turns the gun on him, he disables it with a Batarang to the muzzle, mangling Jason's hand in the process. Jason then tries to blow up the building but Batman, after failing to disarm the bomb due to the Joker's interference, grabs and tries to shield both of them. Though Batman and the Joker survive, Jason is nowhere to be seen and

his ultimate fate is left ambiguous. At the end of the movie, Alfred asks Bruce if he would like him to remove the glass case containing Jason's Robin costume but Bruce, still having nice memories of who Jason once was, answers, "No. This doesn't change anything. It doesn't change anything at all."

I really like Batman's character and costume design in this film, which comes off as a sleeker version of his look from Batman: The Animated Series, with the dark blue cape, cowl, gloves, and boots, and gray bodysuit, but with a pouched belt akin to the one from The New Batman Adventures. There's also a nice bit of detail in that the suit he wears in the main story is different from the one in the opening, which has the classic gold circle around the smaller bat symbol, whereas his main suit has

a big, black bat splayed across the chest. In terms of equipment, Batman uses all the classics, like Batarangs, the grappling gun, grappling lines, and smoke bombs, as well as the ever-reliable Batmobile and Batwing. Design-wise, the Batmobile looks akin to the version seen in The New Batman Adventures, just narrower and longer, whereas the Batwing has the classic shape but with a longer nose and cockpit that stick out from the body more. You also see Batman riding the Batcycle during the opening, and while there's

nothing that amazing about its design, I will say that it looks really good when seen in profile. There are some new gadgets here, too, like an electromagnetic cable launcher Batman and Nightwing use to incapacitate a chopper the Red Hood hijacks, tasers, small explosives, little thrusters that can be attached to something in order to blast it forward or up into the air, fire sticks, globs of plastique, and a recording device in his cowl which he uses to gather footage of the Red Hood in action for further analysis.

Though the movie starts with Jason Todd's death, flashbacks throughout show us how we got to that point. At the beginning of the climax, when Batman goes to Crime Alley to meet up with the Red Hood, we see how he first came across Jason as a young punk (voiced by Alexander Martella) who was in the process of dismantling the Batmobile. Impressed with his talent and skill, and concerned about his potential to become a dangerous criminal, he took him in and made him

the new Robin, something Jason was thrilled about. The final flashback, which the movie ends on, shows the first time he put on the Robin costume, after which he jumped around the Batcave, did some fighting moves, and exclaimed that it felt awesome to be the Boy Wonder, declaring, "This is the best day of my life." He brought that same child-like enthusiasm to his first instances of crime-fighting, one of which was when he and Batman stopped the Riddler from robbing a

museum. But, from an early age, he showed a propensity for violence and ruthlessness in dealing with criminals, as he kicked the Riddler in the crotch, sent him tumbling down some stairs, and then jumped on top of him. This only got worse when he grew into a teenager (voiced by Vincent Martella), as seen in a flashback where he brutally takes down some drug-dealers, injuring one so badly that he goes into shock and, ergo, can't give them any useful information. While Jason later admits he acted recklessly, he doesn't have much

remorse for the dealer, feeling he deserved it. His brash and headstrong personality ultimately led to his downfall, as when he and Batman came across the Joker in Bosnia, he chased after him alone, leading to his being kidnapped, beaten, and then left to die in the warehouse when it exploded. But then, Ra's al Ghul, who'd hired the Joker to distract Batman and Robin from his own crimes, felt responsible for Jason's death and attempted to make amends by resurrecting him in the Lazarus Pit. Though it worked, the resurrection drove Jason mad and he escaped from Ra's' hideout, eventually returning to Gotham in the guise of the Red Hood.

As the Red Hood, Jason (voiced by Jensen Ackles) proves to be lethally efficient in his own personal brand of crime-fighting. Rather than attempting to stop crime, he opts to control it by gathering together Gotham's most prosperous drug-dealers and offering them a deal where he'll allow them to do their business while taking 40% of the profits, promising to protect them from both Batman and the deadly Black Mask. "Offering" is being generous, as he tells them that's how it's going to be, adding that they're dead if they try to sell drugs to young kids, and throws down a duffle bag containing their top men's severed heads to show he means business, saying, "That took me two hours. You want to see what I can get done in a whole evening?" He then begins targeting the Black Mask's weapon shipments, first by having a trio of thugs steal an Amazo android and then hijacking a chopper containing a large cache himself. This attracts the attention of both Batman and Nightwing, but the Red Hood is not fazed by this at all. He taunts the former about the major mistakes he's made in his crime-fighting career, including causing the original Red Hood to become the Joker, and doesn't try to hide his identity, as he even calls Batman by his real name at one point. He's reckless and overconfident enough to fall into a trap set by the Black Mask, where he's attacked by the Fearsome Hand of Four, and as skilled and efficient a fighter as he is, he's overwhelmed by them. It turns out he's just stalling, knowing Batman will come, which he does. The two of them defeat the group, with the Red Hood brutally killing one of them, and when Batman confronts him about what he's doing, he declares, "I'm cleaning up Gotham. More than you ever did." Batman tries to reason with him, offering to help him, but the Red Hood not only says it's far too late for that, he adds, "I'm just getting started," before leaving the scene.

After the Red Hood directly targets the Black Mask, the crime lord frees the Joker from Arkham Asylum and hires him to kill the vigilante. That just happens to have been the Red Hood's ultimate goal, and when the Joker turns on the Black Mask, kidnaps him and the drug dealers, and threatens to burn them alive, he arrives at the scene. He tells the Joker he couldn't care less about the lives of the criminals and that freeing him what he was counting on the Black Mask to do in his

desperation. While Batman saves the lives of the drug-dealers, the Red Hood abducts the Joker, takes him to Crime Alley, and in one of the abandoned buildings there, beats him with a crowbar, finally getting revenge for the torment he put him through. Having insinuated that the two of them have met before, the Joker becomes curious as to his identity and the Red Hood simply says, "I'm just something you helped make," before beating on him some more. After that, he confronts

Batman and a fierce battle breaks out between them in the midst of a rainstorm. Like before, the Red Hood proves to be a very resourceful and deadly opponent, cutting Batman's utility belt off in the fight and easily counteracting his moves and gadgets. At one point, he unmasks Bruce and proceeds to remove his helmet, revealing that he's wearing his Robin mask underneath it. Bruce tells Jason that he doesn't want to fight him, saying, "Please, I can help you. I know what happened," to which Jason responds, "Oh, you got to talking with

Ra's, huh? But does it make it easier for you to think that my little dip in his fountain of youth turned me rabid? Or is this just the real me?" The fight then continues, leading into the derelict building where Jason has been keeping the Joker. During a lull in the fight, Jason, holding Batman at gunpoint, reveals what it's all about, telling him, "Bruce, I forgive you for not saving me. But why, why on God's earth," and then kicks open a door to reveal the Joker, finishing, "...is he still alive?!... Ignoring what he's done in the past, blindly,

stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards he's filled, the thousands who have suffered, the friends he's crippled, you know, I thought... I thought I'd be the last person you'd ever let him hurt. If it had been you that he beat to a bloody pulp, if he had taken you from this world, I would've done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil, death-worshiping garbage, and sent him off to hell!" Batman then explains why he can't bring himself to do that, as it will send him into the abyss, but Jason counters, "Why? I'm not talking about killing Penguin or Scarecrow or Dent. I'm talking about him, just him. And doing it because... because he took me away from you."

When Batman tells Jason he can't take another life, not even for him, Jason reveals he's going to force him and tosses him a gun. He puts the Joker in a choke-hold and aims his own gun at his head, declaring, "This is what it's all been about. This. You and me and him! Now is the time you decide! If you won't kill this psychotic piece of filth, I will! If you want to stop me, you're gonna have to kill me!... I'm gonna blow his deranged brains out! And if you want to stop it, you are gonna have to shoot

me, right in my face!" Much to his shock, Batman drops the gun to the floor and turns and walks to the window. Jason continuously declares that he has to decide between him and the Joker, finally aiming and pulling the trigger. Batman manages to dodge the bullet and flings a Batarang at the gun, jamming the barrel and causing it to explode in Jason's hand, mangling his arm. But he proves to have had a backup plan and sets some explosives in the fireplace to explode. Batman, after failing to disarm them, tries to save both Jason and the Joker, but after the place explodes, Jason is nowhere to be seen, his ultimate fate left a mystery.

