Batman: The Killing Joke Reviews

Todavía me estoy preguntando por qué Batman se cogió a Barbara, pero luego de eso la película se pone entretenida y es una adaptación aceptable del mítico cómic en el que se basa.

Well, here’s a mixed bag. The Killing Joke is a powerful but slim volume that could never be feature-length without expanding the narrative, so expand it they did. And maybe it should have remained a slim 45 minutes now that I’ve seen just what they’ve done with it.

 

In the original text, Batgirl’s role is merely that of a broken female body that functions as the inciting incident for Batman and Gordon to take down the Joker. The prologue makes vague hand gestures towards giving her more agency, but she’s clearly still a novice pupil to Batman’s hardened veteran. Even worse is how they sexualized the character. It’s as if the creators wouldn’t buy the fact that Batman can care about Barbara Gordon as an actual human without turning first forcing her into his creepy hookup.

 

But wait! The prologue just keeps getting worse the longer it goes on. Eventually this chunk of the story just ends, and all of the threads and characters that we have spent the past thirty minutes investing in are immediately jettisoned off into the ether. There’s no smooth transition between this unnecessary stuff and the actual adaptation of The Killing Joke, unless Barbara Gordon as sacrificial lamb qualifies as such.

 

However, once The Killing Joke just adapts the text as is the film perks right on up. Brian Bolland’s art style doesn’t entirely mesh well easily with DC’s in-house animation style, but there are a few moments of noir-ish and cracked beauty. At times, scenes with the Joker look like motion comics, and I mean that as a compliment. The artwork isn’t always consistent though, with Barbara’s mouth frequently looking like a trout or going strangely off model.

 

It’s in these later scenes that everything is cooking. Not only do we get Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill in top form, but Ray Wise makes for a nice Gordon. If any of these three performances would have faltered, then the film would not have worked at all. Tara Strong’s Batgirl is a nice lived-in performance, but it’s just a shame some of the scenes they’re forcing her to play.

 

Then there’s just how freaking creepy the whole carnival business is once you see it played out in action and not just on the page. I’m dying for a movie to adapt the image of Joker sitting atop a throne of baby doll parts. These are the strongest and best moments of the film. The Killing Joke has never been a story about Batgirl, it has always been a story about the Joker. Drop the awkward prologue and fast-forward to the straight adaptation for a chilling time.   

I hear a lot of mixed emotions about this one. Some people loved it. Some people hated it. While others are on the fence about it. I read the book, but it's been awhile. Seeing it in motion and how they do things here kind of makes me nervous. I'm not entirely sure if I'm ready for this. Especially seeing as the characters are played by the ones who I grew up with in the animation. Brian Azzarello has only written one other Batman film that was pretty damn good. Sam Liu has done a lot of the animated films. I have only seen his Hulk Vs film besides this though. Anyways this is a fairly short one compared to most. Actually wasn't sure how it would start, but I am glad it's on a fairly peaceful note. Ah well I get what's going on here. It's always kind of sad when people don't take someone seriously because of looks or something. Yeah this guy makes me uncomfortable. Damn I didn't see that coming! Well okay then! That was quick and unexpected. I mean it kind of makes sense, but it's also pretty awkward. Wow chill haha. Damn this is some intense action. Uh oh something is amiss. That is some good dialogue there! Oh man that is not good. Huh never thought I would see that story. Wait what exactly just happened. That's a cool shot and homage! You will know when you see it! I was wondering if we would only see Batman or get some Bruce Wayne in there. Oh no! That's just messed up. I kept thinking of the Shame scene from Game of Thrones when that happened. Ah and I was expecting some genuine compassion there. That was cruel! These flashbacks are actually pretty interesting. Yes finally I was waiting for that! I'm sorry but if it was me I could not do it that way. They are really hitting this acting on money! That ending was absolutely incredible and well done! This is not your childhood Batman. I mean do not watch this with your kids. I mean some people don't pay attention to ratings, but they really should. It's even a rough watch for adults. At times I did feel a little uncomfortable, but I got over that. It's really well done with the story it's telling. It does start off a bit slow and different, but the last half more than makes up for it. I do recommend it as long as you know that there is some strong themes involved.