Review of Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) by Phillip D — 29 Jul 2016

How to review The Killing Joke? At first glance, one might argue (as will many adult DC fanboys), that the Killing Joke must be judged as an animated film on par with the rest of the pantheon, much of which is made for children and thus bears different standards.

These same fanboys would also argue for an interpretation and review based on the movie as an adaptation, not as an independent film, like the rest of the DC live action universe. I would argue differently.

Despite it's animated premise, the Killing Joke is an R rated feature, the first in the DC animated pantheon. It is also the highest profile animated DC comic release I can remember, with significant effort being made to market this as an adult aimed, high quality piece of mature animation.

Unfortunately, like most of DC's and WB's recent efforts, the Killing Joke is a load of garbage. While not an avid follower of the DC animated universe, I spent many an afternoon watching classic DC animated features as a child.

These were enjoyable, concise stories that were exciting and successfully managed to bring the violence and grit of the Batman to a medium that I could see and grasp as a kid. From that perspective, which I feel is barely applicable to the Killing Joke, the feature is still a sad shadow of its predecessors.

The Killing Joke is poorly edited, confusing, clearly altered in post-production and as a whole, demonstrates pretty lazy animation. If I put on my kid glasses, I can't imagine enjoying it, not just because of the barely more violent portrayals (the R rated ideas rarely play out on that level in the Killing Joke) but because there isn't much story or action to the Killing Joke because it has no momentum.

However, I simply don't believe that this atrocity should get the relative pass it would receive by being judged by just that standard. The reality is that the Killing Joke is at least masquerading as an adult film, packed as it is with adult themes such as insanity, economic crisis, sexual tension, rape, assault, torture, horror and any number of other issues.

In that respect, the Killing Joke, with its R rating, simply begs to be judged on the same level as say, Batman v. Superman. And on that level, as with that film, the Killing Joke is a failure. Judged against other adult animated shows, my opinion doesn't change.

The first 30 minutes are an absolute regression that veers off canon (for the blind DC nerds getting ready to come at me) in order to establish a simplistic, 1950's librarian in Barbara Gordon, who develops a creepy sexual power dynamic with her superhero boss in Batman.

The further demeaning of Gordon, who already endured the brunt of 80's sexism, is fully felt here with the film lingering on sexual shots and painting Gordon as the worst kind of fawning woman. Batman meanwhile gets his moment of passion but is mostly painted as a grim, statue like teacher with absolute authority over his younger pupil (who often feels barely legal) and an aura of emotionless manly manness ripped out of the same decade as Gordon.

This trainwreck feels absolutely tacked on, with minimal connecting tissue to the Killing Joke story proper and atrocious dialogue that was clearly dreamt up the night before by an intern screenwriter.

This first portion of the movie also highlights another critical flaw in the Killing Joke, which is revealed to not actually be rated R at all, at least in how its ideas actually play out. No sex is actually shown (to be clear, the lead up to the sex scene was one of the most awkward pieces of animation I have ever had the misfortune of seeing and I have no wish to see the rest of the story), gore and blood are minimal, pain and loss are muted by poor animation and storytelling, and most disappointing of all, tense and challenging dialogue is muted by all cuss words being filtered through a church window prior to being read.

The result is an awkward stream of craps, cruds, bulls, hecks and darns that are read by actors clearly struggling with the silliness of their lines. In truth, DC was obviously torn here, as the Killing Joke simply isn't an R film in many senses of the rating, with the lingering desire to please children still evident.

Even Chief Gordon's torture scene feels rushed and muted, lacking any significant punch whatsoever. This all reflects in the line reading and tone of the voice actors. Hamill is of course, the real star, as always but even his Joker doesn't feel fully baked as he reads lines that just don't always come together.

Even worse though are Batman and Batgirl, who are forced to take part in the awkward, last minute line dance that is the opening added sequence. This bleeds over into the entirety of the film and steals whatever gravitas might be remaining.

All told, judged from any perspective, it's hard to see the Killing Joke as anything other than yet another poorly thought out DC/WB nightmare. It's a poorly paced, badly animated, lazily told shit salad of a story, brought down to new lows by an exceptionally sexist view of Barbara Gordon.

As a children's film, its woefully inadequate and painfully distorted. As an adult film, it's a pathetic effort that limps to the finish and simply cannot be taken seriously. It really is a shame too.

The Killing Joke, flawed as the original comic might be, has, at its core, an idea that is deadly serious, holding deep implications for the relationship of the Batman and the Joker. It's a concept that helps us to understand the twisted psychological underpinnings of both characters while also directing our attention to the larger issues the comic sought to address.

This is all lost and it seems like the final stake in the coffin for Warner Brothers. Despite good response to a solid Wonder Woman trailer, the reality is that the DCEU is in total crisis, both critically and financially.

For WB, comic fans are the last fail safe for what is essentially WB's do or die business gamble. The totally dead end fan response to the Killing Joke combined with a Justice League trailer cut straight out of an Avengers post credit scene serve only to prove that WB is not above alienating even its last remaining fans and thus, its last stockbrokers.

The end of Warner Brothers Pictures is right here, in this sputtering, limited release animated film. Go invest in Disney.