Rent Batman: Soul of the Dragon (2021)

Batman: Soul of the Dragon review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Soul of the Dragon falls into that category of the more experimental Batman movies that venture outside the comfort zone, akin to Batman Ninja or Gotham By Gaslight. Think of it as the 1970s revision of Batman Begins, focusing on the early years of Bruce’s training to become an expert warrior with contentment for his soul. It’s a familiar story but it packs a more stylistic punch with some Bruce Lee leanings and absurd feuds of supernatural villains. Even though Bruce does don the cape and cowl, he could keep that entire persona in the closet and this would still be a solid action animation.

A young Bruce seeks training from a secret monastery in the Himalayas. The wise and bearded caretaker of O-Sensei agrees to help train him among his other warrior disciples of Shiva, Richard Dragon, Jade, Ben Turner, and Rip Jagger. Though they’re all quite skilled, it is ultimately Shiva who receives O-Sensei’s Soul Breaker, a Muramasa sword. However, Richard desires more power and takes an interest in a dark gate that opens up to the demonic realm. If it is opened, it may not be closed.

Amid all this, there’s also the dangerous snake cult of Kobra that dabbles in the dark arts. The leader of Jeffrey Burr also delights in watching cobras murders hookers. To stop this cult, Bruce will ultimately become Batman but also need the aid of his fellow martial arts comrades to defeat such a criminal empire. If they fail, Burr may become the new vessel for the demon Naga and bring untold evils upon Gotham City and the world.

The animation remains straightforward as most of the DC Comics animated movies. There are still strong qualities to the fluidity and color but it feels as though there should be something shaken up with this type of film. The cutting, writing, and music all have that martial arts flavor and yet the animation design doesn’t match. It feels as though such a film should lean heavier into its own gimmick to make it pack a bigger punch. Yet it only feels like director Sam Liu is merely playing dress-up rather than constructing a swanky Batman martial arts movie that can embrace more of that genre. That being said, there are some great fight scenes, including when the band of heroes battle giant snakes and descend into hell to fight demons. It’s great stuff and honestly something you don’t see often out of a Batman movie, even in the wild world of animation.

The voice acting remains straightforward as well. David Giuntoli’s take on Batman works well enough. Kelly Hu reprises her role as Shiva, having previously voiced the character in Batman: Arkham Origins and gives another fine performance. Michael Jai White fully embraces that bad-ass martial artist who gets in just as many fast punches as he does punchlines. James Hong, of course, gives such an effortless performance as O-Sensei considering he’s such an accomplished actor who could bang out such dignity and power in his sleep.

Soul of the Dragon mostly succeeds at being a fun and fast-paced early Batman story, even if it only seems to put in about half the style it aims to pull from. There are some wild events, some strong fight scenes, great voice performances, and an ending I honestly didn’t expect. Considering how par for the course some of these DC Comics animated movies can get, this is one of the good ones that is just shy of being brilliant.