Following my review of The Dark Knight Returns Part I are (you guessed it) random thoughts on The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. Like the first installment, the movie does a fine job of retelling Frank Miller’s grim and gritty story. And like the first installment, the art is much cleaner than the source material and isn’t nearly as distinct, but is probably more appealing to mainstream viewers. With a run time of 72 minutes and 30 seconds, I was very much satisfied with the conclusion of the series, but wish it was released as one movie from the get go. Now without further ado, here are some random thoughts on The Dark Knight Returns Part 2.
Batman vs. The Joker: While Batman was taking a long hiatus, Joker found life without his rival boring and allowed himself to be locked up in a psychiatric hospital. The return of Gotham’s hero reinvigorated Gotham’s greatest villain and the results were ghastly. The movie did a great job at showing what a psychopathic fiend and remorseless killer Joker is. Unlike most animated comic-book movies, this one had a villain that was truly frightening. Joker felt dangerous and his murder spree felt grisly. The conflict between Batman and Joker was brought to a bloody and satisfying conclusion for viewers, but left the hero with more problems than ever. Good stuff.
Cold War is Cold: One element of the movie that has lost impact over the years is the Corto Maltese subplot. When the graphic novel was released in 1986, the conflict between the United States and Russia was arguably the biggest global issue of the time. In 2013, it feels like a short and uneventful chapter in a high school history book. It just doesn’t feel as big a deal as it did back then, which takes away from the story (though that’s hardly Miller’s fault). I just don’t think the subplot will resonate with younger viewers the way it will with people that grew up with Cold War fear. The important thing is that it serves as a plot device that sets the stage for The Dark Knight vs. Big Blue.
Batman vs. Superman: While Batman and Superman have clashed over ideologies for decades, The Dark Knight Returns was the first book I read that treated the conflict in a major way. The two heroes have very different ideas on how to serve people and defeat villains. The conflict comes to a boiling point in the movie and the two duke it out. Thanks to a nuclear explosion, some kryptonite, and a tank-like battle-suit, Batman is able to hold is own. The animated version of this battle doesn’t feel as tragic as the print version; the motion actually detracts from the drama and makes it feel more like a typical wham-bam cartoon. That said, it’s a pretty sweet fight scene with a great conclusion.
Resolution: While the movie concludes with lots of destruction and death, there’s a twist at the very end that gives viewers hope. Gotham is in shambles, Wayne manor is in ashes, and the hero is seemingly six feet under. Being the clever old bastard that he is, Batman finds a way to survive, comes to an understanding with Superman, and is ready to give Gotham a fresh start (from the shadows, naturally). For a grim and gritty movie, the ending is surprisingly uplifting.
Conclusion: Like I said in my review of The Dark Knight Returns Part I, I wish the entire movie was released at once. It would have felt more complete and satisfying. That said, I understand that a total run time of over 148 isn’t what most people want from a movie, especially an animated superhero one. As a whole, I loved the The Dark Knight Returns and have it ranked as my second-favorite animated comic-book adaptation behind Batman: Under the Red Hood. While the art is a little bit too clean, the movie stays true to the original Frank Miller comics and is a fine version of one of the greatest Batman stories ever told.
Need to see this before I read the review.
I liked this movie a lot. The fight between Batman and Superman was pretty damn excellent. Dialog is spot on. I wouldn’t mind reading this graphic novel or at least browsing it.
Very happy I watched this. As a person who went into this without any knowledge of the source material, I was pretty surprised by Superman and the like.
Great to hear u enjoyed it SG.
I really felt the battle against Superman was the best part of this movie. The Joker plot is much better in the novel and lastly I still can’t get over Weller’s voice as batman. Other than that it was good and great movies for newbs to batman to see
I finally finished watching both movies back-to-back last week. Luckily for me I didn’t have the “time gap” problem you were talking about when waiting for the second part. I also read the graphic novel for the first time last year, so the story (and art) are still pretty fresh in my mind.
Overall, I say that the animated version was better than the book. Why? Well, maybe I say that because the book set up the premise for me and the movie allowed it to sink in. Maybe the animation lends itself as a better medium for telling the story than the static images of the book. Maybe because I am drunk. Who knows? All I know is that I liked the movie better. My points:
– You are right that the movie is damn near identical to the source material. You could almost see the animation moving frame by frame as in the novel. However, the movie added a bit more material (filler, if you will) than Miller’s original work. This added content was very subtle, but I think it made all the difference. I would like to go back to the story and really do a “side-by-side” comparison of the differences to see what exactly was added. But whatever was added, helped a lot.
– Did not like the voice acting for Batman. It was O.K. for the most part, but it lacked some emotion at certain key parts, notably, when he was trying to rile up the punk mutant gang during the blackout as well as his speech to the rioters. He kept his “Bruce Wayne” voice when he should have been using his “Braveheart” voice. Joker was adequate, but Conroy and Hamill are still the best I’ve heard when it comes to Batman and Joker voice acting respectively.
– Carrie is STILL the worst Robin I’ve ever seen. I think I honestly prefer Burt Ward over this chick. At least he was in line with his Batman. Carrie and Bruce is just such a huge mismatch, that it totally takes me out of the immersion and breaks the fantasy. (A slingshot, REALLY?!) But I guess it can’t be helped because it so closely sticks to the source material. I will say that the movie helped me to warm up to her a bit when you learn that her parents are self-rightious, hippie trash.
– Love how the movie brought you a very good sense of “future 80’s”, by which I mean how this very 80’s story brought you a vision of what they thought the future would look like. It’s a testament to Miller’s grim vision, but I thought it translated to video very well. I now realize that the president is a caricature of Reagan and not Bush (as I originally thought he was a hybrid of the two).
– I’ll admit that I still don’t get how some pieces of the story “flows” together (especially the Corto Maltese story jives with the Batman story) if at all, but at least the film helped me piece a few of those threads together, which is more than I can say for the book.
– Fight scene with Sups was epic, although I think I like the book’s climax better. The added ending scene of the movie was better than the book’s, however since it expanded on exactly what I wanted to see.
– All in all, I’d say it’s pretty good, but you are right, Mr. Padilla, Under the Red Hood is probably still the best DC animated movie I’ve seen to date.
… seriously, can we just give the DC animated movie department a crack at the JL movie script? They got a pretty solid track record.
-M
Another excellent and enjoyable read from Man of Ice. It’s hard to do, but how do you think you would have felt if you watched part one and knew you couldn’t watch the second part for several months?
I honestly would probably hate it. I call it “Kill Bill Syndrome” when a movie (or book or video game) comes out in two parts when it CLEARLY should be one, whole piece (Halo 2&3, anyone?). I could understand waiting a week or even a month, but anything longer and you have to go back to the first part, watch it (read it, play it) again to refresh your memory, then move on to the second one.
I am STILL waiting for Kill Bill 1&2 to be released as a single, stand-alone movie. This is the reason I haven’t bought the damn thing yet. This is also the reason that I waited until TDKR part 2 came out before I watched part 1. I don’t think I could stand it to just watch half and then wait and forget about it before the second half comes out. They really should have done the whole thing in one go or at least minimize the time it took to come out with the second part.
-M
My friend Paul and I were talking about this today during lunch. We definitely would have preferred it as one release, but there’s this perception that people don’t want to watch animated movies longer than two hours AND there’s also that money thing.
agreed about the superman fight. very well done and i enjoyed his dialogue in that segment. really sold the 2nd part to me.