Batman: The Killing Joke

The ogn material this adaptation was based on, was released on 1988, by Alan Moore & Bryan Bolland. It was one of the most disturbing, nightmarish made in UK stories, that gave an even more psychish tone to Joker as a character and turned (unfortunately) eventually Batgirl into Oracle. The graphic novel is only 64 pages long, more like a special-sized story, thus DC decided to write more script, in order to be adapted into a full movie. And that is the breaking point. THE KILLING JOKE SHOULD BE A 30' SPECIAL, NOT THIS ABNORMAL SNOOZEFEST THAT LASTS OVER AN HOUR! They could adapt additionally another short Bat story and release the equivalent of "Hulk VS", in order to fill the disc time. Although we are years now in digital form and 60' is an ill- forgotten excuse for "minimum time limit". The first half of this raped adaptation is a generic adventure of Batgirl, in which... MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD ...she is a young lady that feels useless and loves Batman. Thus, enter Batsex. These 30' theoretically supposed to make us love her character. Personally, it was horrendous and with a major luck of respect to her character. The worst Batgirl story ever. A young naive Batgirl that is useless and eventually bangs Batman as her mentor... Then, as of a sudden, Killing Joke strikes. The transition is awkward, bad and the tone is out of scale compared to the first half. OK, it is a good adaptation, but it is so uneven to the first half that you are already tired. Although, the frames sometimes have a pace problem. IN A NUTSHELL, it is a bad prolonged adaptation and you should skip the first 30' for your own mental sake.

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.

The movie was a great adaptation of the comic, except for what Azzarello decided to write in himself, which was Batgirl and Batman having sex. It really ruined what was an otherwise great film. I think this was Mark Hamill at his finest, but that scene really destroyed the movie. The animation was a lot better than what I have seen from DC movies lately. I think that DC has done a poor job of adapting movies, especially with Batman v. Robin and Batman and Robin. I still think that Year One, Under the Red Hood, and Return of the Dark Knight are much better films, because they stay almost completely true to the comics themselves. I really was excited for a reunion of the animated series cast, but I was immediately concerned with Azzarello being a writer, because he has almost a different universe of his own for Batman, similar to Grant Morrison. They try to be edgy, but it ruins what preexisted. It would have been nice to see Dick Grayson and Barbara in some form of a relationship, but Batgirl and Batman have almost a fatherly mentor relationship, not a sexual one, which is what ruined the movie. I have it at a 3, because the rest of the movie is great.

Much of the controversy around this movie surrounds the first half, so I am going to concentrate on that portion. People in the theatre I went to said they would have loved The Killing Joke, if not for the first half. I argue that the second half would not make any sense without the first. As perhaps one of the most famous hero and villain duos in all of fiction, it is easy to see Batman and the Joker as diametrically opposed in their approach to crime. I believe the first portion of the film serves to demonstrate some of these differences, especially Batman's tendency to control everyone/everything around him (as opposed to Joker's outright nihilism), and stands them on their heads. We start to see Batman as imperfect, and perhaps not so different from any Gotham resident. This imperfection serves to develop some of the sympathy we feel towards the Joker and his ultimate goal regarding his confrontation with Batman, regardless of his twisted techniques. Evidence of this comes with some of the Joker's quips, which come with a visceral laugh despite their macabre nature. The only area for potential complaint comes with the animation in certain scenes, though I'm not sure this was unintentional due to rushing for completion or due to intentionally demonstrating something quite "off" about the whole situation at hand. 4 out of 4 stars.