I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I know the decision to pair Batman and Batgirl is controversial, but Timm & Co. have previously planted the seeds for this sort of thing in *Batman Beyond*, so it didn't bother me the way it seems to have bothered many. I also appreciated that rather than just making Barbara a prop for the Joker, the film gave her her own story, with her own thematic tie to the traditional *Killing Joke* story, where she too has to face the abyss and decide whether to let it consume her. It wasn't perfect, but trafficked in many of the same themes and Tara Strong in particular did a great job at conveying the complexity of the character and her conflicting motivations.

The second half of the film, which follows the source material more closely, was tremendous. Featuring a bravura performance from Mark Hamill who has, to my mind, become the definitive Joker, the film does well at embracing Moore and Bolland's themes of Joker's nihilism contrasted with Batman's steadfastness even in the face of unspeakable horrors. The art, the score, the animation, and the atmosphere of the adaptation were superb. It managed to be unflinching without devolving into grimdark nonsense, and even showed a fair amount of discretion in execution. It's a worthy exploration of the themes of the original (which the film takes from dutifully), and a superb culmination of Timm, Hamill, Strong, and the rest of the DCAU team's work with these characters.

Well, this is a shame. This comic is one of the best of all time. Seriously, it is amazing. So you'd think that a animated movie adaptation from it would be great for sure.

And then you start the movie and it is about Batgirl going on a random, generic mission. Batgirl getting annoyed and angry with Batman. Batgirl banging Batma- wait... what? WHAT IS GOING ON? THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COMIC'S STORY.

Yea, they literally just tacked on some junk to make this at least 75min. Frankly, that first 30ish minutes in is worthless. I have no idea who wrote that and thought it matched the tone for the source material.

Then we do get into the direct adaptation. Now it is sticking very close to the comic, down to the same exact lines and frames. Part of me likes that, but the other part wonders why it is even needed. Why not just read the comic if it is going to stick directly to it? Well, whatever, it is great dialogue and a fantastic plot.

And then I go back to thinking it doesn't fit the comic well enough. In some scenes, the timing doesn't feel right at all. Some of the lines just don't come out like I feel the scene's tone is supposed to be. One big moment is the dramatic shooting. Gordon's reaction to that event does not seem nearly as emotional as it should be.

Finally, the closing scene starts of great. Mark Hamill, oh, I don't think I mentioned this yet. Mark Hamill is great as always. So Mark Hamill starts it off, and that leads to some combined laughing. His works, he knows how his character laughs. But Batman... his laugh seems really fake to me. That kind of ruins the impact of that finale.

Not as bad as the epilogue scene though, that made it worse.

Well this was a flat joke.

Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the best graphic novel ever written by Alan Moore. It's dark, haunting and really engaging. It took two iconic characters Batman/Joker and dissects the relationship between the two and how both of them tick. It's such an interesting storyline that was pulled off so magnificently. I'm not a comic book reader myself but I do consider the graphic novel to as brilliant. Word quickly spread that a movie adaption was on it's way and I sure was excited for it.

Bruce Timm and Sam Liu were directing. Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy
Tara Strong and Ray Wise are set to star. It's based on the most beloved graphic novel ever.

What's not to get excited.

And then I saw the movie and I wasn't impressed. This was very disappointing since it had so much going for it, but somehow fell so short.

Barbara Gordon 30 minute prologue was by far the weakest part of the film. I know the creators wanted to add some character to her since didn't have that much in the comic. If so, It could have been so much better, because it added nothing to the movie and it did drag it down. I don't care about Barbara Gordon, I'm here to watch "The Killing Joke". At one point I was wondering when the actual film was going to start and it eventually dose. It would have been cool if we saw how the Joker broke out of Arkham, having extra scenes of Joker torturing Jim Gordon, or creating the death of Joker's wife that the book never showed, maybe even add a few more investigation scenes and conversations with Alfred. That would have easily covered the extra 30 minutes that was added.

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill both are once again brilliant as the characters. Their voices are so iconic to the character's that nobody could top the brilliance of Hamill & Conroy. It's no surprise that both are the best parts of the movie.

The animation doesn't look that good and I can't be the only one that thinks that. How much better would it have been if the animation was visually striking and more effort was put into it. There are parts in this where I thought the animation was pretty damn good and also parts when the animation was pretty bad.

Now lets talk about the most controversial scene in the movie that involves Batman and Batgirl having sex. Yes, that actually happens in this movie and it dose nothing with the main plot. The sex between them had no real emotion to it and it's only thrown in there to get Batman angry when Barbara gets shot. The Batman and Batgirl sex scene was like a creepy fan fiction that some die-hard fan would write or draw to satisfy their fantasy.

Overall rating: Batman: The Killing Joke is basically a giant middle finger to the fans who loved Alan Moore's novel. I never really felt engaged in the story and the emotional impact that was in the graphic novel is nowhere here. It was rushed, dull and very flat. Fans and Alan Moore deserve better.

I expected so much more from this and I think everyone did.

OK, so I'll admit I was expecting something closer to the graphic novel, and I was pretty disappointed that it only really loosely followed something that was epicly brilliant as the comic.

However, I'm not a stickler for total accuracy.

And, really it is better than most of the other Batman movies, it does manage to tell a good story and reveal some of the Joker's ever-changing and never consistent backstory, even if it does gloss over a lot of it.

In the end, especially in this current era it's a reminder of how great comic books used to be and how great they could be again if they only started telling actual stories once more.

Not even the voice acting could save this movie. Check out my full review here.

http://www.hweird1reviews.com/allreviews/the-killing-joke-movie-review