dissident320 I couldn't help but stack this against the live action Suicide Squad movie. Even though the plot is quite different, I wanted to see how they handled character introductions and story setup. In both those aspects this movie is miles ahead of Suicide Squad. The character introductions take up less than 10 minutes and are efficient yet fun. The setup for the story is straight-forward as well and doesn't get bogged down with too many characters.I fully admit to not know what was taken from the comics story-wise but I was kind of fascinated how the Suicide Squad movie does include a lot of the same elements. The Joker does make an appearance but it makes much more sense to include him as he is a part of the main storyline. Batman is in a few minutes too which is explained because he is busy with another problem but does have some bearing on the story.I thought the squad was a lot of fun and the movie didn't lose me until they released everyone at Arkham and then it was just a super-villain fest. It's worth seeing if only to lament what could have been a good Suicide Squad live-action movie if they took more cues from this.

David Character dynamics were great. Focusing on the villains was kinda cool. Oddly enough, we don't see much of Batman and his character development is limited to say the least. Then again, it's really not necessary, and the villains talking about him is more than enough.It was very plot driven with plenty of action scenes. The character development was there just enough to build on what we know about the enshrined personas, with a little cementing of how these characters were cut out. Cameos for plenty of great DC villains.The animation was superb. Detail, much more 3d oriented, and pretty awesome. The movie was a bit mature actually, considering the language and art.Overall, loved it. I'd love to see more by these creators.

vesil_vesalier Haven't seen SUICIDE SQUAD, and have no real intention of seeing it. Probably will, at some point, just by sheer odds. The premise is bad enough, and considering you have to be very careful when dealing with a bunch of rogues as the main characters, the writing has to be top notch in order to make the movie work. Considering that SUICIDE SQUAD is related to the same really horrifying universe that contains BATMAN V SUPERMAN, I have to say… I'm REALLY not looking forward to that one.All that being said… This movie is… Well… It's better than BATMAN V SUPERMAN, anyway.It's hard to sympathize with bad guys, unless the bad guys have a reason to be bad guys that goes beyond who they are. Mr. Freeze is a bad guy because of the tragedy that befell his wife, Nora. Edward Nigma (The Riddler) turned criminal when cheated out of his shot at glory by a corporate swindler (assuming of course that the episode of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES was true to his origin). On and on, the best villains are those that are, by far, ones you can either sympathize with… Or be terrified of.The Joker is always in the midst somewhere, and in the midst of this semi-mess of a film he is strangely a breath of fresh air. Most of the main cast is made up of heartless monsters that are not only portrayed as such from moment one on screen (such as King Shark's apartment filled with hanging corpses of his victims as he bathes in their blood) but whose behavior throughout the film gives us nothing to root for. Harley Quinn is at least amusing and strangely sexual (a very interesting decision by the folks making animated DC films these days) and Deadshot is clearly the best gray-area villain of the group. He's clever, deadly, careful, logical… When he and Batman tangle, there's the suggestion that, of all of the strange selections of this particular rogues gallery, he is the one that is the most dangerous to Batman. You have to admire an assassin with a heart. And you should fear that man, as well. So, in that regard, those two villains of the main cast are the ones to watch, and bring the most to the game.The rest are the types you'd see in horror movies, waiting to see when they would buy the farm and in what gruesome way they would buy it. You feel nothing when they get injured, nothing if they die, nothing for them at all, even when the plot is trying to make you feel something for them. They brutally, needlessly slaughter without care or concern, and this brings the worst part of the movie to attention.If you're going to create a "Suicide Squad", the mission you send them on should be almost hopeless. By creating a random team of expendables, you're main concern should only be the calculation of their abilities versus the odds at hand, and no real expectation of victory. Or at least I think that's how you should do it. Hiring a bunch of criminal maniacs to invade a civilian institution at the cost of the lives of the poor schmucks caught in the crossfire is sloppy, reckless, and plainly unnecessary, in regards to the operation in question and with the overall quality of the film itself. Deadshot should have made himself clear as the leader of the pack, and should have controlled his cronies in some way that would have made the death toll less random and pointless.What's worse is the twist of the film, and Batman's behavior, which does not seem to jive with who he is and what he's supposed to mean. On one hand, it feels like a mistake, and on the other, it feels like sloppy writing. With his behavior, the film feels like a commercial for the video game that succeeds it, which, according to the trailers, is the whole point of the film in the first place.Is it fun to see Batman be the bad-ass character he always is? Absolutely. The reaction of the criminals, as vile and monstrous as they are, is absolutely priceless once they realize he's in the game. And the way they handle him overall certainly delivers enough of a punch to satisfy, which is why my rating is a 7 instead of a 6 or 5, which is where it would be if Batman was completely off-target. So there's that, at least.Deadshot and Harley, as I've said, are the semi-protagonists to watch, and the Joker is thrown in for excellent measure to straighten out the plot's wrinkles. Once again, giving enough satisfaction to make you at least appreciate that there are more highs than lows.But not by much.

