Batman: Arkham Asylum (2014) -- 8

This movie was awesome.

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,

I could watch this scene on repeat for days

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.

Seriously, only person to call BMan out on a bluff

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.

all the charm & evil with none of the meth-y dumbness

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.