Movie Review: Batman: Bad Blood

I was lucky enough to attend the west coast premiere of Batman: Bad Blood, the new DC Animated Universe direct-to-DVD movie.  I also got to interview the cast on the red carpet where I learned two things. First I learned that Yvonne Stahovski (you probably know her as Sarah Walker from “Chuck”) who plays Bat Woman, is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Second, I learned that the title of this movie was almost going to be Batman: Family.

While the former was more fun, the latter was more relevant to my night as I started to watch the movie. Batman: Bad Blood is about family, the Bat family. While of course they are a very unique family as they risk their lives fighting crime, they also face many of the same pitfalls and obstacles the rest of us do within our own “normal” families. Issues like sibling rivalry and rebellion and blaming each other for how we turned out. These are all things anyone of us can relate to. These are very hard things to deal with under the best of circumstances, now try dealing with them with some psychopathic villain trying to kill you.

I loved that this installment of the franchise decided to finally add Bat woman. I thought she added a very interesting and exciting dynamic to the mix. James Tucker, one of the producers, told me that he thinks the Bat Woman character is so strong, he could see her getting her own movie.

A large part of the plot is witnessing the growth of Damien Wayne and Dick Grayson as well as meeting a new character Bat-Wing. The question becomes can they all put their egos and differences aside in time to find and help Batman? He goes missing early on but that is all I’m willing to say.

I think that the producers nailed the perfect mixture of action and humor with Robin/Damien delivering the funniest lines as usual. There are also some Easter eggs scattered here and there so keep your eyes open.

I highly recommend you checking out Batman: Bad Blood.