I like how, in the flashbacks to Jason's career as Robin, you see him go through the different types of uniforms, starting out with the classic red, yellow, and green one when he was a little kid, before graduating to the edgier teenage version, with a somewhat darker color scheme to it and a full body suit, very akin to the outfit from Batman: The Animated Series. In the guise of the Red Hood, Jason wears a biker sort of outfit, with dark pants and a brown coat over a gray shirt, while the mask

is akin to a biker's helmet, with a slight, skull-like aesthetic. As a deadlier version of Batman, his gadgets are much more lethal, with knives and sharp weapons like shurikens, a deadly taser-like weapon that kills one of the Fearsome Hand of Four by causing his head to explode, good old-fashioned guns, with the deadliest being a sniper rifle to easily pick people off, and explosives, with his helmet actually turning out to be one.

To those who are more versed in comics, let me ask a question: is Nightwing usually as laid back and jokey as he is here? I'm used to the version of him from The New Batman Adventures, where his relationship with Batman is tense due to a nasty falling out they had, but here, Nightwing (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) has no grudge whatsoever against his former teacher and partner. He first shows up to help him battle the Amazo at the docks and initially aids him in investigating and pursuing

the Red Hood, often making jokes and remarks, in stark contrast and often in response to Batman's more stoic nature. However, despite his more cheerful attitude, he does take crime-fighting seriously, with intel on the Red Hood's activities being what brings him to Gotham in the first place. When they're researching the Red Hood persona's history, Nightwing suggests they pay the Joker a visit at Arkham, and when he denies any involvement or knowledge in the current Red Hood, Nightwing warns him that they'll find out if he's lying. Ultimately, Nightwing's right leg is injured while he and Batman are chasing the Red Hood, forcing him to sit out the rest of the movie, but Bruce does thank him for his help.

Alfred (voiced by Jim Piddock) brings his usual mix of dry sit and sagely, paternal wisdom to the story, being just as shocked as Bruce when it's revealed that Jason is the Red Hood. Once they exhume the coffin and Bruce learns the "corpse" inside is a latex dummy, Alfred tries to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, that he was too distraught over losing Jason to properly examine the body, but Bruce is too angry at himself to listen. Following his meeting with Ra's al Ghul and learning of Jason's literal return from the dead, Alfred, again,  tries to convince Batman that's what happened isn't his fault, as well as that Jason's knowledge of how much he cares for him should be enough, but it proves to be wishful thinking. At the end of the movie, Alfred asks Bruce if he wishes for him to remove Jason's Robin costume from its glass case in the Batcave but Bruce declines. He then heads out for his nightly patrol, while Alfred remembers Jason's first day as Robin.

Two years after Heath Ledger created one of the most iconic and terrifying portrayals of the Joker, Batman: Under the Red Hood took what he did and combined it with a smidge of the darkest voice-acting Mark Hamill had ever done as the character to create this interpretation, which is utterly horrific. Here, the Joker (voiced by John DiMaggio) is a demented, brutal, and sadistic monster, arguably even more frightening than Ledger because he has no major agenda other than causing wanton death and destruction. When you first see him, he's mercilessly beating Jason Todd with a crowbar, mocking his pain and asking what hurts more, "A or B? Forehand or backhand?" When he tries to speak, the Joker, leaning down to his head, whispers, "A little louder, lamb chop. I think you may have a collapsed lung. That always impedes the oratory." Jason spits blood in his face and the Joker, wiping it off and commenting that he's much ruder than Dick Grayson, comments, "I suppose I'm going to have to teach you a lesson so you can better follow in his footsteps," before seemingly contemplating and deciding, "Nah, I'm just gonna keep beating you with this crowbar." He then pins Jason to the floor with his foot and laughs maniacally before continuing his assault, after which he leaves him to die by a bomb that destroys the warehouse. He's not seen again until Batman and Nightwing interrogate him about the appearance of the new Red Hood, which the Joker denounces any involvement with, saying he wore the outfit with class and that, if he were behind it, Batman would be the first to know. When Nightwing threatens him by saying they'll know if he's lying about his involvement, the Joker tells him he's no fun now that he's grown up, before commenting to Batman, "Still, better off than his replacement, right? Even tougher making with the yuks when you're worm food, huh?" Naturally, this enrages him, as he grabs the Joker, throws him against the wall, and puts his hand on his throat. The Joker further taunts him, "You gonna do it this time? Or are you just gonna put me in another body-cast for six months?" Knowing it's what he wants, Batman lets go of him, disappointing the Joker who, as usual, has one real goal and that's to bring him down to his level. 

That, no doubt, was the motivation behind his abducting Jason in Bosnia, although I think he only took advantage of the opportunity when it first came up from Jason's pursuing him. Otherwise, when Ra's al Ghul hired him to take Batman and Robin's attention away from his own scheme, he was probably just happy for the opportunity to wreak havoc, as that's the other way he gets his kicks. And, as both Ra's and the Black Mask find out, he's not a weapon that can be wielded, as when

the latter hires him to kill the Red Hood, he easily kills his bodyguards and takes him and the other drug dealers hostage. He traps them in a cargo truck on a bridge over Gotham Bay, pours gasoline into it, and eventually tosses a lit cigarette lighter down on them. He's just an utter psychopath, and DiMaggio does an amazing job in playing him, coming up with a voice and raspy cackle that are very reminiscent of Hamill while also putting his own personal stamp on the character.

The history between Batman and the Joker is a significant part of this story, as when he first chases after the new Red Hood, Batman ends up at the Ace Chemicals plant and remembers back to when he first encountered the Joker in the original Red Hood getup and how he fell into the vat of chemicals that made him what he is. There's an interesting dynamic there, as Jason is resurrected and turned into what he now is after being immersed in chemicals himself, tying the three of

them together as the Joker unintentionally created the Red Hood just as Batman accidentally created him. And just as he is with Batman, the Joker becomes intrigued and then obsessed with the Red Hood, taking the opportunity when the Black Mask breaks him out of Arkham to use him and his compatriots as a way of getting his attention. When the Red Hood does show up, he's amused when he learns his release was something he planned for and was counting on, as well as interested when he

insinuates that they've met before. He never shows any fear when the Red Hood abducts him and takes him to a condemned building in Crime Alley; he just keeps on laughing and making jokes, only becoming hesitant when he pulls out a crowbar and starts beating on him, although he then remarks, "It only hurts when I laugh." Despite this, he can't contain his curiosity about who the Red Hood is, asking, "Did we double at the prom? Or maybe blow up a school bus together?", and when the Red Hood says he's something he helped create, it

intrigues him all the more. Even after getting beaten to a bloody pulp and learning that he's Jason Todd, resurrected from the dead, the Joker takes it all in stride and is elated at the ultimatum Jason gives Batman, even though his life is on the line. When Batman disarms Jason, the Joker is all the more ecstatic, exclaiming, "I love it! You managed to find a way to win... and everybody still loses!" Jason proceeds to arm the explosives he has in the apartment, and when Batman tries to disarm them, the Joker grabs him and pins him to the floor,

yelling, "No! Don't spoil it, this is better! I'm the only one who's going to get what he wants tonight! Yes! Big-Bang-Boom! We all go out together! Don't you just love a happy ending?!" But Batman attempts to shield both him and Jason from the explosion, and once it's passed, he's half-buried under some rubble, laughing weakly. He's then sent back to Arkham.

Design-wise, this Joker comes off as a gnarlier version of the way he looked in the DCAU, with virtually the same outfit but with sharper and more pointed edges, as well as lines across his face that make him feel both older and nasty-looking. Where he's akin to Heath Ledger is how, save for one instance where you see people dead from his venom, he takes a more blunt, low-tech approach, using crowbars, guns, explosives, burning, and, in a really wince-inducing moment, smashing a glass and slicing a man's throat with it.

