Review: BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE

Hey folks, welcome to the first day of our “10 Days of Suicide Squad” special! Today, John has a review of the brand new DC animated film Batman: The Killing Joke, which is based on the New York Times bestselling graphic novel of the same name from 1988. Considered by many to be one of the best Batman stories out there, does this 72-minute feature film do its source material justice, or is it a disappointment?

Let me stop right there. I actually haven’t read the graphic novel. I know. Please forgive me. But I would still like to share my thoughts of the film with you. And maybe you’ll like to hear the opinion of someone on the other side of the spectrum? If you don’t and were looking for a review comparing the film to its source material, I understand your frustration! Now, let’s get to the review!

Batman: The Killing Joke is essentially two movies. The first movie is basically a Batgirl (voiced by Tar Strong) movie that sets up the events that occur in the second movie, where the Joker (Mark Hamill) takes over. Both movies obviously include the Caped Crusader (Kevin Conroy), who shares scenes with both said characters. Batman may not necessarily be the star of this movie, but his scenes in this movie are quite memorable. And if you’ve seen this film, you’ll know one in particular I’m talking about… let’s just say it’s a scene you’ll either be okay with, or you’ll hate it. I was okay with it myself.

I think some that haven’t read the graphic novel will be wondering when the hell does the Joker make an appearance. He doesn’t enter the story until the movie’s nearly halfway over already, which could test the patience of those that expected basically the entire movie to center around him. The Batgirl stuff at the beginning is still relevant to the second half though. Very much so. When he does finally show up though, like I said, it basically becomes his movie.

In The Killing Joke (which is very hard not to spoil by the way), we’re given Joker’s backstory that weaves its way in and out of the central plot where he attempts to “send a message” to a family close to Bruce. Giving away the character’s origin doesn’t bother me (I’ve seen Tim Burton’s Batman after all), but at the same time, I think the mysteries behind his identity are more effective and unsettling, which was the approach Christopher Nolan went with in The Dark Knight, and that lack of knowing exactly who’s behind that makeup made the character all the more fascinating. However, as it is to my understanding that the graphic novel explored the character’s backstory as well. Considering it plays a part in The Killing Joke‘s climax (and Joker’s motives), I can understand why it’s featured here. It all comes full circle in the end.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, this movie is rated R. This isn’t a family-friendly animated Batman movie you’ll be finding being played on Cartoon Network a few years from now. It’s not necessarily a “hard R” per say, but this movie’s got a couple of pretty disturbing moments as well as some bloody action scenes. Along with that, some of the Joker’s henchmen are creepy. Hell, even the clown himself is creepy with a few effective lighting techniques (such as the one below) sending chills down my spine.

The film’s animation has faced some criticism with some finding it inconsistent. Sometimes, it looks great, other times it looks choppy. I’m in this boat as well. Some of it’s smooth, some of it looks like characters aren’t walking normally. It’s weird. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll have a good taste of what I’m talking about. Even when the animation looked like it could use some more work, I was still invested in the story taking place. The animation wasn’t bad enough to take me out of the movie entirely, so that’s good at least.

Perhaps this movie’s biggest asset is its returning voice cast. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Tara Strong once again prove how perfect they are for these characters, while Ray Wise (who voiced Perry White in Superman Doomsday) does a good job as Commissioner Gordon. l can’t believe the same man that plays Luke Skywalker is the voice behind this Joker. Before my screening Monday night, there was a short documentary where Hamill discussed what lead him to be the voice behind one of DC’s most iconic villains. It was pretty interesting, and very neat to see how excited he was to get the chance to voice the character again.

So, being someone that hasn’t read the original material, I can say that I loved Batman: The Killing Joke. I know it’s being met with “eh” reviews (perhaps from people that have read it), but I thought it was quite good. The animation could’ve been more consistent and there were a couple of times where the plot felt a tad rushed, but aside from that, I was very satisfied. The vocal performances are wonderful, the story’s bold and engaging, and the movie flies by (being only 72 minutes or not). It was also surprisingly funny at times! With all that said, my score for Batman: The Killing Joke is…