Batman: The Killing Joke

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.

I have read the graphic novel from which this film comes, but it has been years and I did not bring anything to this film version other than the hope that it would be a good film. I also didn't care that it got an R-rating in the US; I cannot think of a film that was 'good' simply because it was graphic, and those excited that a franchise got such a rating are really missing the point. Anyway, watching the film was a serious disappointment. The first half was dull and lacking anything that really linked to the second half in a satisfying manner. I really do not care whether or not it is in the source material, for me it was more that it was dull and disconnected. The second half I the film proper and to be fair it is better, but not as good as it needed to be.

There is a real lack of grit and atmosphere in the delivery. For all the time spent with Batgirl, the film could have fleshed out dialogue, horrors, and conflict between the characters. Instead this felt truncated and lacking roots. For all the potential in the led two, there was little delivered but yet just enough to indicate what it could have been. It felt rushed, which may have been true because the film as a whole has a cheap feeling. The animation has little character or depth, and looked basic in both detail but also in movement. Searching online as to why, it seems that the animation was every 4 frames, which contributes to a choppy feel despite reducing cost. The voice work is good throughout, just a shame not to have a better product to deliver.

The Killing Joke had a lot of hype, most of which I ignored. Even with no preconceptions and reasonable expectations though, the film didn't deliver, and feels cheap, rushed, and poorly filled out.

This movie is awful. As a stand alone movie, it's weak and ineffective. As an adaptation, it's a travesty.

What should be a deep, poignant movie that reflects on the nature of good and evil, why we become what we become, whether free will exists and other fascinating themes, becomes a lame action movie full of fan service, bad writing, bad characterization and terrible pacing.

This movie is doomed by a complete misunderstanding of what made the comic great, a bad writer and total lack of respect for its characters (especially Barbara Gordon).

Everything great about the comic was done poorly or taken out. And all the additions are awful.

A fan of the comic will hate it and a newcomer will just wonder why the hell the comic is considered a masterpiece, if this is the story people raved about for 30 years.

Animation is decent and voice acting is good, so I gave it a 4/10 out of respect for those things.

But this one of the worst things ever produced by DC.

Batman goes on the hunt for The Joker who is kidnapping and torturing Commissioner Gordon and his family in a similar way to his own descent into madness.

One thing that immediately stands out about this film is how much it seems to want to be like the graphic novel that it is adapted from. This is because the dialogue seems like it has literally been taken from the novel itself and copied word for word, this is accompanied by animation that looks like it's just a moving version of panels from the original comics/ Killing Joke graphic novel. It basically seems to be a direct literal adaptation of Alan Moore's famous, classic novel. This might majorly stand out at the start of this film adaptation because the first 30 minutes of the film seem to be a bit slow and just a long build up and introduction to the lives of Batman and Batgirl/ Barbara Gordon and so later plot details are further understood or emotional pain for certain characters is deepened because of this connection with the characters. In fact the connection with the characters in this film isn't really that strong and at times they just seem to be there ,even Batman has this feeling when he is present in some scenes, this can also be said for the character of the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) he might be one of the best things about the film but he doesn't seem very understandable in his actions and motives until later in the film when his backstory ,if it is even his real one due to the character previously making up many different backstories making him more mysterious and in some cases creepy, is revealed and we see what his life was previously like and what drew him into the state of madness that has made him one of the most famous and iconic on-screen and comic book villains ever. As this is done the character of The Joker gets better and better and more enjoyable and the same can be said for the rest of the film as more is revealed and as more events unravel/ occur the pace gets quicker and the film gets better and more entertaining pulling the audience in and providing a more detective style superhero film which at times feels fresh, new and different.

If you ignore the first 30 minutes then Batman: The Killing Joke is a fresh animated superhero film that not only shows a new side to the character of The Joker but puts him centre stage as the star of the show. Overall it might have a dodgy script and seem like a literal direct lazy adaptation at times but it's an enjoyable film with some highly entertaining moments.

*** <-- Three Stars (Out of Five)