While he may also be a villain, in stark contrast to the Joker, Ra's al Ghul (voiced by Jason Isaacs), has a code of ethics and honor about him. Although he hired the Joker to keep Batman and Robin busy while he was working to destroy Europe's economy, he was appalled when he learned of his abduction, torture, and murder of Jason Todd. As he tells Batman when he confronts him, "That was not by design... It grieved me, sir, to be a party to something so brutal," and when Batman calls him out on how he's hardly been shy about killing in the past, he remarks, "True, but always with purpose. Always with greater goals. This was simply an unnecessary casualty. As penance, I chose not to make war with you again, and... to attempt to rectify this disservice." As usual, you see Ra's' deep respect for Batman here, both in his decision to keep his guards from bursting in and killing him while they talk, and in his sincere attempt to fix what he'd done. Having heard that the Lazarus Pit could resurrect the dead as well as heal the sick and dying, he managed to swap Jason's body for a dummy and bring him to the pit. But, as Ra's explains, "He returned to this world, but returned... damaged." After Jason escaped from his hideout, Ra's assumed him dead again when his men never found a body. Having heard of what's happening in Gotham, he laments to Batman, "I have returned your son to you as a blight upon your house. He burns the very kingdom you protect." He then finds that Batman left in the midst of his talking, and when his assistant comes in and asks if he should send the guards after him, Ra's solemnly tells him, "Don't be foolish. They would never catch him. Besides, I have done enough." That last line, coupled with a final shot of Ra's watching news coverage of the aftermath of Batman and the Red Hood's confrontation, shows that he truly is regretful for the horror and pain he's caused him.

The Black Mask (voiced by Wade Williams), the crime-lord who rules over the entire city, doesn't have much character to him, as he's just a short-tempered, foul-mouthed guy who wears a black skull mask, but he proves to be quite threatening and intimidating, especially when he's angry, which is every time you see him. When he's first introduced, he's ranting and raving about the Red Hood's hijacking the Amazo meant for him, a deal that would have led him into international

trafficking; Batman and Nightwing's destroying the android in the fight is a further insult, as he says he could've sold it for scrap. He orders the Red Hood dead, and becomes more and more angered when, not only does that not happen, but he continues to interfere with his weapon shipments. Though his secretary, Ms. Li (voiced by Kelly Hu), is spared his wrath, and is never troubled by his loud, violent outbursts, his bodyguards often bear the brunt of it. In his first scene, a new bodyguard can't help but stare at his mask, and he tells him, "If you keep staring at me like that, I'm gonna cut your eyes out," before decking him in the face. Later, after the Fearsome Hand of Four fails to kill the Red Hood, the Black Mask flips over his desk and paces around the room as he rants, punching out each of his four bodyguards and calling Ms. Li an idiot. That's when the Red Hood targets him personally, blowing up his office with a rocket launcher, prompting the Black Mask to pull out all the stops and bring the Joker in. This isn't something he's looking forward to, saying, "It's going to be a nightmare," not knowing just how right he is. He's not totally fazed when the Joker kills his bodyguards and holds him at gunpoint, agreeing to give him what he asks for, but then, of course, the Joker threatens to burn him and his former compatriots alive in order to draw out the Red Hood. Thanks to Batman, the Black Mask is spared the horrific fate, but is arrested for his role in the Joker's escape from Arkham.

I first thought the Fearsome Hand of Four were an established mercenary team that I'd just never heard of before but, no, this film is the first time they've appeared. In any case, the team, all of whom wear cybernetic armor, consists of their unnamed leader (voiced by Keri Tombazian), a masked woman wielding two swords with glowing blades; Bulk (voiced by Phil LaMarr), a big, hulking rhino of a man; Baton (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui), who wields a pole-like weapon that reminds me of Darth Maul's two-bladed lightsaber; and Shot (voiced by Gary Cole), who wears a cyclops-like face-place that fires power laser-beams from the single, camera-like lens and also has sharp claws on his gloves (he's the one who Red Hood kills in a pretty horrific manner). Speaking of villains, Talia appears in the flashback to Jason's resurrection but she never speaks, while the Riddler, who only grunts and groans, was actually voiced by Bruce Timm.

While darkness is hardly anything new to Batman, Under the Red Hood also has an atmosphere of utter despair and hopelessness, one that's established right from the beginning as Batman races through the cold, desolate landscape of Bosnia to save Jason Todd while he's getting beaten to a pulp by the Joker. We're told from the outset by Ra's al Ghul's assistant that he isn't going to make it in time and, sure enough, he gets there just as the warehouse explodes, then digs Jason's battered body out of the rubble. They recreate the

famous shot from the Death in the Family comic of Batman holding Jason's corpse in his arms and his despair over having lost him is quite hard-hitting. That leads into the opening credits, which starts with eerie, Gothic images of ravens sitting atop and flying about the gravestones and crypts of a cemetery, then zooming towards a similar shot of Wayne Manor, before transitioning into a montage of very dark, noirish shots of Gotham City, like alleyways, street corners, the subways, the bay bridge, stairways, manholes, and other such

locations, as if symbolizing Jason rising from the grave and becoming a pall over Gotham. All of this imagery is set under a constant, miserable rainfall and to Christopher Drake's downbeat, tragic music. Once we get into the story itself, it proves to be horrifically violent at times, like when the Red Hood throws down the bag containing the heads of the drug-dealers' lieutenants (we don't actually see the heads but the dealers' reactions, which includes one throwing up, are more than enough), his sniping the men working for them before they can

tell Batman and Nightwing everything, the overall violent manner of the Black Mask, the Red Hood horrifically killing Shot, and the Joker's grisly deeds which, besides his torture and murder of Jason, include slashing a man's throat with a smashed glass and attempting to burn the drug dealers alive. But, what's more, it's just tragic all-around, as we see who Jason was as Robin and how his life unraveled, how Ra's' well-meaning attempt to resurrect him turned him into an outright

monster, and watch Batman having to witness and deal with what his former partner, apprentice, and surrogate son has become. This leads into the final confrontation, which is about how Batman hasn't avenged Jason's murder, the revelation that Batman has wanted to kill the Joker so many times but hasn't in order to keep from falling into the abyss, and Jason's forcing him to choose between his life or the Joker's. In the end, Jason disappears completely, it's never revealed what happened to

him, and we see how everyone involved, including Nightwing and Ra's, are personally affected when they hear the news of the aftermath. The movie ends with a flashback to Jason's first day as Robin, the last line being his declaration, "This is the best day of my life," and the ending credits play over a shot of a street as rain pours down on it, set to the same music from the opening credits, leaving you to contemplate how everything went horribly downhill for Jason.

For such a dark, downbeat movie, it's quite pleasing to the eye, with a very rich color palette, appealing character designs, and animation that, while not feature film level, is quite good, especially during the chase and fight scenes. While it is hand-drawn animation and painted backgrounds for the most part, there are noticeable uses of CGI, mainly for the vehicles, including regular cars and aircraft, as well as both the Batmobile and the Batwing, digital data and readouts, and in shots of Gotham for those big

action and chase scenes. As obvious as it is, the CGI, naturally, looks a lot better here than it did over a decade earlier in Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, and is integrated quite well with the traditional animation, like when Batman uses his grappling gun to board the Batwing when it's on autopilot and in the shots of him sitting in its totally digital cockpit. The action setpieces are both animated and shot really well and are always very exciting, and there's a really cool moment at the

end when Jason fires his gun at Batman when his back is turned. The shot starts on a closeup of the gun when it fires, the camera follows the bullet as it heads towards Batman, Batman then ducks out of the way, swings around, and flings a Batarang at Jason's gun. Save for Batman and the background, I think everything else in that shot is digital and it is integrated beautifully and the animation is breathtaking. And going back to the flashbacks, while some have more traditional transitions,

they're mostly achieved through Batman or another character being somewhere that triggers a memory and they see ethereal reenactments of what they're remembering, sometimes with them in the same shot or even walking into the very spot as the see-through versions of themselves, making for a simple yet really interesting way of doing it.

