Steezy's Movie Reviews #13 - Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)

• (c) Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment
• Directed by Jay Oliva, Ethan Spaulding
• Written by Heath Corson
• Rating: Rated PG-13
• Genre: Animation, Action, Crime

Who is in the movie?

The main focus of Batman: Assault on Arkham is our cast of character which includes:

• Batman (Kevin Conroy) - Billionaire playboy philanthropist, Bruce Wayne, by day and The Dark Knight by night.

• Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis) - The loyal butler of Bruce Wayne who helps him in his crusade against crime.

• Commissioner Gordon (Chris Cox) - The commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. He frequently works with Batman to stop crime around Gotham.

• Amanda Waller (C. C. H. Pounder) - Amanda Waller is the director of A.R.G.U.S. who puts together Task Force X with incarcerated supervillains for secret black ops in return for time shaved off of their prison sentences.

• Deadshot (Neal McDonough) - Floyd Lawton is a supervillain sniper who is famous for being one of the deadliest assassins. He never misses a shot.

• Captain Boomerang (Greg Ellis) - George Harkness is a career criminal who utilizes his skills with boomerangs in order to pull off his crimes.

• Black Spider (Giancarlo Esposito) - Eric Needham is a vigilante who deals with criminals with deadly force and ended up butting heads with Batman.

• King Shark (John DiMaggio) - Nanaue is a criminal with mutations that give him the appearance of a shark. He likes to kill and eat people.

• Killer Frost (Jennifer Hale) - Louise Lincoln is the second incarnation of Killer Frost. She is a criminal with ice-based superpowers.

• KGBeast (Nolan North) - Anatoli Knyazev is an assassin trained by the KGB with cybernetic enhancements.

• Harley Quinn (Hynden Walch) - Harleen Quinzel used to be a psychologist at Arkham Asylum until she fell in love with a former patient of hers, The Joker, and started a life of crime with him.

• The Joker (Troy Baker) - The Clown Prince of Crime is the arch-enemy of Batman. He is a psychotic evil supervillain with a twisted sense of humor.

• The Penguin (Nolan North) - Oswald Cobblepot is a gangster in Gotham City who was hired by Amanda Waller to house and arm the members of Task Force X during their mission.

• The Riddler (Matthew Gray Gubler) - Edward Nygma is a criminal mastermind who utilizes riddles and puzzles in his crimes for the GCPD and Batman to solve.

• Scarecrow (Christian Lanz) - Jonathan Crane is a former professor of psychology who became obsessed with using experimental drugs to study people's fears and phobias. He became a criminal because of his illegal experimentation.

• Victor Zsasz (Christian Lanz) - Victor Zsasz is a sadistic serial killer who carves a tally into his own body for each one of his victims.

When does this movie take place?

The film takes place after the events of the video game Batman: Arkham Origins and two years before Batman: Arkham Asylum. There isn't really a specific date given in either game, but let's assume the games take place the year they came out. Batman: Arkham Asylum came out in 2009. That should place the film in 2007. Hypothetically speaking.

Where does this movie take place?

The majority of the film takes place in Gotham City and Arkham Asylum.

What is the movie about?

The films opens up inside of a dark warehouse. The Riddler is inside speaking with a mysterious woman on a computer screen. He's antagonizing her by asking her riddles and the woman quickly loses her patience. It is revealed that the woman is the director of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller. It turns out the conversation was meant to stall for time when an armed military unit bursts through the ceiling window to apprehend The Riddler.

The lights go out. Batman has arrived on the scene too. He stakes his claim to catching The Riddler. Batman believes The Riddler has information about the location of something and it's an urgent matter. He begins to take down each member of Waller's unit one by one, destroying each of their cameras in the process to stop her from seeing what's going on. During all of the commotion, Riddler makes an attempt to escape. He doesn't make it very far with his hands cuffed behind his back and Batman catches him. He demands information from Riddler.

We cut to Waller in a dark room. It's clear this mission was a failure. She decides it's time to assemble Task Force X for this situation.

Waller's people begin to systematically grab each member. Killer Frost is picked up during a bank heist. King Shark is found in a motel room, bathing in the blood of some of his recent victims. Black Spider gets caught after killing a mob boss in the comfort of police protection. Captain Boomerang is found currently in prison. KGBeast is stopped during an infiltration of a U.S. military base. Harley Quinn is found in a halfway house for women. Deadshot gets caught during an attempted escape from Arkham Asylum.

All the villains wake up in a strange white room together, strangely having been dressed in their costumes. From the reactions of Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Harley Quinn, this doesn't appear to be the first time this has happened to them. Black Spider, Killer Frost, King Shark, and KGBeast don't know what's going and must be the new recruits for Waller's squad.

