An animated Batman property without Kevin Conroy is a crime,
something of a travesty. The man has voiced the iconic detective so long and in
so many properties that in many ways he has become the very personification of
Batman, and at this point he could masterfully voice him in his sleep.
Furthermore, A Joker who wields a gun and is dressed down to the point of
almost looking normal is a foreign concept to me, and somewhat tarnishes the
over the top persona of the Clown Prince of Crime. This film has both of these
odd elements, so right off the bat (ha ha) this movie has two strikes against
it.
That being said, this movie is f**king awesome.
The Dark Knight Rises comic was written by Frank Miller in
the eighties, telling the story of an aged Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement
to don the cowl once again and rescue a nearly anarchic Gotham City. I recently
commented to a friend that not only did I believe this comic to be the best
comic to come out of the eighties, but one of the greatest things to come from that strange period in time as well. The comic
is so well written, so masterfully drawn, and so brilliantly narrated that many
regard it as the best Batman story arc ever written, and even started relative
newcomer Frank Miller down the path to becoming a comic legend.
But no so much a
directorial one…
The recent Bat-Bale film The Dark Knight Returns used
many of the tropes used in the comic as well as it did from Knightfall, such as
the idea of Batman coming out of retirement, age beginning to get the better of
Bruce, and Batman making his big reappearance in the middle of a high speed
pursuit. The film even goes so far as to include several of the comic’s more
iconic lines (“You’re in for a show tonight kid”) in the film, and the moments
hold up just as well in the film as they do in the comic property. Each panel
of the comic is a work of art, and any given panel is oftentimes better than
entire comic arts of other properties. It was so perfect that it should never
be touched again, unless Miller himself returned to continue the story himself
in the way only he could.
Oh Christ, I take it
back!
With such high praise for the comic you would think that
there was no way the film could follow on the heels of such brilliance, and you
would be right. BUT… that doesn’t
mean film doesn’t come damn close enough to capturing the magic to make it into
a fantastic full length movie.
The story takes place over two films, and while I was
initially disappointed to think that this was being split up into two parts for
a fast cash grab like every other major property in Hollywood these days (Twilight,
Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc) it turns out that in this case
the choice is justified, especially since both parts are so radically different
from each other. The first film focuses on Batman’s struggle to eradicate the
Mutant gang that has been overrunning Gotham, and while this film is handled
perfectly and is outstanding as a standalone film we still get the feeling that
everything happening in it is just small potatoes for what this story is
leading up to in the next film. We are shown glimpses of what’s around the
corner, public discord and praise
beginning to polarize citizens on Batman’s purpose, the government growing
weary of the Bat’s defiance, and the re-emergence of the Joker at the end of
the film.
Other than that small gripe there isn’t a whole lot to NOT
like about this film. The direction is quiet and deliberately paced while
managing to be exciting and action packed at the same time. It’s a unique style
of direction for an animated feature, and feels much more fitting for a live
action adaptation (which I would NOT be opposed to seeing). At many times the
quality film-making reminded me of something I would see out of a Kathryn
Bigelow film, quiet and simple while maintaining a taut atmosphere. The writing
is solid as well, but when you are following a piece of near perfect comics
panel for panel it’s kind of hard to miss the mark. The one thing I wish I
could have seen in this film was more of Batman’s awesome inner dialogue from
the comic, but in this film and in these circumstances it may have felt out of
place.
There are so many scenes in the first film that I loved that
it’s hard to even think of just one that I didn’t. From the first high speed
chase, to the fight in the city dump, to the battle in the mud pits, every
single significant moment in the film is handled with the atmosphere and
excitement that it deserves. One thing I should bring up in the film is Robin,
and while I have never been a fan of Carrie Kelly in the comics I was really
surprised how much I actually didn’t hate
her in this movie. Sure, she has the occasional awful line such as…
“Whoa, instant
pizza!”,
But compared to what I thought I was going to get I actually
didn’t mind her, and in a lot of parts, I actually liked the character. Keep in mind that this character would have
been sooooo freaking easy to make awful, but the film knew it was handling
sensitive materials, so it went out of the way to ensure she didn’t suck.