ostergaardof4 Super worth buying it on Amazon video to stream forevermore. It's a Assault absolutely introduces every member of the Suicide Squad, without a bog of exposition no less, then kills half of them. Who cares about that emotional bond you were forming? Not directors Jay Oliva and Ethan Spaulding, not writers Bob Kane and Heath Corson. These fine gentlemen are not sacrificing story and character for anything a producer might quibble over on behalf of 13 yr olds or PC-freaks.Suicide Squad animated feature that gives very few f***s for the audience's delicate constitutions. You can tell this for a number of reasons. First, it's not really worth rating it at "R" but it certainly doesn't try to stay under the PG13 level of kid-friendly versions of events. Second,Point in fact: Assault's Joker is happiest when frighteningly objectifying Harley Quinn. When Joker *eye roll* escapes, a suspenseful stalking scene with the tension caliber of Alien or Bladerunner commences. This movie dishes out at least as much pointy reckoning as the Heath Ledger Joker ever did. Which is doubly awesome considering Assault treads that line of fatalism that Zack Snyder has coined as the DCU paradigm, without sacrificing slapstick and caper set-pieces like 3 Stooges-esque bullet dodging or the snappy repartee of Archer.To that end, note that Harley's incarnation here also takes a leap into the adult story telling realm. The writers have her independent of Joker, doesn't compromise the things she wants, the mission or her own self esteem. Wanna bang Deadshot, analyse Cpt. Boomerang, kill your ex, and end up the most badass of the team? All without knowing or caring about that fact? Hell yes, she does.For each of their parts, Deadshot and Cpt. are spot on out of the books except for two significant details: 1) the witty banter and one-ups- manship is actually better in this movie, and 2) the viewer doesn't really get a sense of how competent at taking charge of the Suicide Squad Deadshot is. I think the first is a boon, and the second a shame, and between the two of them we come to a net neutral at how their characters enhance the story.Joining their merry band are Killer Frost – whom I love playing in Injustice, so it's a delight to see her come to life here – King Shark, KGBeast, Black Spider, and Riddler. All well thought out, and given enough backstory and motivation that you feel they're real characters, without globs of weighty backstory.Lastly, we have the good old 80s version of stout Amanda Waller. She's the authoritarian mystery – so much so that not even Batman knows what she's doing through most of the movie! Oo, how I love to see Batsy squirm in confusion every once in while – keeps him sharp.Much like David Ayer's live action Suicide Squad (AKA Squad 1. Click here to learn why.), Assault relies on these DCU favorites to contextualize the world. This is totally different from the books where readers either assume that Task Force X operates in a DCU vacuum, or the writers can't afford those fav characters. Neither of these extremes is inherently bad as long as the story doesn't suffer for adhering to it. Neither does. Unfortunately, Squad 1 (see my review here) is a different version of this altogether. While Assault deftly weaves faves into the narrative – Riddler catalyzes the whole plot, Penguin's a contact the Squad has to hit up; Jim Gordon inevitably brings in the cavalry – Squad 1 shoe horns Batman, Joker, and The Flash into the plot as superfluous pot-boilers.Overall, not only does Arkham Assault totally blow Suicide Squad away in terms of dialogue, plot, pacing, and character development, but it also could take on most heist classics as a genre buster! Think Oceans 11, but with less bromance angst between Frank Sinatra/George Clooney and ANYONE else in the movie. The most important part of the whole thing though, is one very surprising and subjective detail: Everyone has a favorite version of Joker, and I found mine here.Like all fans of Batman the Animated Series, once you hear Mark Hamill do Joker voice you never wanna sully your ears with anyone else's cadence. But, damn, if Troy Baker doesn't take up the acid-flower mantle with wicked aplomb.