Batman: Soul of the Dragon is available on Digital now, and arriving February 15th on Blu-Ray™, Blu-Ray™ Mini Figure and DVD.
Synopsis
Set in the midst of the swinging 1970s, this Elseworlds adventure finds Bruce Wayne training under a master sensei. It is here that Bruce, along with other elite students, is forged in the fire of the martial arts discipline. The lifelong bonds they form will be put to the test when a deadly menace arises from their past. It will take the combined efforts of Batman, world-renowned martial artists Richard Dragon, Ben Turner and Lady Shiva, and their mentor O-Sensei to battle the monsters of this world and beyond!
Review
When you think of Batman you’re likely to think of a gritty, dark, detective noir aesthetic. Something set on the rainy streets of Gotham with the Dark Knight perched over a grizzly crime scene. Maybe Joker has left a poor victim for dead, their face contorted by his toxins. Sounds like Batman right?
Well Batman: Soul of the Dragon is absolutely none of those things. Instead Warner Bros. Animation as cleverly plucked Batman, played deftly here by David Giuntoli, from all your expectations and placed him in the middle of a Fists of Fury inspired martial arts adventure.
Jeremy Adams has crafted a brilliant, original and authentic story which feels steeped in 70’s kung fu and exploitation movies. The story really belongs to Mark Dacascos as Richard Dragon. Understandably, as a DC movie, it needed an A-list DC hero in the title. But Batman is much less of the focus and only suits up once early in the film and then for much of the third act. Dacascos, a kung-fu legend, is perfectly cast. Dragon is our Bruce Lee replacement here. He has all of the likability as well as the kung-fu capability. At times I forgot I was watching an animation given how lovingly director Sam Liu has recreated that classic 70’s feel.
The cast is rounded out by Kelly Hu as Lady Shiva and Michael Jai White as Bronze Tiger. As a core group they create a wonderfully diverse, but entirely bad ass group. Adams script is laden with zippy, 70’s inspired dialogue that helps the film jump off the screen with enough laughs to counterbalance the action. Hu has a dry wit that feels perfectly in keeping with the characterisation of Shiva. White has played Bronze Tiger for a number of years in the so-called Arrowverse so bringing him back here is a stroke of genius. He embodies the character for a generation of fans and its easy to see why.
The nostalgia-factor of Batman: Soul of the Dragon is undeniable. It’s so an extremely pleasant surprise given it’s not adapted from any existing source material. The entire film wears it’s influences on its sleeve, from the funk-tactic score to Bruce’s exquisite sideburns. It’s unapologetic in embracing all of the campy 70’s tropes.
The story itself finds Dragon uncovering a plot by the Kobra Cult to steal control of a magical gateway in Nanda Parbat. That gateway just happens to be in the compound where Dragon and the rest of our core cast learnt their martial arts skills. It’s a personal story which mixes a number of flashbacks with the present day narrative. The flashbacks effectively flesh out the characters and their relationships to each other and their sensei. Whilst present days brings plenty of action as the gang comes together and heads to Nanda Parbat.
Whilst martial arts movies aren’t known for the strongest of storylines, Adams has approached Soul of the Dragon through a 2021 lens. There’s more to the story than anticipated. It’s by no means complex but it’s perfectly pitched to bring context and meaning to a genre which is used to neither.
Verdict
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a truly authentic recreation of 70’s marital arts movies. Stylish action packs a punch alongside some seriously funky score.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon stars David Giuntoli (Grimm, A Million Little Things) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Mark Dacascos (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Iron Chef America, Hawaii Five-0) as Richard Dragon, Kelly Hu (Arrow, X2: X-Men United) as Lady Shiva and Michael Jai White (Spawn, reprising his role from Arrow) as Ben Turner/Bronze Tiger.
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