Even elements I thought I wouldn’t like ended up winning me
over in the end. The voice acting stands out as a prime example of this, and
for those of you who don’t know even the greatest actors in the world can be
utterly lost when it comes to voice acting. Casting a talented actor for a
voice over when they are used to live acting can backfire horrifically, mainly
because these people are used to emoting themselves fully using two mediums
(facial expressions and vocal inflection) and they have now been limited to
just one. This is why most video games have moved away from casting big names in
the roles because they come across as being out of their element. Sure, once in
a while you get a winner like Ray Liotta in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,
but most of the time a seasoned voice actor will blow a regular actor out of
the water in the role.
This is not the case in this film, as pretty much everyone
nailed their roles in the end. The biggest voice that took getting used to in the
film was Bruce Wayne himself, now voiced by the always enjoyable Peter Weller.
While I mentioned that the absence of Kevin Conroy was a big potential chink in
the armor of this film, the legendary Robocop actor does a tremendous
job of conveying the power and authority of an older and more world weary Bruce
Wayne than I believe even Conroy could. There are the odd occasional moments
where you get a flat line and feel like Weller is conveying his point with a
facial expression behind the scenes, but those moments are few and far between,
and his delivery of the best lines of the film always come across strong. One
more voice worth mentioning is Mark Valley as Superman, who does such a great
job in the role that I believe he could even replace Tim Daly should he ever
decide to walk away from the role.
As much as I liked the first film though, the second is
where all the buildup and promises from the first pay off, and holy crap, does
it pay off. The second film revolves around two main points, the first being
Joker re-emerging to challenge his old foe once again. I thought the way they
handled his looks in the film was a little… strange to say the least. In the
comics his appearance was much tamer than most others, but it’s even more so in
this film than the comics, just a relatively normal looking pale guy in a white
suit and green hair. Luckily the talented Michael Emerson (best known as Ben
Linus from Lost) picks up the slack his appearance drops, and in the end he
helps to turn in one of the most disturbing incarnations of Joker we have seen.
There are a lot of great moments with Joker in the film,
mostly where we see him delighting in the pain and suffering of everyone around
him. There’s a really great and twisted scene in the film where Joker is
running through a packed carnival just causing mayhem wherever he can, shooting
people at random and punching young
girls in the face, all while quipping things like “pardon me, coming through,
excuse me ma’am” and laughing like the lunatic he is. As horrible as it is to
see though, there is a darkly humorous hint buried in his style of violence (he
literally kicks a woman in the ass
out of a love boat while cackling), and in that small moment where you crack a
smile and remark something along the lines of “Oh s**t!” you catch a glimpse
into the mad humor that must be running through the Joker’s mind all of the
time. It’s a strange connection that this moment made with me, but then at the
same time I’m a dark, screwed up weirdo so others may not enjoy it as much as I
did.
There’s a whole lot to love about the second film, but one
part that really stood out to me was the way the film handled the relation
between Batman and the police after Jim Gordon retired. It was neat seeing a
full fledged battle between the Dark Knight and police, especially seeing
Batman’s brutality mixed with his will to not take an innocent life. As great
as the first part of the second film is though, it isn’t until the second act
that the film begins to really shine as the jewel of the entire work. The
second part of the film more or less revolves around the government’s hatred of
the Dark Knight coming to a head, and after something happens where they
believe Batman goes over the edge they decide to send Superman after him to
stop him… using any means necessary.
