Retrospective Review: Batman vs Robin
Like with Son of Batman, I was not a big fan of Batman vs Robin when I first saw it. I didn't hate it or anything, but it definitely wasn't a standout. Court of Owls, along with Zero Year, were among my favorite new 52 Batman stories. Court of Owls basically launched Batman in the new 52. So I was always interested in this movie. This film isn't a literal adaptation of that. Its more a father/son story between Bruce/Batman and Robin/Damian, with the court of Owls as the backdrop. I was not a big fan of how they adapted the Court of Owls because its a thrilling storyline in the comics, but in retrospect, I do like the more intimate aspects of the story about the father/son conflict.
The film is essentially about the back and forth between Bruce and Damian. Bruce doesn't fully trust Damian not to revert to his base killer instincts and Damian resents being trapped in the house and having to follow Bruce's instruction constantly, when he considers himself to be a fighter capable of handling things on his own. The film sets up that conflict from the very beginning with the opening sequence as Robin steals the Batmobile to track down dollmaker and the kids he has kidnapped and we see Bruce admonishing him for that. The Dollmaker is actually really creepy and what he does with some of the kids is downright disturbing. The film also sets up Talon as someone who is a counterpoint to Batman, in that he's encouraging Damian's baser instincts. The film's essence is a fight for Damian's soul between Talon and Batman. This part of the film is interesting. Because both sides do have a valid point. You see that Bruce struggles to be a parent and he has a tough time trusting Damian. But he also has valid reason to not trust him and he does have a protective fatherly instinct to not let him roam around after he almost gets killed by Court of Owl assassins. Similarly, Damian also has a valid reason to be angry because he's someone who is trapped indoors, not recognized publicly by his father, does not have the trust of his father despite following his teachings, and has no freedom at all. So when we get to the titular fight, his frustrations are valid and yet you see Bruce trying not to hurt Damian, even as they fall through the glass and he is desperate to connect to Damian and stop him from becoming a monster that he sees in his visions. His instinct is to protect Damian from injury. Talon is also a reasonably well fleshed out character. He's not a one note villain because we see that he is not too dissimilar from Damian and he actually develops a bond with him and even turns against the Court for him.
However, while the stuff dealing with the internal conflict for Robin's soul is good, the adaptation of the Court of Owls is not very good. In the comics, the Court was a powerful group, and while the assassins are a tough physical opponent, the Court themselves are disposed of rather easily and they don't feel like a substantial threat. The film also diminished Batman and Nightwing at several points. Nightwing gets a welcome supporting role but he spends the movie getting his butt kicked, either by Damian, the assassins, or by Talon. Batman too gets beat by Talon, which was disappointing. And again, Damian is overpowered as he gets to defeat Nightwing, Batman, and Talon in a fight. It does get a little ridiculous on this front.
The voice acting carries on from Son of Batman. Jason O'Mara, Stuart Allan, Sean Maher, and David McCallum all reprise their roles very effectively as Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Alfred respectively. Kevin Conroy has an effective cameo as Thomas Wayne. Jeremy Sisto is effective as Talon. 'Weird Al' Yankovic is surprisingly voicing Dollmaker and he's quite good. Jay Olivia does a solid job with this movie again. All in all, this ranks around a 7/10 for me.
