The newest release from DC Animimation is Son of Batman. Ba
sed on the 2006 comic Batman and Son written by Grant Morrison with artwork by Andy Kubert, Son of Batman begs you to not just suspend disbelief; it wants you to leave plausibility at the door. There have been some great offerings from DC in the past and though I did enjoy parts of this one I thought it was lacking.
The movie is about, as the title suggests, the son of Batman. The son in question is Damien, the product of a night of duplicitous passion between Batman and Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Talia. Basically Talia “roofied” Batman and had her way with him, conceiving the child. Damien was being groomed to take over the League of Assassins from birth but when the League’s stronghold is attacked by Deathstroke the plan changes. Talia flees with her son to Gotham City so he can meet his father, Batman.
I found it amusing that Batman (Jason O’Mara) had no clue he had sired a child. The greatest detective in the world is as clueless as a guest on Maury. What was odd is that when they meet for the first time Batman is very accepting of the fact that this is his kid. When Talia (Morena Baccarin) showed up he should have at least requested DNA. That part is the least of plausibility problems. The laws of physics are thrown right out the window when Damien (Stuart Allen) fights one of Deathstroke’s (Thomas Gibson) henchmen. The kid weighs about 80lbs., the henchman weighs about 350lbs. and Damien has no problem kicking him around. In a scene during the climax of the movie Deathstroke tacks Damien to a wall using a dagger through one arm and a sword through the other and not only isn’t there excessive bleeding, but Damien has no trouble using his arms to fight after pulling his arms free. Tough kid, guess he is part terminator.
The story isn’t the only thing I had some issues with for Son of Batman. I felt that the acting was kind of flat. I know that Batman is a man of few words, some might even call him terse but it isn’t just that character that disappoints. I think that Andrea Romano, the voice director could have gotten more life out of all of the characters. I think part of it may have had to do with the script since the dialog was kind of flat as well. There were a couple of good quips in the movie but I feel the dialog could have been better. The best line in the movie was actually delivered by Alfred (David McCallum) and it made me laugh out loud.
As I said, Son of Batman is not my favorite DC animation movie but it did have some strong points. I did like the look of the film. The character designs, especially Batman were pretty cool. I also liked the design of the Batmobile. Having never read the source material I do not know if these designs are from the book or were conceived for the movie. Either way, I did like them. Overall I would give this movie 5 out of 10. Son of Batman is not going to be one of those movies that want to watch over and over. Also as much as I enjoy Jason O’Mara I think that Thomas Gibson had more of a Batman sound to his voice. I know you can’t have Kevin Conroy do every Batman movie, but a guy can hope.
DC animation puts out some amazing movies and sadly for me this was not one of them. I found this one to be mediocre but not entirely unwatchable. They can’t all be gems. I am looking forward to the next movie from DC called, Batman: Assault on Arkham which comes out this summer. Set as a prequel to the very popular video games this one will give the villain’s perspective. That one should be interesting.
Son of Batman is available in Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital Download. The special features include:
- Featurette- Strange Blood Ties: Damien Wayne
- Featurette- Designing the Characters with Phil Bourassa
- Featurette- The Fang and the Demon Head: The League of Assassins
- A 10 minute preview of the upcoming Batman: Assault on Arkham due out this summer
- Four Bonus Cartoons
Son of Batman retails for $24.98 and is out 5/6 so pick up your copy!
