Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) (V) Directed by Jay Oliva & Ethan Spaulding

Thing about these DC and Marvel animated movies always is that they are mostly made for those who already are big fans of the franchises, who are really into the world and characters of it and are going to like the movies no matter what. This latest animated Batman movie is no exception on that. It's great for the fans of the Batman universe and characters, for everyone, it's nothing but a mediocre movie really.

Forget about the recent Batman movies, since these animated movies have nothing to do with any of them. The characters are totally different, the tone is different, the story lines are different, everything is different really. Bane gets mostly used as comic relief for instance and The Joker is more entertaining than threatening as well. Most people of course already know this and are prepared for it but it's still important to say for those who are fans of the movies and expect to get something similar from these animated movies.

Now, I really won't call this movie a terrible or even bad one since it really isn't but still the thing about it is that the story is very simplistic and straightforward one. It's the type of story with just one main plot line in it and not an awful lot of side plots. It makes the story a simplistic and straightforward one as well as a far from engaging or ever truly exciting and spectacular one.

Part of this is also because of the reason that it isn't really a Batman movie but more one that focuses on the villains instead. Batman is nothing but a secondary character in this movie, or maybe even a tertiary one. It follows some of the classic Batman villains around, without ever making us sympathetic toward them. They still are crazy and evil villains, who do evil and crazy stuff. Sure, it's fun to watch but no, it's doubtful that you'll ever start to root for any of them in this movie, which is part of the reason why the movie as a whole doesn't work out as the most engaging one to watch.

But really, like i said, it's a far from terrible movie. It's still pretty fun and entertaining to watch, especially if you are into Batman stuff of course. Maybe the story isn't anything too impressive, the very same story still ensures that there is plenty happening in this movie, with its many, many different characters and plenty of action.

I also really liked the animations. It always makes me happy when Batman movies feature the same animated style as for instance the classic animated '90's Batman series. Not that it looks exactly the same but it has the same sort of style to it and the characters look similar. It just never feels right to me whenever an animated Batman movie tries to feature a different sort of animated visual style.

Not a great movie but it at least still brings plenty of entertainment, from the villain's angle this time around.

7/10

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