The Warriors isn't a bad idea.
GTA melee actually does feature blocks and counters, though they are difficult to use and, outside the Fight Club, additionally hampered by the default camera.
The thing for me about Batman and Sleepeh Dawgs was it was ALL ABOUT the melee. GTA is about guns, consistently. Batman doesn't use guns, even as he has to face them. SD had a great solution for limiting guns, but that would be hard to limit similarly in GTA while maintaining that game's feel.