As usual, Gotham City is depicted in a timeless, semi-Metropolis style, with an art deco design to the buildings, gargoyles sitting upon certain rooftops, swaying spotlights shooting up into the night sky, and various levels to the city in terms of suspended train tracks and overpasses. Although it's not dwelt upon, there's that sense of crime-riddled disrepair in places like the old warehouse where the Red Hood first gathers the drug-dealers together, the shipyard where Batman and Nightwing battle the Amazo, Crime Alley, which

serves as both the place where Batman first met Jason Todd and the setting of their ultimate battle, and the old rundown building where everything comes to a head. Other notable areas used in the story include the Ace Chemicals factory, where Batman remembers the birth of the Joker and has his first real encounter with the Red Hood; the Black Mask's office, which has this enormous window looking out over the Gotham skyline; the Gotham Bay Bridge, where the Joker and the Red Hood have their first face-off; and numerous

rooftops during the action scenes, particularly the cathedral where both Batman and the Red Hood have their masks removed during their fight. Arkham Asylum also plays a role in the story, looking very Gothic and creepy on the outside, and while the inside is a bit more high-tech, especially the security ward and interrogation rooms, the place has obviously seen better days, as there's a lot of wear, tear, and corrosion on the walls. The Joker is kept downstairs, in a very dimly lit, padded cell

that has the basic luxuries of a cot, a table, and a toilet. While Wayne Manor itself is never seen, there are a number of scenes set in the Batcave, which is fairly basic in design, with the big Batcomputer at the center of the place, a platform where Jason's Robin costume is kept in a glass case, a staircase leading down from the house, and a large platform housing the Batmobile, all of which is bathed in a light-blue glow from the equipment. There's another area of the cave that

has a room where Bruce puts on the Batsuit, with a path leading to the Batwing's landing platform. Also, the path the Batmobile travels on to reach outside opens up with some fake bushes on the side of the road that part, reminding me of the Batcave exit in the Adam West show. And finally, there's a scene set in a creepy graveyard for when Bruce and Alfred dig up Jason's coffin to discover that the body is a fake. Many of these locations are made all the more atmospheric by the fact that this is a 99% nighttime movie, with that graveyard being especially dark and shadowy, thanks to the lantern Alfred uses while Bruce is digging up the grave.

Ra's al Ghul's hideout is an ancient, elegant palace sitting atop a pillar-shaped cliff that looks impossible to reach, save by aircraft. Ra's himself spends most of his time in his study/library, a large room with elegant windows all-around and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling. You also see the green-glowing Lazarus Pit, which is in a big cavern beneath Ra's' hideout. Finally, in both this Himalayan-like setting and the sequences in Bosnia, you see some snow, as well as a town that's suffered immense damage, likely from terrorist

attacks or battles of war, as there are a number of smoldering buildings with enormous holes blown into them, barricades with barbwire, and overturned vehicles. This is the spot where the Joker tortures Jason before leaving him to die in the warehouse explosion and the depressive look of the place adds more to the moment when Batman finds he was too late to save him. Also, in the flashback to when Ra's and his men stole Jason's body from the United States Embassy in Bosnia, you get your one and only daytime scene, which is overcast and snowing, truly making this a movie where the sun never shines.

The movie opens with a very tense sequence where Ra's al Ghul learns what the Joker has done, inter-cut with Batman racing through Bosnia on the Batcycle. We then see Jason Todd getting brutalized by the Joker with a crowbar, the maniac taking sadistic glee and satisfaction from his pained grunts and the sight of him lying in his own blood, panting. After getting beaten some more, Jason murmurs something, and when the Joker leans in closer, mocking his inability to speak, he

spits blood in his face. Irritated at this, the Joker smacks his face on the floor, wipes off the blood, and then proceeds to beat on him some more, pinning him to the floor with his foot and laughing evilly. Ra's learns that Batman is on his way by his assistant but is told, "He won't make it there in time." The Joker, having had his fun, leaves the warehouse and, as he looks back at Jason lying on the floor, he puts on a coat and tells him, "Anyway, be a good boy, finish your homework, and be in

bed by 9:00. And hey, please tell the big man I said... hello." With that, he closes the door and locks it behind him, laughing as he does. Jason then opens his eyes and, despite the pain he's in, manages to maneuver his tied hands around to his front and gets to his feet. He attempts to walk to the door but falls to the floor again. Undeterred, he slowly and painfully crawls to it, as Batman continues to race to the rescue, now closing in on the warehouse. Jason reaches the door but, of course, finds it locked on the outside. He leans up

against it, exhausted, and then, hearing a beeping sound, looks over to see a timer on a mass of explosives nearby. With the timer now only having nine seconds left, Jason resigns himself to his fate. Outside, Batman drives to the top of the hill where the warehouse sits, jumps off the Batcycle, and rushes to it, only for the place to explode. He shields himself with his cape and, after the explosion has abated, pushes a chunk of rubble off him. He rushes to what was the center of the warehouse, pushes away a wooden beam, and digs underneath it, only to find he's too late. He picks up Jason in his arms and, squinting his eyes in despair, stands in the center of the destroyed building.

After the credits, we cut to Gotham City five years later, with a group of the city's biggest drug-dealers meeting in an abandoned warehouse. Confused as to who exactly arranged the meeting, as it was none of them, one of the dealers, Freddie, gets impatient and is about to leave, when the Red Hood makes his first appearance, appearing on a walkway above them and telling them he's the one who arranged it. They think he's Batman at first, until he steps into the light, and once they see it

isn't the Dark Knight, they all pull their weapons on him. However, the Red Hood whips out an AK-47 and fires at them, forcing them to hit the deck, as he shoots through the wooden table they were sitting around. Once the firing stops, he tells them of his deal and its terms, and when another dealer, Bobo, asks why they should go along with it, the Red Hood throws down a duffle bag that they see contains the heads of their lieutenants. Putting a new clip into his rifle, he points it at them and declares, "Make no mistake, I'm not asking

you to kick in with me; I'm telling you," and fires again to prove his point, this time hitting both the table and the bag. Again, the dealers hit the deck, and when the firing stops and they look back up, they see he's gone. With that, they decide his deal is better than getting slaughtered.

In the next scene, at a shipyard, a cargo truck driven by three of the Red Hood's men speeds along, trying to escape Batman, who's already snatched up two of their partners. After driving for a bit, they believe they might have lost him, with one commenting, "I think we're good." At that moment, Batman lands on the hood and tells them through the cracked windshield, "No. You're anything but good." One of the goons takes out a pump-action shotgun and blasts through the

windshield, but Batman dives out of the way and he only manages to shower them with pieces of glass. The truck then runs over a layer of bat-shaped spikes on the road ahead, which puncture the tires and send them skidding out of control. Batman punches through the passenger-side window, grabs one of the thieves by the hair, and yanks him out. This terrifies the one in the middle, who leans up against the driver, causing him to accidentally cut the wheel around deeply. The truck

nearly falls over on its side and hits a wall of cargo crates on its right, knocking a large metal box out of the back. It then does fall on its side and skids down the corridor between the crates, coming to a rest at a T-section. The driver reaches out of the destroyed windshield, trying to get at his partner's pump-action shotgun, but Batman walks in and steps on his hand. He grabs him by the neck of his coat and hoists him out of the truck, lifting him above the ground. He asks who they're working for, and when the guy claims they just stole the

truck themselves, Batman snarls, "Lie to me again, and crashing into a wall head-on will be the least painful activity of your evening." Before the frightened thug can say anything else, the two of them hear an electronic beeping and turn to see the box that fell out of the truck open up, revealing a large, orange humanoid with glowing red eyes. Batman handcuffs the thieves to the wrecked truck and explains that the thing they were carrying is an advanced android called an "Amazo," adding that it's, "Equipped with the ability to absorb the power of superhumans." One thug asks, "What kind of superhumans?", when the Amazo brings its fists down onto the ground, sending a shock-wave right at them. Batman dodges it by jumping atop the wrecked truck and answers, "Big ones."

