ow I've personally been wanting to talk about this film for a while but the problem is I've been having trouble writing about it because I feel that it is an incredible film but I just feel there isn't as much to talk about that I can go into extreme detail about, but I'll try my best to justify its 2nd place spot. First off the animation in this film is probably some of DC animations best work (just watch the Amazo fight or the fight near the end of the film to see.) It has a somewhat darker look compared to the animation done in JL or in Batman Beyond and it looks very, very good at many points even making a few little nods to other Batman incarnations in the background at points. Also this is the first Batman DCAU film that has none of the original Batman Animated Series cast portraying any of the characters and it's all a fresh new cast portraying each character and they all do just as good as the BTAS cast. Matthew Greenberg is just fantastic as Batman and I actually thought at first it was Kevin Conroy doing the character again but noticed a little difference in his voice after a while but I could hardly notice at first. John DiMaggio is just incredible as the Joker and I'd say he's just as good as Mark Hamills version of the Joker (yes I said in my VC he was close but not as good but the more I think about it the better he got.) He's psychotic and takes nods from Hamills Joker but also the dark edge that Ledger had at the same time and is just amazing. Jensen Ackles portrays the Red Hood and Neil Patrick Harris portrays Nightwing and they both do fantastic jobs. Ackles has this mysterious badass but familiar kind of sound to his voice which actually helps with the twist halfway through the film, and Harris is just as good as he is in anything he is in (yes I even liked him in Smurfs,) while not getting a lot of screentime as Nightwing he still does a great job. Also the plot is much more dark than some of the other Batman animated films prior to this one, especially with the help of this dark Joker and with the Black Mask sidestory, and the movie seems much more gun happy than the other films really did prior, which I like to see in a Batman film because it does stay true to the darker Batman comics and Graphic Novels (The films starts with Robin being tortured by the Joker with a crowbar.) Also the twist halfway through the film is very, very good but I don't dare want to ruin it for you, but it is kind of obvious if you think about it through enough. But other than that the film is very good and I highly recommend it to any fan of animation, Batman, or DC in general. Plus there's a great short of Jonah Hex on the DVD that manages to better than the whole Jonah Hex film (talking to the dead my ass.)