Waller enters the room to tell the new members about their recruitment into Task Force X. She informs them they will become part of a special strike team made up of high profile criminals, going on suicide missions for the reward of having time taken off of their prison sentences. If anyone attempts to escape, make trouble, or refuses to take part in Task Force X, they will be killed by the nano tech bomb implanted in each member's neck.

KGBeast doesn't believe Waller. She offers him a chance to walk out the door. KGBeast decides to test her and exits the room. A moment later, a red light beeps in the back of KGBeast's neck and a small explosion blows his head clean off his shoulders.

Waller tells the rest of the team their mission is to break into Arkham Asylum. They must find The Riddler's question mark shaped cane because it contains a thumb drive with information pertaining to Task Force X about each member that has ever been enlisted. According to Waller, Riddler did this while being a member of Task Force X himself during a previous mission. The Riddler is threatening to release the information on the internet. She wants the squad to infiltrate Arkham Asylum and retrieve that thumb drive.

Harley is given the role of being the person on the inside, considering her extensive knowledge of Arkham Asylum during her tenure as a former psychiatrist there.

Deadshot is concerned about Batman becoming an obstacle for their mission, but she claims he will be busy handling other matters. He threatens to kill Waller if anything goes awry during the mission. Waller exits the room and orders for the knockout gas to be released on the squad.

Everyone wakes up on board a plane heading for Gotham City. They are strapped into their seats with restraints and being smuggled in by Waller. Once they are above the city, each member of the squad is dropped into the sky inside of large, metal containers. While falling, the containers open and release the squad. It is up for them to use their parachutes to make a safe landing, but Killer Frost's parachute has malfunctioned. She is caught by Killer Shark and the two land on top of a car.

Once everyone is on the ground and accounted for, the squad head into the sewer system below Gotham's streets and head for their next destination. They arrive at the Iceberg Lounge and enter for a meeting with The Penguin. It is his job to outfit the squad with their weaponry and whatever else they will need in order to get into Arkham. Things become complicated when The Penguin spots Harley Quinn. There is still bad blood over some incident involving him and The Joker, but Deadshot manages to defuse the situation. The squad will stay at the Iceberg Lounge for the night and proceed with the mission tomorrow.

At the bar of the Iceberg Lounge, Captain Boomerang challenges Deadshot to a friendly game of darts to see who the better shot is. This is because Captain Boomerang is known for making trick shots with his weapon of choice and Deadshot is known for never missing a target. The game ends quickly when things get hostile and Deadshot leaves the bar.

Harley Quinn has gotten into Deadshot's room and she's naked. She has apparently taken a liking to him and the two have relations.

The next night, Deadshot drops Harley Quinn off at a doll shop in Gotham. She breaks into the shop and starts wrecking the place. It doesn't take long for Batman to arrive on the scene and the two begin to fight. Batman begins to demand information about that thing from earlier. This begins to confuse the squad, but Waller contacts them and says that The Joker has hidden a dirty bomb somewhere in the city. Batman is trying to locate that bomb immediately. Harley insists that she doesn't know where it is and Batman detects that she's telling the truth. The police arrive on the scene and Batman hands Harley over to them. She will be sent to Arkham Asylum.

It is time for the rest of the squad to get into the asylum. Everyone proceeds with their plans at the same time.

Deadshot, disguised as a member of the GCPD, brings Harley to Arkham to be processes. It is their job to get to a junction box, but things don't go so smoothly. They get distracted when they pass by the holding cell belonging to The Joker and Harley loses her cool. She swipes the gun off of Deadshot's police uniform and begins to shoot at The Joker. Nothing happens because the holding cell is bulletproof. Harley shoves the barrel of the pistol into the air holes of the glass and fires the gun inside of the cell until the clip is empty. Bullets ricochet about the cell, damaging a panel of one of the walls in the process while The Joker hides beneath his bed. Once the bullets have stopped flying, The Joker comes out of his hiding place and begins to tease Harley.

She responds by telling The Joker that she is through with him and that she's found someone better. Harley points to Deadshot. This angers The Joker and he recognizes Deadshot in his police disguise. Armed guards arrive on the scene to keep their eyes on The Joker. During all of this commotion, Deadshot decides to stick the device they were trying to get to the junction box on a wire inside of a busted pipe. Then he takes Harley away from the scene, leaving the guards to keep an eye on The Joker.

Captain Boomerang sneaks Killer Frost into the morgue until the guise of an EMT bringing a newly deceased body in. Because Killer Frost's body is naturally cold as ice, the x-ray machine can't tell she's alive. Their cover is almost blown when the guards at the morgue realize they don't have anything in their computer system about accepting a new body. One of them decides to get in contact with the Watch Commander, but the order comes through on the computer while they're on the phone. Once inside, Killer Frost and Captain Boomerang take everyone out.