Batman rushes at the Amazo, throwing a smoke pellet that it catches in its hand, and when it explodes, Batman jumps at the android, delivering two kicks to its head, and smashes the back of its head when he lands on the other side. He goes for a punch, but the Amazo grabs his fist, tosses him aside, then sends him flying down the corridor with a powerful punch. He slams into the wall of cargo crates and falls to the ground, when he hears someone say, "Packs quite the punch for a toaster

on steroids, huh?" Looking up to see it's Nightwing, standing atop the crates, he turns down his former pupil's offer to help and rushes back into the fight. Nightwing jumps down, asking, "Okay, well, how about I just stick around and watch?" The Amazo lifts up one of the cargo containers and throws it at Batman. He ducks it but it flies past and almost hits Nightwing, who does a graceful flip to dodge it and then does another to avoid being crushed by another crate that falls on top of

it. He charges at the Amazo, which is distracted with Batman, and, putting on a set of metal knuckles, jump-kicks it in the arm, dodges a punch, and whacks it in the face, ripping off a chunk of its synthetic skin on the left side. Batman jumps at and side-swipes it in the face, then they both fire their grappling guns, hook onto a cargo container behind it, and repel towards it at once, giving it a double-whammy to the head that almost knocks it on its back. As they land on a container stacked high,

Batman flings a Batarang at the Amazo. It misses it, but then comes back around, homes in on, and attaches to its leg, where it explodes. The two of them race across the container's roof, Batman saying the explosion will slow the Amazo down, only for him to be proven wrong when it explodes upwards and lands on the end of the container, more of its robotic body showing as it snarls at them. They fire their grappling guns again, attempting to make it a nearby tower, only for the Amazo to leap up after them. It tackles Nightwing

out of the air and grabs onto him, but Batman manages to keep up and snags its leg with his grappling hook. He tells Nightwing that the android has the same weak-points as a person and, with that, he takes out two blades and jams them into both of its ears, causing it to yell as electric sparks surge through its head. It lets go of Nightwing, who falls and grabs onto Batman's back as they head back to the ground, Batman using his grappling hook to ease their fall. The Amazo crashes down near them but still isn't out, as it gets

to its feet and fires laser-beams from its eyes. Batman and Nightwing dodge them, when the latter is cornered by the android. Batman comes up behind it and sticks what looks like putty on both of its eyes. It tries to pull it off, when Batman pushes the button on a remote trigger, triggering an explosion that destroys its head.

With that done, Batman gets back to interrogating the thugs, this time with Nightwing's help. When they, again, deny that they're working for anybody, Batman has Nightwing bring down the Amazo's body, which is hanging above them by a grappling line. It comes roaring down at them, Nightwing stopping it when it's right above them, and that's all it takes to get the one thug to start talking. He tells them that he and his pals are working for the Red Hood, when all three of them suddenly drop dead

following some very fast whooshing sounds. Batman and Nightwing take cover, the latter saying the shots came from a rooftop. Using his high-tech binoculars, Batman spots the Red Hood atop a building across the bay. He promptly brings the Batwing in on autopilot and uses a pulley hanging from its underside to repel himself up into the cockpit, leaving Nightwing with the corpses, much to his chagrin. Batman flies into the city, zooming over one rooftop where a couple are making out,

and spots the Red Hood running and jumping across some roofs to his rights. He follows him as he hops down into an alleyway and jumps into a blue car waiting for him down there. He flies after the Red Hood as he speeds onto the highway, flying past and knocking various vehicles out of his way. When he flies through a tunnel, Batman brings the Batwing's wings in close to its body in order to fit through and fires a large grappling hook that snags the car's roof. They both exit the tunnel, the Red Hood swerving back and forth to free his

car, and when he can't, he simply disconnects the roof. Batman detaches the cable and continues the chase, flying after the Red Hood around two tight corners and sees him crash through the gates and loading dock door of a facility. He does a flip with the Batwing and deploys from underneath it, crashing through the plant's skylight and landing on a walkway. 

He sees the Red Hood's abandoned car, crashed against a vat of chemicals, and looks over at the walkway parallel to his, remembering when he and the Joker first encountered each other when the latter wore his own version of the Red Hood's outfit, as well as how he fell into one of the vats before Batman could save him, with various playing cards then rising to the surface. He looks up and sees the Red Hood, who's pointing a handgun at him. He remarks, "Hard to forget that

night, huh? In a way, Batman, this was the site of your first great failure. Maybe your greatest, but certainly not your last, right? Ah, memories." Rather than shoot at Batman himself, he instead fires at his car's fuel tank, igniting the gasoline spewing out of it and causing the chemicals in the vat to combust. He takes the opportunity to run for it, and though Batman uses his grappling gun to get onto the walkway to continue the chase, another explosion blows the car's front up right in front of him. He's knocked off the walkway but quickly

uses his grappling gun to attach to the ceiling and repels upwards before the chemicals in the vat beneath him ignites as well. He leaps up to the roof, but is blown forward onto the ground below when the whole place goes up in a massive explosion.

Batman and Nightwing reconvene in the Batcave, where Nightwing shows him the intel he has on the Red Hood. They then decide to pay the Joker a visit at Arkham Asylum, but when they show him a photo of the Red Hood, his only comment is, "He has horrible taste. When I wore that number, it was classy. More flashy maitre d than motorcycle fetish. Ah, these kids today." That's when he makes a nasty comment about Jason Todd, pushing Batman to grab him by the neck and nearly off him

right then and there, but in the end, he drops him to the floor, which the Joker finds, "So disappointing." He adds, "But, back to the matter at hand: the news hoodie. You really think I would stir up so much trouble, and not make sure you knew it was me?" He then starts cackling maniacally on the floor, prompting Batman and Nightwing to leave his cell. The next scene introduces the Black Mask, and after he rants about the Red Hood's interference in his business, as well as indoctrinates his new bodyguard by punching

him for staring, he asks for the details of his next  weapons shipment. When the bodyguard picks himself up and reads off the specs, it's revealed that Batman planted a bug on the underside of the Black Mask's desk and he listens in from the Batcave. He's not the only one, as no one in the office sees a red, glowing sensor up high near the window. On a rooftop, the Red Hood eavesdrops, hearing the man say that he's doubling the security and changing the location of the pickup. To that, he comments, "That sounds like a plan."

Later that night, the helicopter carrying the shipment arrives on the helipad atop the Black Mask's building, where a group of his men are waiting. One of the men, who's wearing a hood on his coat, enters the helicopter and, as expected, turns out to be the Red Hood. He kicks the two pilots out and they fall against the other men, revealing they all have their hands tied behind their back, along with their feet. The Red Hood prepares to lift off in the helicopter, when he's hit by a

projectile that sends an electromagnetic pulse through it. Naturally, it's the work of Batman and Nightwing, the latter of whom comments, "You know what I miss most about running with you? The toys." Regardless, the Red Hood flies the disabled helicopter over the edge of the building and it plummets down. Batman takes the weapon and runs after the aircraft, while Nightwing fastens the cable to the roof with large, staple-like clamps. The Red Hood jumps out of the helicopter and

climbs up onto another rooftop, as Batman jumps down after it. It slams against the side of the building and threatens to crush some pedestrians on the ground, but Batman fires another cable at its underside, then shoots his grappling gun, anchoring it to the side of another building, and attaches the two guns together. The cables become taut and suspend the helicopter just a few feet above the ground. Batman slides down one of the cables and is grabbed by Nightwing, who swings in to give him a lift. The swing around to where the Red

Hood is standing, prompting him to run for it. He leaps at and crashes through some scaffolding at a construction site but manages to keep moving and runs along the side of the building, with Batman and Nightwing in pursuit. Batman flings a Batarang at him but he ducks into the site's interior. He smashes through some weak wooden beams, grabs an acetylene torch's fuel tank, and dives out the window. As he falls, he swings around, throws the tank back at the window, and shoots it, causing an explosion that forces Batman and Nightwing to

take cover. They then continue the chase, running and hopping over the steel beams of the building's skeleton, only for the Red Hood to run to the edge of one beam and dive off, landing with a roll and tumble on a rooftop. He hops across various roofs, with Batman and Nightwing struggling to keep up, and then leaps on top of a police blimp, pulls out two handguns, and fires at Batman, who ducks back behind a corner on the building's ledge. Nightwing remarks, "He's good," and Batman agrees, as he activates the recording equipment in his cowl.

