SON OF BATMAN - REVIEW


Son Of Batman, as the title suggests, is an animated film which sees Batman discover he has a son. When an army of Man-Bats invades Gotham City, it'll be up to the Dark Knight and Damian, his son-turned-sidekick, to stop Deathstroke's evil plan.

We first meet young Damian when Ra's al Ghul's mansion comes under attack after a former student of the League Of Shadows' leader, Slade (aka Deathstroke) turns against his old master. Despite Talia al Ghul's (Damian's mother) best efforts, Ra's fails to make it to the Lazarus Pit in time and he is killed for good. Batman, who was busy taking on Killer Croc, is then told about Damian who soon becomes a liability, treating Alfred like just another servant, fighting enemies single-handedly and clashing with Nightwing. Soon enough, Damian puts on Robin's old costume and joins Batman in stopping the Man-Bat invasion and saving Talia in the process.

The film opens strong with a violent, action-packed battle which definitely has an anime feel to it. The death of Ra's al Ghul is appropriately dramatic and although Deathstroke's origin story has been modified a bit here, it works. The animation is decent and there's enough action in the film to keep viewers of all ages entertained. Unfortunately, there's something of a lack of baddies even if Deathstroke has a bunch of Man-Bats up his sleeve and Batman gets to fight Croc and a Bat-gorilla at one point, one of Dr Langstrom's (aka Man-Bat) experiments. You get a blink-and-you'll miss it glimpse at Two-Face and The Joker in Arkham as well but that hardly counts. The film's main downside, though, is the voice acting which varies from average to distractingly below-par.

Son Of Batman is by no means essential viewing: the story's most interesting moments take place during the first 15 minutes so after that it's just the usual face-punching between good guys and bad guys. It is entertaining, however, so fans of Batman lore should enjoy it.


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