Black Spider manages to sneak into the asylum in as a member of the kitchen staff. He tries to enter the building with the rest of the employees, but his fake ID badge doesn't seem to be working. He makes a fuss about not being able to lose his job here, but the guards' computer eventually recognizes Black Spider's ID badge and allows him inside. He quickly retrieves a tray of silverware from the dirty dishes and finds the closest microwave. He sticks the silverware inside of the microwave, turns it on, and slips into a dumbwaiter. While crawling down, he kicks open a gas line inside the wall and continues his retreat. The microwave explodes inside the kitchen, causing the asylum guards to investigate what happened, and putting the place in yellow alert.

The squad rendezvous at Arkham's sewer system. They begin to remove a grate. A guard hears them and decides to check out what that noise was. He gets distracted by Harley before King Shark emerges from the water to kill him. King Shark climbs out of the water and drops the duffel bag containing their stuff on the floor. The squad get dressed and get their weapons. It is time to find The Riddler's cane.

The squad makes their way to the main security room and take out everyone inside. Killer Shark comes up with the idea to play yesterday's security footage from the same time on the cameras. This should be able to distract Batman long enough to complete the mission. Just in case.

Afterwards, the squad proceed to the asylum's exercise yard. Captain Boomerang and Deadshot take out the guards in their watch tower, but one of them manages to get to their radio before being knocked out. This alerts more armed guards to arrive on the scene and a fight breaks out. It is up to the squad to take them out as quick as possible now.

Elsewhere in Gotham...

The serial killer Victor Zsasz is holding someone hostage in the middle of a standoff with the GCPD and Batman. It is taken care of quickly by Batman and Zsasz is arrested. When Batman returns to the batmobile, he notices the yellow alert at Arkham on his screen. He quickly realizes that something's amiss. None of the employees in the footage should be working tonight. Batman speeds off in his batmobile towards Arkham.

We cut back to the exercise yard with the squad. There's a confrontation between Deadshot and Killer Shark. Deadshot wants to get everyone back in order before things get out of hand. Harley tries to calm Deadshot down, but he rejects her after she refers to him as "Puddin'." They need to refocus on the mission at hand.

The squad leave the exercise yard and arrive at the Arkham Asylum Intensive Treatment building. This is where the property room containing Riddler's cane is supposed to be. They are unable to get inside because the door is locked, but Harley remembers the password from her time working at Arkham. She punches the code in and opens the door for everyone.

The squad enter the room and it is filled with many wooden crates with various inmates' names on them. Everyone splits up to start searching for the Riddler's cane. Harley finds some of her old belongings in a crate marked with Joker's name. Killer Frost spots the ice gun belonging to the villain Mr. Freeze and decides to take it for herself. Deadshot manages to find the cane quickly and retrieves the thumb drive.

That's when Batman arrives and tries to stop them. A fight breaks out. Batman begins to make short work of everyone, but a rocket launched by Deadshot causes the roof to collapse. While everyone is trying to escape, Black Spider grabs Batman before the roof falls down. Everyone seems to be okay. Black Spider steps out of the rubble with Batman's utility belt, much to everyone's surprise. Deadshot decides to check the piece of Riddler's cane that's supposed to contain the thumb drive, but finds that it's empty.

That's when they notice that Killer Frost is missing...

SPOILERS AHEAD
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Why is this happening?

It turns out the true purpose of Task Force X's mission was for Killer Frost to find and kill The Riddler. He has found out a way to defuse the bomb implants in everyone's necks and Amanda Waller was to keep him quiet. Under the ruse of The Riddler having information on everyone involved with Task Force X and supposedly planning on revealing it to the public, Amanda Waller sent them in to infiltrate Arkham Asylum and retrieve the thumb drive.

Killer Frost wasn't told the whole story. No. She didn't know Riddler knew how to defuse the bomb implants and this causes her to stop her assassination attempt.

I won't spoil the rest of the movie. All you need to know is that things get really crazy.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

How was the movie?

It's a fun movie. If you're a fan of Batman and the Arkham series of video games, you will probably enjoy it. The movie doesn't really reference or spoil anything in the video games. You might even forget that the film is supposed to take place in the Arkham games' universe until you realize the characters in the film look like their video game counterparts.

The only issue I have with the movie is how The Joker and Harley Quinn's relationship is depicted. It's a Suicide Squad movie with Harley Quinn in it. They are taking some cues from the comic books with Harley Quinn having broken up with The Joker and doing things on her own. That's all fine and dandy, but nothing like that is referenced in the games themselves. So, sticking this film in between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum without anything in those games indicating there have ever been issues between The Joker and Harley Quinn doesn't make much sense. Other than that, there's really nothing else to complain about.

The animation is good. The voice acting is good. The story is good. It's honestly what the DCEU's live action Suicide Squad movie should've been. I'll get to that one on another day, though. Ironically, there are some moments in Suicide Squad that look like they might've been taken from this movie.If you haven't seen this film and you're a fan of Batman, I highly recommend giving this one a watch.