They leap across the blimp to the rooftop where the Red Hood is fleeing and continue the chase, pursuing him on the ledge around another building. Batman throws a line, attempting to get his leg, but before it can go taut, he brandishes a blade and effortlessly cuts himself loose. Seeing this, Nightwing comments, "He's very good!", and the Red Hood demonstrates even more skill by bounding off the side of one building and leaping onto the ledge of another. He jumps down towards

a glass dome covering a train station, grabs a hanging cable, and then falls through the glass. Nightwing comments, "That's impressive," but Batman insists, "Nothing we haven't seen before." They drop down into the station and, for a second, it looks as though they've lost him. But then, Batman looks to his left and sees two explosives on a steel beam. He and Nightwing rush for cover but get blown forward by the explosion. Lying on the track, Nightwing finds his leg is badly injured,

while Batman sees the Red Hood on a motorcycle further up. He says, "You haven't lost your touch," when a train comes around and heads for the two heroes, who jump onto the platform. Once the train passes, they see that the Red Hood has fled. Later, in the Batcave, Bruce reviews the footage he captured of the Red Hood, with Dick, whose leg Alfred has bandaged, commenting on how he's obviously been trained and trained well. Bruce has Alfred drive Dick home, while he analyzes the audio of the last thing the Red Hood said before he

disappeared. Realizing he said something else after, "You haven't lost your touch," he isolates and amplifies that section, finding he said, "Bruce." This absolutely shocks him, and he then finds himself looking at Jason Todd's Robin costume in its glass case, remembering back to when he first started out as his apprentice.

We get a flashback to Batman and Robin foiling the Riddler's attempt at robbing a museum. Robin comes through the skylight, knocks one goon to the floor, kicks two in the face at the same time, and trips up another wielding a crossbow with some marbles he throws on the floor. Batman joins him and tells the Riddler it's over, but the villain runs for it, while his henchman gets up and fires arrows at them. They both dodge the projectiles, with Robin leaping off the man's shoulders and then

slicing off a whip another uses to try to snag his legs. While Batman takes care of the one henchman, Robin lands in front of the Riddler at the top of the stairs and says, "Riddle me this: what's green and purple, but covered in red and yellow?" Annoyed, the Riddler swing his cane at him, only for Robin to block it and then kick him right in the groin. He moans in pain and tumbles backwards down the stairs, landing roughly. Robin then lands atop him and answers, "You, when I

land on your sorry butt." The flashback then switches to later, when Jason had become a teenager and he and Batman were dealing with an apartment full of drug dealers. Robin rushes at a gun-wielding thug at the top of some stairs, knocking him through the door behind him, and while one of them men inside swings around, firing with two Uzis, Robin easily runs at and takes him down. Jumping into the air, he hits another dealer who tries to blast him with a shotgun with two shocking Batarangs and then kicks him against the

wall. As Batman enters the room, Robin looks at the one guy who's lying atop the table and comments, "Twenty rounds a second and you were still too slow." A thug hiding in the corner then shows himself, brandishes a handgun, and fires. Robin dodges the bullets and, despite Batman disarming him with a Batarang, still rushes at the thug and comes down on him hard with his elbow, sending him to the floor, where he lets out a pained yell. Batman yells at Robin for this and later, in the Batcave, Bruce admonishes Jason for shattering the

man's collarbone and putting him into shock, to which Jason remarks, "He's a drug dealing pimp! I didn't think I had to prop up some pillows before I took him out!" Although he then understands why it was dumb to do so when they could've used him as a source of information, Jason still has no remorse about what he did, saying the man deserved it. The flashback ends with Bruce still looking at his suit before walking away.

Enraged at this latest bit of interference, the Black Mask orders the Red Hood dead, adding that they should attack his businesses in order to lure him out and then trap him. With that, a car full of his men drive straight into a club downtown and start shooting up the place. They punch out any guests who dawdle in running out, smash up the bar, and execute the bartender. The man tries to save himself by saying they're protected by the Red Hood but the Black Mask's thug blows his brains

out, regardless. This doesn't go unnoticed by the Red Hood, who watches from outside and simply comments, "Hmph. Cute." Next, Tyler Bramford, one of the drug-dealers, is abducted, stripped down to his undergarments, and dragged to a spot near some raised train tracks. Unmoved by his threats, one of the Black Mask's thugs holds him at gunpoint, while the other lights a Molotov cocktail and prepares to immolate him with it in order to send a message to the Red Hood. But, when he

raises it up, the bottle is suddenly smashed open with a gunshot and the liquid covers him, instantly setting him on fire. He collapses and the Red Hood appears, asking, "Okay, what's the message?" The other goon runs for it and the Fearsome Hand of Four make their appearance, brandishing their high-tech armor and weapons. The leader leaps at him with her swords and the others join her, as Tyler runs for cover. The Red Hood takes out his double handguns and fires at them, though the

leader deflects the bullets and jumps and lands on the roof of the car he's standing on. He jumps back, firing at her, does the same at Bulk, dodges Baton's pole, and slides away, firing at him. He deflects the bullets with his pole but the Red Hood dodges him, kicks him in the face, dodges the leader when she leaps and swings at him, fires at her, jumps up and bounces off Baton's back. He dodges both him and the leader, jumping up to the top of a stairway against a building, firing at them. Shot rushes up and blasts the stairway, forcing him to jump off. He

gets blasted down to the ground, where Bulk grabs him and flings him into one of the raised tracks' support beams. He falls to the ground, letting out a monotone, "Ow," and Bulk picks him up by the head and prepares to hit him again. The Red Hood flings some magnetic explosives onto his armor, which blast him to the ground, and the Red Hood then fends off Baton and the leader, the latter of whom manages to slice across his shirt. He uses his own knife to block her attacks and kick her away, when Baton runs at him. He knocks the knife out

of his hand, and while the Red Hood is able to fight him hand-to-hand well enough, he gets an uppercut and is flung to the ground again. Though it seems as though he's outmatched and on his last legs, he tells them, "The fight hasn't started yet. I'm just stalling."

Baton raises his pole to finish him off, when two Batarangs come flying in and stick into his arm. The others look as Batman comes down and lands in front of the Red Hood. Bulk charges at him but Batman easily fights back, dodging his punch, grabbing his arm, grabbing his throat, kneeing him in the gut, and tossing him aside. He and the Red Hood get back to back, as Bulk and the leader charge at them respectively. They both handle their opponents, then switch enemies, with Batman next

fighting off Baton while the Red Hood deals with Shot. Again, they end up trading opponents and disposing of them, when the Red Hood is attacked by the leader. Like before, he easily takes her on, kneeing her in the gut and decking her in the face, but then, she swings around and slices into his right arm, drawing blood. She lunges at him, while Bulk picks up the car behind Batman and Shot. Batman punches and kicks Shot away, and when Bulk throws the car at him, he jumps through the open

passenger door, climbs through the front seat, and leaps out the driver's window. He flies at Bulk, dodges a punch, and puts a gadget on the back of his right shoulder that turns out to be a kind of mini-rocket that sends him spiraling up into the sky. Shot jumps at Batman but he dodges his kick and his swiping at him with his claws, and delivers a series of hits and kicks, one of which knocks him into the air and makes him do a loop. When he lands, Shot is about to attack again, when he sees

Batman put another of those gadgets on his chest and he gets blasted backwards and smashes through a wall behind him. The Red Hood runs, jumps off a wall at the leader, and though she dodges his kick, he manages to put her in an arm-lock, deliver an elbow to the back, and knock her unconscious with a head smash. Batman manages to do the same to Baton, kneeing him, punching him in the face, and smashing through his pole, knocking him out as well. The two of them look at the three unconscious assassins, as the Red Hood

comments, "I gotta say, I miss watching you work." But then, Shot comes back and blasts at both of them. The Red Hood pushes Batman out of the way and takes the blast to the chest, blowing him back. Batman flings some Batarangs at Shot but he dodges them and runs at Batman, firing at him. Batman dodges his blasts and throws some smoke bombs at him, but these do nothing to stop Shot. He leaps at Batman, kicks him in the head and then uppercuts him with another a kick, knocking him to the ground. Seeing that Batman appears to be

out, Shot approaches the Red Hood as he sits up. He kicks him in the head, pins him down on all four limbs, and prepares to blow his head off. Batman, brandishing a taser, tells him to step away, but Shot jumps up with the Red Hood, using him as a shield. He warns Batman, "Nail me and you electrocute both of us," but the Red Hood, pulling out a weapon of his own, says, "Maybe that's what he has in mind." He then jams the weapon into Shot's helmet, sending electric surges through it that eventually cause it to explode, his headless

body falling to the ground. After Batman and the Red Hood have their heated conversation about what the latter is trying to accomplish through his actions, he disappears after he throws down a teargas canister. Once he's gone, Batman decides to use the blood on the leader's sword to confirm his identity.

