Batman Assault on Arkham is a very unique film, it has the pleasure of being a completely original movie based off the Arkham games universe but it also uses the 75 year history of Batman.

Assault on Arkham tells the story of The Suicide Squad, a team comprised of convicted felons who have no chance of parole. The team is ever changing, as you might have guessed based on the team’s name, due to their missions being well suicidal. This time the team is formed up Deadshot, the world’s most deadly assassin, Harley Quinn, one very crazy yet also very smart lady. The rest of the team is made up from the less known villains including Killer Frost, King Shark, Black Spider, Captain Boomerang and KGBeast.

The squad is sent by ARGUS head Amanda Waller to retrieve an item taken by The Riddler, which requires them to break into Arkham Asylum. Thankfully as a squad of criminals, their ability to work together is hampered by they own desires to escape the situation they are placed in, each member is able to play off one another while still maintaining their own character. This time Batman is currently hunting down something hidden by the Joker. The story itself is really nicely paced with the build up to the assault handled in such a way that we get to see a few cameos but when the team actually being to converge on Arkham that is when it kicks into high gear.

What is really cool about this story is how much it draws from the game universe, in a few bouts you will see Batman take down foes by throwing his cape in their face, a move taken straight from the games.  What also helps make this feel like the game world is the level of detail they are putting into the various locales, Arkham has such much detail that there are times when I got the feeling that what they designed for the original games layout, was used in creating the movie version as well. The animation here is also a thing of beauty, with each of the characters looking as you would expect them to, but with that new Arkham edge. Perhaps the only odd character is Joker, something about his look just does not gel with me, but perhaps that is purely based on my like of the 90's cartoon.

Setting the look right is one thing, but without the right actors to bring the characters to life it just would not work at all, thankfully they did an amazing job here. Kevin Conroy is back as Batman and he brings a realism that we have not seen before. Kevin has always played a Batman who has been doing this for a while, a Batman who has refined his skills. This story takes place not to long after the events of Arkham Origins, so this Batman is quite raw and brutal, no killing from him though, after all he is still Batman.

Of course Batman is just one of the many characters, adding more credence to the cast are Neal McDonough as Deadshot, Hynden Walch as Harley Quinn reprising her role she took on in the original Batman animated series in the early 90’s. Also returning from the original series is C.C.H. Pounder as Amanda Waller, who has this sass about her, you never know what game she is playing but you know that you don’t want to be a part in it at all. And rounding out the cast is a bevy of whose who from the voice acting world, capped off by Troy Baker who has performed another outstanding performance as The Joker.

Overall Batman Assault on Arkham serves up another strong story in the Arkham arm of Batman lore, but it does not delve too deep into it, which offers up a solid entry point for newcomers while keeping fans interested.

Thanks to Warner Bros Australia for supplying the movie for review.