Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s Animation Bang time again and this time around we’re talking about the Batman Arkham games. There’s no doubt that the Arkham games are the best Batman games out there adding a new and darker spin to the Batman series with great storylines and re-inventing characters to make them seem more menacing and badass. With the Arkham games being so popular you have to wonder why this hasn’t been turn into a series or movie. Well in 2014 WB fixed this problem by giving us Batman: Assault on Arkham. The first movie in the Batman franchise to take place in the Arkham universe the movie surprisingly doesn’t focus on Batman but instead the Suicide Squad. For those of you who don’t know who the Suicide Squad is the Suicide Squad also known as Task Force X is an all villain team serving the United States government. In exchange for not going to jail the group undertake high risk black op missions from the government under the command of Amanda Waller. Some of the characters are well known DC villains like Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Captain Boomerang while the rest are villains you really don’t see all that much. The squad was originally created in 1959 by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru. Today, it’s done under the work of Josh Ostrander and is the one we’ll be focusing on today. The movie takes place after the events of Arkham Origins where the group is tasked with the mission of infiltrating Arkham while avoiding all of Arkham’s crazy inmates and the Batman while trying to complete their mission. Let’s get ready to cheer for the bad guys and take a look at Assault on Arkham.
So the movie opens up with one of my favorite Batman villains The Riddler voiced by Matthew Gary Gubler (who I have to admit is not the right voice for The Riddler. He’s got the intelligence down but what’s missing is The Riddler’s arrogance that makes him both a lovable villain and someone you just wanna punch out) having a nice chat with Waller (and by nice I mean stroking his ego in front of her with annoying riddles) until her special forces come in to arrest him where they receive a visit from who else the goddamn Batman (scenes here: //youtu.be/LWMF5C-8B8E). Batman beats up all the special forces and captures The Riddler (riddle me this. What’s green, black, and about to be red?) forcing Waller to call in the Suicide Squad (scene here: //youtu.be/x8VV2i-vqsE?t=15s , nice introductions). After assembling (or capturing in this case) the squad, they wake up in a white room in uniforms where they get acquainted with each other (scene here: //youtu.be/mMKE2BEboFg that girl may have the power of ice but she’s as feisty as a firecracker). Waller comes in and establishes the chain of command (scene here: //youtu.be/L5vbFgrV93A, damn! Waller does not mess around. Also, was that guy a robot or something? His head just pop off with no blood or anything) and tells them that their mission is to infiltrate Arkham and get their hands on The Riddler’s cane which contains a chip that has the names and pictures of past and current members of the Suicide Squad (any chance I can keep that cane. What!? It’s an awesome cane and I want it). She knocks them out again (I’m beginning to think you don’t trust these guys) and launches them into Gotham City where she reminds them one last time she owns them (scene here: //youtu.be/-H6pz3k4FlY). After landing in the city and making their way through the sewers (pleasant) they arrive at the Iceberg Lounge where The Penguin has identities and paperwork to get them into Arkham despite the fact that he’s not too thrilled to see Harley in his presence (scene here: //youtu.be/T0BLPRFkK0s, he’s racist against hot clown girls). They’re told their mission begins tomorrow so they all get prepared, we have a funny scene between Deadshot and Captain Boomerang involving darts (scene here: //youtu.be/fipzT7ddV6c, Deadshot is quickly becoming the best character in this movie), and we get a hot sex scene between Deadshot and Harley (scene here: //youtu.be/2MweLwzU4vg, well Deadshot just became my favorite character in the movie. Lucky bastard).
So after you recover from that scene the group sets their plan in motion to get into Arkham (alright, just walk up to the gate and say: “Hey, I’m a crazy criminal, I had *begins to laugh* I had sex with a clown girl. *Stops laughing* But you say it with a straight face) and that plan involves Batman capturing Harley (scene here: //youtu.be/zFZztEtJIV4). Batman begins to question Harley because The Joker has planted a bomb in the city that will take out half the population (ohh~ exciting story. Good luck with that Bats, I’m hanging with the Suicide Squad tonight). After interrogating and seeing that she knows nothing he hands her over to the police where Deadshot takes out the driver, steals his clothes, and enters Arkham with Harley (I still think my plan would have worked better) where she sees The Joker grabs a gun and tries to kill him because of his taunting (scene here: //youtu.be/P7QZTmwvpzE I can never get a read on their relationship). The others get in themselves with the best being Captain Boomerang and Killer Frost’s (scene here: //youtu.be/60kbKPjccfY, was that guy at 0:22 getting turn on by a dead body? Oh well, at least he died with *puts on sunglasses* a cool boner, //youtu.be/6YMPAH67f4o). They reach the surveillance room where they switch the cameras to run footage from yesterday to keep Waller and Batman off their backs and find out that The Riddler’s cane is in intensive care’s storage (hey dittle dittle, time for a riddle). They try to keep a low profile but when you got so many combustible elements it’s not that easy (scene here: //youtu.be/y8IRXVcQaNo). Back in Gotham, Batman figures out that there’s a disturbance at Arkham (my badass senses are tingling) and rushes there at once just as our villains have found Riddler’s cane and we get a pretty cool fight scene between them (scene here: //youtu.be/BoBLOUpxSkU, ha he owned Harley so easily. Also, that floor shot on Killer Frost was folic). Black Spider emerges from the wreckage with Batman’s belt showing everyone he defeated Batman (yeah I’m gonna call bullshit on that one) and they check the cane only to discover that the chip they’re looking isn’t there (sorry gang but our chip is in another asylum). Things get even more interesting when they notice that Killer Frost has used this chance to make it to Riddler’s cell to kill him. Why? Because Waller gave Frost specific orders to kill him. Why? Because he knows how to disarm the bombs planted in their necks (well The Riddler just became a valuable asset). Killer Frost decides to help him escape in exchange for him disarming the bomb in her neck (scene here: //youtu.be/dcp5X1iEivc).
