Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

*** (out of 4)

An already bad situation for Batman turns even worse when he realizes that the Joker has escaped and is on the streets again.

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE pretty much came out of nowhere and become a huge hit to fans and critics. I guess it's easy to see why so many positive vibes would go towards this animated film and especially since so many people were unhappy with BATMAN VS SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. With that said, as good as this film is I still think it has been overrated by some who are calling it a masterpiece.

Still, there's no question that this is a highly entertaining movie that manages to keep you glued to the personal drama effecting Batman and there's also the great rivalry with the Joker. These aspects is what keeps the film moving at such a good pace and I really thought the Joker character was highly entertaining and sinister just the way he should be. Mark Hamill does a very good job with the vocal work on the Joker and I thought Tara Strong was also very good with Batgirl.

The animation is top notch as you'd expect and the screenplay allowed the darkness of the city to blend in with the characters. This darker approach is something that "some" people don't like but I thought it was perfectly suited for the animation. BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE is a darn good film and one that more people should check out.

So obviously when i first heard about this movie, i was really pumped, and kept up with updates as it came closer to the release.

I've always loved the PG-13 animated Batman movies, and of course I hear about this one's R rating I'm wow this is going to more amazing than any ever before it.

So the time finally comes and of course I go to the one night theater showing.

Strong start, love it, some good action, funny moments. But then I notice that all the bad guys say "freaking" quite often. Was this a prelude to the rest of the movie?

Yes. It was. The R rating was a total scam. There's some brief bloody shots, like 2 actual curse words (mild too), an IMPLIED sex scene, an even what was to be considered the most controversial part of the original comic...was completely censored as well. It was PG-13 by my standards. "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Assault on Arkham" were both PG-13 and had WAYYY more blood, violence and language than this did. (Assault on Arkham also had more sexual scenes and still remained PG-13). It was just really disappointing.

The plot was really loose too. When the movie ended I was like..."wait what?" There was no climax. The rising action just quickly crashed into the falling action and ended. This just goes to show that not every comic looks good on the big screen.

Really the only thing I liked was the fact that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were in it.

Would I recommend it? It's worth a watch, I guess. Just as long as you go into it thinking, "This is a PG-13 movie."

If you want to watch something better as far as PG-13 Animated Batman goes, "The Dark Knight Returns" (not to be confused with "The Dark Knight Rises"), "Assault on Arkham", and "Under The Red Hood" are all three very amazing movies.

One of the most acclaimed graphic novels of all time has now come to the big screen. Not only is this one of the most acclaimed novels ever but it's one of the most controversial. The story is basically an origin tale for the infamous Batman villain, The Joker. When this movie was initially announced back at the beginning of 2016 there was some serious hype surrounding it. Especially when it received an R rating. One thing that really made me nervous though was how quickly this actually released. Obviously, it could've been in production long before it was announced back at the beginning of the year, but after seeing the film, I don't think that's the case.

The first thirty minutes of the film is a kind of prelude involving, mostly, Batgirl. It talks about how she came to quit being said superhero and draws a thread between her and Batman. Now, this story is controversial for a reason. Not only does it explore tough themes but it shows the details of these horrible things. The story in the graphic novel is brutal, uncompromising, and pretty tough to get through.

However the film is just the opposite. It tries hard to retell the story seen in the novel, yet any emotional drama is all but lost. This mainly has to do with the length of the film itself. Being only 80 minutes, it's rather short. As I said, the first thirty minutes revolves around Batgirl. And this segment of time is absolutely the worst to sit through. It's tedious, overly long, and so cliché and predictable that there's nothing remotely enjoyable.

While, this part of the film is undoubtedly the worst from a storytelling standpoint, there are a number of things that remained consistently bad throughout. Most notably was the animation. From a studio like Warner Bros you'd expect some decent art work, but not here. The back drops nor art design is well put together. It's clunky, with no style to be found.

It looks like they took the animation from a rough draft of the animated series and colored it in. This issue becomes even more clear whenever it attempts 3D animation. The other blaring issue that continues through the film is the music. Which is completely contrived and formulated to the point of it being so cliché that is, in fact not cliché.

As the film ended, a crowd that once cheered for the lights dimming, was left in stunned silence. Not a good stunned silence like you get after watching 'Gone Girl', this type of silence is the kind where people don't know what they just saw. For me, this had to do with the complete lack of any emotional resonance. When it attempts to recreate the power of the novel it fails.

It doesn't commit enough to the drama of the story. Even with its R rating it doesn't draw the same toughness the novel does. It lacks the rawness that the novel has to make it's audience queasy. It's not graphic enough to be disturbing and it's not lighthearted enough to be fun. It just bounces from scene to scene with little connecting one to another. The best way to describe it is that it goes from this scene to that scene and than it ends. That's about it. ​This is one film that should have been great. All the pieces are there. It has a great studio behind it, an excellent voice team, and a brilliant story. But it lacks the emotional power that the novel has. Even though it has its R rating it doesn't fully commit to it, or anything for that matter. Without coherent direction and the overall first draft vibe of the film it's hardly the experience we've been lead to believe it is.

Goddamn it.

I really wanted The Killing Joke to be DC Animation's return to greatness.

The parts that are actually The Killing Joke are great, but I just can't ignore the first 30 minutes. It felt like a random episode of a completely unrelated Batman TV show. I get that they wanted to make Batgirl more sympathetic and an actual character in the movie, rather than just a plot point, but honestly, who cares? Who gives a crap about Batgirl? She doesn't matter, she's irrelevant to the story. The Killing Joke is supposed to be about Batman's relationship with The Joker. Instead, it felt almost as If Barbara Gordon was the main character. If they didn't want to just do a direct adaptation of the novel because it'd be too short, I get it, but find another way to expand it.

But still, like I said, as soon as the actual movie starts, it's great. Hamill and Conroy were obviously great. They stole the show, specially Hamill. I didn't like Commissioner Gordon's voice though, it sounded weird.

Overall, good movie, but it should have been great.

When "The Killing Joke" is actually about the source material, it's a decent adaptation. It's dialogue-faithful, the tone is good, and really, if they've gotten Conroy and Hamill as the two leads, you know they're taking this seriously. And that infamous scene is incredibly effective.

But it's that first half-hour that doesn't work. It's tacked-on and certainly doesn't do Batgirl or Batman any favors (the latter of whom just seems a tad creepy). This is (for better or worse) the Joker's origin story, incendiary though it is, and I can understand why they'd want to flesh out Barbara's character; but it still doesn't work because Batman doesn't recall her horrific fate later on in the movie. She's no longer relevant beyond the shock value. The intentions were there, but it could've been done better.

Within this running time, there are 45 minutes of good movie. Skip the first 30 and you don't miss a thing.

6/10