While Bruce proves once and for all that the Red Hood is Jason Todd, a revelation that causes Alfred to drop a tray of drinks in complete shock, the Black Mask goes on a rampage in his office when he learns the Red Hood destroyed another of his shipments. Further enraged when he's told he's now killing anyone who works in his province rather than enlisting them like before, he flips his desk and punches out each of his four bodyguards, before figuring that Batman either can't stop the Red Hood himself or they're caught up in a war

between the two vigilantes. As he stands in front of his enormous window overlooking the skyline, he sees a red targeting laser on his neck and looks up to see the Red Hood on a rooftop across from him, pointing a rocket launcher at him, while waving at him. When he aims right at his forehead, the Black Mask, along with Ms. Li, bolts for his office door, pushing one of his bodyguards out of the way as he staggers to his feet. The two of them, followed by the guards, run out into the hallway, confusing those standing guard outside. The Red Hood

comments, "Wow, he sure can move when he really wants to," and then fires, destroying his office in a massive explosion that blows out into the corridor and chases them down the fire exit. Two of the bodyguards are flung to the floor and Ms. Li takes cover in the corner, while the Black Mask himself has to duck to avoid being impaled by the door, which comes flying at him and jams into the wall. Joined by Ms. Li, the Black Mask decides, "Okay, time to change up the ground war... I'm being

forced into negotiating with a psychotic." Ms. Li comments, "That doesn't sound good," and the Black Mask answers, "No. It's going to be a nightmare." Later, at Arkham Asylum, the two guards in the security ward are surprised when Terry, an attendant who's not supposed to be working that night, shows up. They try to send him away, but he's shot in the head by the Black Mask's men, who come in, wearing ski masks and dressed as mercenaries. One of the two paid off attendants

opens the security door leading down to the Joker's cell, and when the leader asks if the Joker knows what's going on, he simply says, "He knows he's leaving." As they head down the corridor leading to his cell, he remarks, "Gonna be a sleepover, right? I've packed my toothbrush."

Meanwhile, Bruce and Alfred dig up Jason's grave and find that the body inside the coffin is a latex dummy. Back in the Batcave, Bruce suits up and heads to the Batwing to confront the man he knows is behind this. Elsewhere, the Black Mask meets with the Joker, telling him, "I hope you understand the trouble I've gone through to arrange this little get together here. A lot of money, a lot of dead meat." Still in his orange jumpsuit, the Joker sits there, nonchalantly eating a bag of potato chips, as the Black Mask continues, "Look, I've got a

problem, and you are absolutely the man who possesses the gifts to take care of this problem. I need you to murder the Red Hood. You think you can handle that?" Having no reaction, the Joker coughs and asks for a glass of water. One of the guards gives him one, when he smashes it over the edge of the table, slices one guard's neck with it, grabs his gun, and quickly kills everyone else in the room apart from the Black Mask and Ms. Li. He points the gun at the Black Mask, laughing

maniacally, and says, "I'm going to need... something to wear. And a very big truck... I'll need some guys. Not these guys, because, well, they're kind of dead." He laughs again, as the Black Mask is clearly regretting making this deal. On the other side of the world, at Ra's al Ghul's hideout, Batman easily dispatches his guards on the palace's exterior terrace. In his study, Ra's hears this and walks over to a window. Suddenly, Batman smashes his hand through the glass, yanks Ra's through, throws him

to the ground, and pins him there. He asks, "What did you do to Jason?," then adds, "Act like you don't know what I'm talking about, and I'll dislocate the shoulder. That's just to start." Ra's tells him that his guards will be up there in a second and, grimacing when he pushes his arm further, asks for the chance to call them off. Batman takes out the communicator in his pocket and Ra's tells his commander, "Stand down. I will be entertaining a guest in my study." Getting the message, the commander relays it to the rest of the guards just as they're about to burst in on them.

Back in his study, Ra's pours himself a drink and begins telling Batman of how he hired the Joker to distract him and Robin from his plan to cripple Europe's economy. A flashback shows the two of them coming across the Joker during his rampage in Bosnia, as he and his men are robbing a hospital of its medicine. They easily defeat his goons and the Joker heads out a door in the back of the room, with Robin right behind him. Batman tries to follow but a goon grabs him and punches him in the face, after which the flashback momentarily

ends on a shot of the Joker standing over Jason's battered body. Ra's explains that he was so horrified by what he'd caused that he attempted to make things right. A cutaway shows him rejuvenating himself with the Lazarus Pit, as he explains to Batman that it was rumored that the pit could revive the dead as well. He goes on to say, "Procuring the remains of your partner was not difficult. You had come to Bosnia under the guise of Bruce Wayne, and you chose to depart as such. You even concocted the cover story that young

Jason had died in a bombing in Sarajevo. This made it easy for me. All it took was a few payoffs to replace his body. I felt confident that you would not perform an autopsy. Even if you had, we still would have bought enough time." His men are shown making the switch at the American embassy, and as Ra's tells Batman that his plan had "unfortunate results," Jason's body is shown being lowered into the Lazarus Pit. Ra's, Talia, and his followers watch and wait along the pit's edge,

when Jason erupts out of the liquid, screaming and tearing away at the bandages he's swathed in. He vomits up some liquid and, after staring at Ra's, the loose bandages revealing how malformed his face has become, he quickly wades to the edge of the pit and climbs ashore. He punches one of the followers, gouges another's eyes out, and uppercuts a third, before climbing up the side of a rock wall. Talia goes to shoot him but Ra's stops her and the two of them chase after him, as he runs up through

the cavern and into the palace above. He leaps right through one of the windows and plummets down to the river that winds through the bottom of the chasm the cliff sits in. Having heard all this, Batman ducks out when Ra's isn't looking and heads for home in the Batwing. As he talks with Alfred on the communicator, he learns of a developing situation that's being broadcast on the news.

On the Gotham Bay Bridge, the police and SWAT units have cordoned off and surrounded a spot where the Joker is standing atop a large cargo truck, laughing crazily as he does. When some police blimps overhead illuminate him with their spotlights, he takes a bow and turns his attention to who he has inside the cargo hold: the Black Mask and all of his former associates, bound and, for the most part, gagged. He starts pouring gasoline down into the crate, singing I'm A Little Teapot, and once he's pretty much emptied it, he tosses the can down

there with them. As the Black Mask yells that this wasn't part of the deal, the Joker takes out a lighter and tries to ignite it, when he notices that the blimp spotlight has moved way from him. He turns and sees the Red Hood standing atop one of the bridge's towers. Giving him the same spiel he did to Batman and Nightwing about how he was more stylish when he donned the persona, he continues trying to flick the lighter. The Red Hood then reveals that he set up his release from Arkham, telling him, "Sure, I had lots of plans, but the

endgame was getting Black Mask so desperate that he'd cut a deal. He was the only one with the connections to get into Arkham, and get you out." The Joker isn't too concerned about being tricked, and when the Red Hood implies that they've met before, he comments, "Well, here's to warm memories." Finally, the lighter ignites and he drops it down into the truck, at his panicking prisoners. It lands on one man, who's instantly set aflame, but the Batwing comes in and lets loose some

fire-retarding foam, saving the drug-dealers and completely covering the befuddled Joker. Batman comes back around for another pass and hooks the back of the Joker's suit with a grappling hook. He's about to hoist him away, but the Red Hood runs and grabs onto the cable. He uses his knife to cut it and he and the Joker fall down into the bay. The Joker tries to swim away but the Red Hood promptly grabs him. Batman flies the Batwing right over the bay's surface but is unable to find any sign of them on the sonar. The Red Hood contacts him, telling him, "I've got him. You want him, meet me in Crime Alley."

