Kelly Hu
Lady Shiva
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A 2021 animated film featuring Batman and his martial arts allies in the 1970s. They face a cult that seeks to open a gate to the serpent god Nāga and his demons.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon: Directed by Sam Liu. With David Giuntoli, Mark Dacascos, Kelly Hu, Michael Jai White. In the 1970s, a missing teacher of martial arts is the subject of a quest by his devoted and brilliant but distant students, who include Batman.
- (7.5K)
- Animation, Action, Adventure
- Sam Liu
- 2021-01-12
- Popverse
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A 2021 animated movie that follows Bruce Wayne and his martial arts companions in a 1970s adventure. See the ratings, trailers, cast, and critics' opinions on this Elseworlds story.
- (15)
- Sam Liu
- R
- Action, Adventure, Animation
Nov 19, 2020 · Watch the trailer for the upcoming animated film Batman: Soul of The Dragon, set in the 1970s and featuring martial arts and supernatural elements. The film will be released on Digital, 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray in January 2021.
- 2 min
- 63.3K
- Warner Bros. Entertainment
- DC's newest animated movie is Enter the Dragon by way of Batman Begins.
- Batman: Soul of the Dragon
- Verdict
By Jesse Schedeen
Updated: Nov 3, 2022 6:44 pm
Posted: Jan 11, 2021 6:00 pm
Note: this is a spoiler-free review of Batman: Soul of the Dragon, which releases in Digital HD on Tuesday, January 12 and on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD on Tuesday, January 26.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon marks the 41st installment in the long-running DC Universe Movies line, and it's also among the most unique. Rather than act as a direct adaptation of any particular DC Comics storyline, it loosely draws from the work of the late Denny O'Neil to give the DCU a '70s martial arts movie makeover. If Warner Bros. had made a Batman movie in 1973 starring Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, and Jim Kelly, it would have gone a little something like this. The resulting stew is every bit as fun and campy as it sounds, though, like many martial arts movies, the characters often take a backseat to the action.
Soul of the Dragon casts Grimm star David Giuntoli as the Dark Knight, who in this '70s setting is a relative newcomer to the superhero game and struggling to balance the dueling sides of his life. Fate quickly reunites him with his old martial arts buddies Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Lady Shiva (Kelly Hu) and Ben Turner (Michael Jai White), as the butt-kicking quartet takes on the terrorist organization Kobra and its ringleader Jeffrey Burr (Josh Keaton). Along the way, viewers are treated to extensive flashbacks to our heroes' early years training in Nanda Parbat under the sly, watchful eye of O-Sensei (James Hong).
Entertaining as it is, Soul of the Dragon isn't without its storytelling problems. The simple, straightforward plot isn't an issue so much as the uneven character development over the course of the film. Soul of the Dragon emphasizes the family nature of the Batman/Richard Dragon/Lady Shiva/Ben Turner quartet, but even with the flashbacks it never fleshes out their shared history to the extent it should. Dragon himself receives almost no development. His one defining character trait is "being really good at martial arts" in a movie where nearly every character fits that description. Again, Dacascos is able to make the most out of his limited material, but it's a shame to see such a fascinating character tamped down to become a generic martial arts movie protagonist.
Perhaps the one real flaw of Batman: Soul of the Dragon is that it doesn't really need Batman in the first place. That would certainly be truer to O'Neil's Richard Dragon stories. Had the Dark Knight been excised from the plot, there would have been more room to focus on the remaining three characters and their respective origins. It certainly would have been nice to see more of Turner's history that's glossed over in a quick montage sequence. You can't entirely fault DC here, as it's obviously much, much easier to market a movie with Batman plastered front and center. Still, it would be nice if the DC Universe Movies line could finally get to a place where it's not so wholly dependent on the Dark Knight or the Man of Steel.
Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a relatively "outside the box" approach to the DC Universe Movies line, and the results are mostly satisfying. The film is light on plot and heavy on action and '70s martial arts movie tropes. It also boasts a strong voice cast, many of whom would be equally at home in a live-action version. But while the straightforwa...
A martial arts adventure set in the 1970s, featuring Batman and other elite students of a sensei. They must face a deadly menace from their past and the monsters of this world and beyond.
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Nov 17, 2020 · Watch the exclusive trailer for Batman: Soul of the Dragon, a martial arts-themed Elseworlds movie set in the 1970s. Learn about the voice cast, plot, and release date of this R-rated DC Universe Movie.