While that’s going on The Joker has taken advantage of Harley’s gift to escape and cause mayhem (scenes here: //youtu.be/35XK-0AB2jc and //youtu.be/vF9tQpdf0xY?t=7s). The Suicide Squad reaches the medical center where The Riddler tells them the key to disarming the bomb is to send 10,000 bolts through their body short circuiting the bomb (that or kill them). The shock treatment works except for King Shark (//youtu.be/WN08hXzRvJM, oh man I liked him. Also, she calls herself The Wall. Lame) and apparently Batman for some reason (scene here: //youtu.be/Bh1FQz_zRKU). As cops begin to surround Arkham, The Riddler figures out what we the audience figured out, Batman was in Black Spider’s outfit this whole time (see, like I said, you can’t take Batman out). As he’s questioning Deadshot, Joker comes in to deliver…the best line in the entire movie (scene here: //youtu.be/YyWVgu2cmEE, *laughs* I love that line let me hear it again, //youtu.be/YyWVgu2cmEE?t=14s. Oh man, that line almost makes Joker steal the show). Batman manages to escape out the window while the others get cornered in a hallway by The Joker where Harley changes sides (way to be sellout you crazy slut. I still like you) and The Joker gets out smarted by Deadshot and falls down the laundry chute (scene here: //youtu.be/Q79R9wPifII, this is probably the most questionable scene in the entire movie) where we see that all this time the bomb that Batman has been looking for was in the mallet Harley had (you clever sadistic insane son of a bitch. Don’t ever change). Batman meets back up with Deadshot, Boomerang, and Frost where The Joker throws a party to keep Batman busy (scene here: //youtu.be/C-royXugx5Y). Batman goes off to deal with this mess while Deadshot, Boomerang, and Frost race to escape via helicopter (//youtu.be/Xs_OacEq2Sk?t=4s). Deadshot reaches the helicopter first and escapes but he has unexpected company on board in the form of Harley and The Joker (all of sudden gremlins are starting to look better). Deadshot and Joker fight it out in the plane and after Batman takes care of business at Arkham he goes after them causing the helicopter to crash land into a building (too bad it’s not WayneTech. That would have been funny). Batman takes out Harley and disarms the bomb just in time while The Joker and Deadshot have their big battle (scene here: //youtu.be/SB9gXIjS-2c and //youtu.be/kRpEvKr7HLk, and he somehow survived that fall and explosion. Are Batman’s villains just immortal or something?). The movie ends on a high note with Batman going to Waller and warning her to watch out and Deadshot getting some much needed payback (scene here: //youtu.be/_qoEye4Wmko).
Final Thoughts
Holy crap that movie was awesome. This is hands down one of the best DC movies I have ever seen. I love these villains and actually a movie centering around them while Batman takes a backseat is awesome. Deadshot is hands down the best character in this movie. He’s a leader, a badass, and he slept with Harley Quinn. How many people can say they did that? It’s amazing how they took one of the weakest characters in the Arkham games and made him a complete badass who not carries this team but actually keeps them in line and focused on the mission. Another character I really liked was Killer Frost. This movie gave us the best adaptation of Killer Frost to this day. She is rebellious, feisty, sexy, and just an all-around badass. I even like the little love story she and King Shark had. It’s both creepy but at the same time cute and charming. The rest of the characters are all good as well. Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang will keep you laughing throughout the movie, Batman is still the goddamn Batman, and The Joker almost steals the show with his scenes and that one line. If I had to name my one complaint with this movie it would have to be story. While the story is good I have to ask why didn’t Waller just ask all of them to kill The Riddler from the very beginning? Why lie to them? Hell, Deadshot makes a living off of killing people. The only character I could see having problems with this would be Captain Boomerang but even then I’m pretty sure he would do it with the right motivation.
Other than that the animation is pretty nice in this movie. It looks very similar to the animation used for Son of Batman only they improved and polish it a little adding more dark shadows and angles to give the movie that old Batman: the animated series feel to it. The fight scenes are awesome. Clearly these fight scenes were inspired by Rocksteady and I hope when the game comes out next month we see this kind of fighting in the game or something similar to it.
Final Score
Assault on Arkham earns high and well-deserved 8/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. This one of the best DC movies I’ve really liked in a long time and I hope they continue to make more movies focusing on the villains of the DC universe and their interactions with each other. While I love the heroes and their adventures in the DC universe we need to remember their only as good as the villains they fight against and exploring their characters and interactions with each other give us an idea of what part they play in the DC universe. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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