The Red Hood flings the Joker into a derelict apartment, having tied him up. Laughing, the Joker asks, "So, what's the plan? Slumber party? Charades? A little Truth or Dare? Yes! I'll start with 'Dare.'" But, when the Red Hood pulls a crowbar out of a duffle bag, the Joker's demeanor changes, as he says, "Or maybe I'll just go with Truth." He beats the Joker repeatedly with it, stopping for a second to ask him how it feels, while the Joker, despite being in awful pain, is now all the more curious as to who he is. The Red Hood

then takes him and beats him some more, while Batman jumps down from the Batwing into Crime Alley. After remembering how he first met Jason there, which makes him smile softly, he's faced with the Red Hood. As it begins to rain, so too does their fight. The Red Hood flings some shurikens at Batman, who jumps up and takes cover behind a dumpster. He puts two of his small blasters on the dumpster, sending it hurtling at the Red Hood, who jumps to avoid it. Batman snags his feet with a line and yanks him down to the ground, but the Red

Hood not only cuts the line but uses a taser to send an electrical surge up to Batman. He charges at Batman with his knife, but he throws some small explosives at his feet, blasting him up against one of the alleyway's walls. He manages to leap off it and jump and climb up a stairway on the side of the wall opposite him. Batman climbs after him and, when he reaches the roof, dives at and tackles him. In their scuffle, the Red Hood stakes his cape to the roof with his knife and takes the opportunity

to punch him in the face. Pulling out some Batarangs, Batman yanks his cape loose, punches the Red Hood's helmet, and backhands him with the Batarangs. The Red Hood dives for his knife and yanks it out, and the two of them then run at each other and get into some fierce hand-to-hand combat. The Red Hood manages to cut Batman's utility belt off in the scuffle and scrapes him along the side of his throat. Batman runs and tackles him off the roof and they fall towards that of a church next to it, the two of them slamming onto and bouncing off a big angel statue. The Red Hood lands roughly on his front but Batman manages to land on his feet and then cautiously approaches him.

When he touches the Red Hood and pulls him around, he grabs and rips off his mask, then jumps away and grabs his knife. Looking Bruce in the face, he tosses the mask back and removes his helmet, revealing that he's wearing his Robin face-mask underneath it. Finally seeing Jason as he remembered him (there's a split-second moment where lightning flashes behind him and you see a glimpse of him in the battered Robin costume), Bruce, again, offers to help, saying he knows what happened. Jason, instead, kicks his helmet towards

him, and when Bruce stops it with his foot, he pulls out a switch and pushes it. The helmet lights up with a high-pitched sound and Bruce ducks out of the way before it explodes, dislodging one of the huge angel statues. He slips his mask back on and he and Jason continue their fight, trading blows, when the statue crashes behind them, knocking them forward. Jason takes the opportunity to leap behind Batman and put his knife around to his neck, asking, "Tell me, what bothers you more: that your greatest failure has returned from the grave, or that

I've become a better Batman than you?" Batman throws him over his shoulder and the two of them grapple with the knife. Batman tells him, "You're ruling through intimidation and murder. You're just another criminal," but Jason retorts, "I'm what this city needs." Batman manages to manipulate his hand around and stick the knife into the roof but Jason gets behind him, ties a line around him, and throws a grappling hook onto a ledge. The line automatically repels back and slams Batman on the edge of the ledge. He climbs up and throws the

line off, but Jason climbs up, pins him down, and punches him repeatedly in the head. Batman manages to block one punch, pull his other hand out from under Jason's foot, and deck him. He pins him up against the wall and goes to pull something out of his glove, with Jason trying to stop him. The gadget he pulls out is revealed to be a cigarette-shaped, fire-stick device that he tosses onto Jason's coat, igniting it. Jason punches Batman, causing him to fall off and grab onto the ledge, while he

throws away his burning coat and all the weapons he had hidden within it. Jason jumps and uses his grappling line to snag onto the side of another building, but Batman jumps after him and grabs onto his foot. Jason manages to kick him off but he grabs onto the ledge around the building, climbs up, and continues the chase. Jason rounds a corner and leaps across the way, smashing through a window, with Batman quickly following suit. He kicks Jason, smashing him through the side of an

bathtub, and declares, "Enough! It's over!" Jason isn't ready to quit and lunges at Batman, only for him to grab his arm, elbow him into the wall, punch him in the gut, then grab and slam his head into the opposite wall. Jason grabs a piece of shrapnel and lunges at Batman, slicing at him, but Batman disarms him and punches him in the face. Jason does a backward flip and comes at him with another punch, only to punch the wall instead. Batman knees him, grabs him, and flings him face-

first into the sink, and he bounces off that and smashes his face on the edge of the toilet across from it. Batman then smashes him on either side of his head, gut-punches him, knees him in the face, head smashes him, and slams him up against the wall. He growls, "You say you want to be better than me, but it won't happen. Not like this!", and punches him right through the wall and into the living room of the condemned apartment they're in.

Standing over him as he lies on the floor, Batman says, "I know I failed you, but I tried to save you, Jason. I'm... I'm trying to save you now." Jason pulls a gun out from the back of his belt and points it at Batman. Getting to his feet, he tells him about how it's not about his inability to save him. He then throws open a closet door to reveal the Joker, beaten and tied to a chair, and demands to know why he's still alive. Laughing, the Joker bounces out of the closet and remarks, "Gotta give the boy points. He came all the way from the dead to make

this shindig happen." He starts yammering about them taking pictures with each other, until Jason knocks him to the floor, puts the gun to his temple, and warns him to shut up or, "I'll put one in your lap first." The Joker just groans, "Party pooper. No cake for you." Batman and Jason then confront each other about why the former has allowed the Joker to go on living after what he did to Jason and so many others, and Batman explains why he can't kill him. Jason tells him he's not going to have a choice, which is when he takes out a second

handgun and tosses it to him, then smashes the chair the Joker is tied to, pulls him up, puts him in a head-lock, and threatens to shoot him unless Batman stops him. After a brief standoff, Batman drops the gun to his feet and turns to leave. Jason continues threatening to kill the Joker, and when Batman still doesn't react, he points the gun at him. That's when Batman slips out a small Batarang and, when Jason pulls the trigger, he dodges the bullet, turns around, and flings the gadget at him. It

jams his gun's barrel, causing it to explode in his hand and make him drop the Joker. While the Joker laughs, ecstatic at the notion that everybody is going to lose, regardless, Jason pulls out a trigger and activates some explosives in the fireplace. Batman goes to disarm them but the Joker grabs and pins him to the floor, intent on being the only one who gets what he wants. Batman manages to punch him off, rushes and grabs Jason, and then, the place explodes. The building itself doesn't

come down but the apartment is totaled. Batman, his suit almost in tatters, emerges from the rubble and searches the destroyed apartment, but only finds the Joker, half-buried and badly injured, laughing weakly; Jason is gone. Reluctantly, Batman begins digging the Joker out, after which the movie ends with the various characters lamenting the story's events.

Christopher Drake's score for Under the Red Hood is very different from his other DC animated movie scores in that, instead of being larger than life and epic, it's actually quite restrained, dark, and, above anything else, tragic. His main title theme starts off very quietly, with a downbeat, bleak sound that gradually becomes louder and louder, but while there are parts of it that are fast-paced and kinetic, the main body of the piece goes more for atmosphere, creating a sense of doom and tragedy that accentuates the depressing images the credits play over. This feeling is sustained for the entirety of the film, as the score is often either about the feeling of failure and regret Batman has over what happened to Jason (parts of it remind me of David Julyan's equally depressing score for The Descent) or the emotional stakes that accompany his battle with the Red Hood. There is the expected exciting, thrilling action music that plays during various chase and fight scenes but it never loses sight of the film's sad undercurrent. And when it comes to the Joker and the scenes at Arkham Asylum, the score creates a real feeling of menace and uneasiness with the both of them. The only downside to Drake's music here is that, while it may be as emotionally effective as you'd want, at the same time, it's not the most memorable music, at least not when compared to his scores for other DC animated movies like Batman: Year One, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and The Dark Knight Returns.

However, that's the only flaw I can find with Batman: Under the Red Hood, as this movie is truly excellent. It has great voice-acting and performances behind some awesome characters, is a visual feast in terms of animation and design, has so many thrilling and gripping scenes and setpieces, has a palpable atmosphere of darkness and despair that's added to all the more by the music score, and, most importantly, effectively and efficiently tells a well-written, emotional, occasionally horrific, and, ultimately, tragic story that's likely to stay with you long after you've first seen it. There's nothing else to say except, if you're a Batman fan, you can't do much better than this.