Review of Batman: The Killing Joke (2016) by Jonathan K — 25 Jul 2016

After sleeping on it, here is my review on Batman: The Killing Joke -.

(TL;DR - It is an okay adaptation of superior graphic novel, saved mostly by a stellar cast).

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PROS:

1.) The voice acting is by-and-far the shining star of this piece. Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Tara Strong all bring their "A" game to this film and deliver some of the best voice acting that they have ever portrayed in their 20+ years of voicing these characters. The range and emotion that was brought to the table was perfect.

2.) Once we move past the additional material, it is a near perfect, panel-for-panel adaptation of the source material.

CONS:

1.) The new content is superfluous and undermines the idea for adding in the new content in the first place. I understand what the writers and creators were going for in creating the additional content centered around Batgirl and I love the IDEA for why they did it. I love that they wanted her to be more a character and not just a plot device in the story to propel Batman forward into capturing Joker. However, the execution of it left much to be desired and actually did the exact opposite of what they intended to, in my opinion.

They could have added in almost any other type of story in the beginning of the film, centered around Barbara Gordon. But, the story they chose to create almost solidified the "Women in Refrigerators" trope (if you don't know what it is, look it up) that the creators so desperately wanted to avoid. By shifting the dynamic of Batman and Batgirl, Batman's later motive in the film to stop Joker becomes less "Save the Gordons" and becomes more "Pissed Boyfriend out for Revenge".

Is it as bad as the internet made it out to be? No. But it's not good, either.

2.) The additional content feels like a completely separate movie. From the tone shift to narrator shift, it was such a sharp change from having the narrative focus solely on Barbara to literally snuffing out her voice and focusing on the male leads (which this additional content was expressly trying to avoid, but inadvertently doubled down on). It was not a smooth transition.

3.) The pacing and speed of the final confrontation between Batman and Joker was SO rushed. Like, this portion moved at breakneck speed when it had no reason to. It concluded the film on a very awkward note that I have not ever felt reading the comic.

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All-in-all, Batman: The Killing Joke is an okay adaptation of superior graphic novel, saved entirely by a stellar cast of voice actors that, after 20+ of bring these characters to life, showed us their best had yet to come until this moment.