What really blew me away about this storyline was that out
of all the fights and battles from the comic, the one that I was looking
forward to seeing the least (The Batman vs. Superman Fight) was the one I ended
up enjoying the most. It’s not that I didn’t like the fight from the comic,
it’s just that the whole idea of a Batman vs. Superman fight is so
over-referenced and debated that at this point it has sucked the fun out of the
idea. For years there has been a clamoring to bring a Batman vs. Superman
film to the big screen, and there was even a poster for it in the disappointing
adaptation I Am Legend. It’s a neat idea in general, but when you think
about it there’s no way Bruce could practically stand up to Clark Kent, and
even in the comic I believed the one area that it slightly faltered was making
us believe that Bruce could actually
take on Clark Kent.
But… then this film comes along, and while the comic
never really sold me on the idea of Batman being able to stand toe to toe with
Superman this movie makes me believe in the impossible, that Bruce has a
fighting chance against the Man of Steel. Superman is a force of nature, an
unstoppable juggernaut, and even though he may not be God, the president at one
point even calls him “the next best thing”. How can anyone, even the god damned
Batman stand up to someone like this for more than a second in what is
essentially a battle of ideologies? The short answer… is sheer brutality.
I can’t go too deeply into how this is possible without
giving away some of the story, but there was so much to love about this fight
that it stands up there as one of my favorite fight scenes of all time, despite
its short run time of about five minutes. This fight is fought with two sides
of the coin of honor, on one side we have Superman fighting with dignity,
restraint, and poise, using every ounce of his humanity to bring Bruce in
alive. On the other side of this coin we have Batman, fighting with such a
sheer ferocity and unbridled anger that even Superman can’t anticipate what
he’s going to do. Batman fights with no restraints, no inhibitions, using dirty
tricks and cheap shots at every available moment. He fights like a man with
nothing to lost. I loved seeing this
because it reminds me of how Han Solo would fight in the same situation, and we
all know what I think of Han Solo.
(Swoon)
The only problem I had with the fight was that there was a
slight lack of emotion throughout it. The fight could have done with a few more
moments of human anguish and exertion, and while this may seem like a small
complaint even a little of this can go a long way. I talked about this in my Dark
Knight Rises review, but the first fight between Bane and Batman in the
sewers stands as one of my favorite moments in comic film history because of
the emotion behind it. There’s a scene about halfway through the battle when
Batman realizes he’s losing where he stands up and lets out a gut-wrenching
scream. It’s so unexpected and twisted because it’s something you never
expected to happen to the hero in a comic film, and hearing the Batman scream
in anguish like that is something you never want to see, like seeing your Dad
crying or something.
On the flip side, a fight without any emotion would suck.
For example, why else do you think that all those fancy, choreographed, pretty
lightsaber battles in the Star Wars prequels are so strangely boring?
Because the actors don’t make a single grunt of exertion, not a single remark
of anguish, or anger, or fear until the last few moments in the last fight in Revenge
of the Sith. Compare those scenes to that awesome scene in Return of the
Jedi where Luke flips out on Vader for bringing his sister into things and
just plain goes berserk on him. It’s my favorite moment in the original
trilogy.
The point is that while the Batsy/Supes fight in The Dark
Knight Returns is amazing, just a few more moments of emotion could have
put it over the top and made it perfect. No matter what though, it’s still a
work of art, and it’s worth it all just to hear that line at the end of the fight, the line that fans like me have
been waiting to hear since the comic, and fans of the comic will probably know exactly what line I’m talking
about. I don’t want to ruin it for those of you who haven’t seen it, but it
starts out with “In all the years to come…”, and out of all the lines in the
film I’m happy to announce that this
is the line that Peter Weller nails with perfection.
These films perfectly encapsulate everything right about
Batman by faithfully following a comic that encapsulates everything right about
Batman. These comics were so well regarded that they began a movement towards
darker comics from both major comic companies. The Dark Knight Returns
is a treat for both fans of the comic and newcomers alike, and will satisfy
every craving you may have had to see an even darker, grittier Batman than even
Christopher Nolan could deliver.
I mean, just look look at that!
9.25 out of 10
I like directing my readers to other works they may enjoy, and for a great
listen give the gentlemen on the podcast Reel Junkies a shot. A great and funny
poscast featuring knowledgeable insight into film.
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