LA Magazine: Elite Reviews, Vol. 3 - Batman: The Killing Joke

I’m a huge fan of superhero movies. Batman and Spider-Man have always been a big part of the entertainment of my life, whether I read about them in comic books, play as them in a video game, or watch them kick ass on the big screen. From what I have watched personally, the animated Batman films are usually better than the big budget live action films (except for The Dark Knight, obviously), with films like Under the Red Hood, The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, and most importantly, Batman: The Animated Movie (more commonly known as Mask of the Phantasm). Seeing as Killing Joke is not only one of my favorite, but also one of the best Batman comics ever published, my hopes were through the roof for this movie.

Before we get into it, I must acknowledge that this film finally brought back what many of the past animated Batman films lacked: Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker. For the first time in 16, we were finally able to hear them reunite in this film. There are no better voice actors to portray these rolls than these two powerhouses. In the animated universe, they own these fucking roles.

Now for the review. I’m going to spice things up with this review (as I usually try to do. If I kept the same formula for each review, this shit wouldn’t be any fun to read) and compare the negatives/positives of the film. Let’s start with the bad shit.

NEGATIVES

This film clocks in at 1 hour and 15 minutes. That’s not bad at all, that’s just animated superhero film standard. What strikes me as fucking annoying is how only 45 of the 75 total minutes have actually ANYTHING to do with The Killing Joke whatsoever. I get it, The Killing Joke isn’t the longest comic in the world, so we had to fill time. The only problem is, the exhaustingly long first act is completely disjointed from the second (aka the actual fucking story). We are treated to 30 god damn minutes of a backstory for Batgirl, who, by the end of the film, has literally 0 closure or any sort of actual development to her character. As the film makers shove her stupid story down our throats, we are made to believe that Batgirl is building a path of rebellion and independence from Batman. She doesn’t like taking his orders and she wants to run things her own way. This is basically done to make her seem like a strong and independent ass kicking woman, rather than another simple sidekick of Batman’s. This would have worked if only the plot did her character justice. After the first 30 minutes where she is built up, the actual Killing Joke story tears her down completely. Joker shoots her in the stomach and paralyzes her, and that’s basically it. Her entire story and conflict of the first 30 minutes bares no meaning to the rest of the plot. Everything that had to do with Batgirl just abruptly ends as the real Killing Joke story begins, and it couldn’t make any less sense than it already does.

By the way, Batman fucks Batgirl. Yes, this Rated R cartoon features unprotected Batsex.

Another negative is that, because of how disjointed the 2 acts are, the Joker doesn’t actually appear in his own movie until the middle of it. That’s not a good thing… to add onto this, the infamous “one bad day” monologue is so chopped and screwed, with pieces of it missing. Yes, you read that right. They actually REMOVED small parts of the monologue, and for no real reason… like, at all. So, what was a really dark, twisted, and sad monologue that flowed together perfectly was turned into a bunch of misconstrued rambling. Mark Hamill (yes, Mark fucking Hamill) of all people didn’t even sound into it either. The idea behind the Joker monologue is to make you feel for the Joker and his backstory. His life sucks. You’re supposed to feel bad for him. In this film adaptation, Hamill doesn’t deliver anything in this monologue that’s even heartfelt at all. He’s just screaming for a majority of it, honestly. I don’t know what’s worse, the disjointed rambling scream-fest of a monologue, or the background noise that goes with it. I swear to God, half of this chopped up version of the monologue is almost inaudible due to The Joker slamming pots and pans on the fucking floor while he’s talking. Just.. ugh…

Enough of my bitching. Time for the happy part of the review!

POSITIVES

Aside from the nonsensical and completely non-canon intro, the actual Killing Joke portion of The Killing Joke is fucking awesome. The film’s second act stayed completely true to the comics and never missed a beat. Excluding his monologue, Hamill was this movie’s highlight. He delivers some of his best Joker that he ever has here in this film. His voice is more haunting and creepy than ever before (if you were a fan of the Animated Series, please note that I’m not bullshitting. The tone of the Joker’s voice is way more raw, deep, gritty and bone chilling than it ever was in the 90’s). Conroy is the same Batman as ever, disgruntled and filled with angst in his voice. He continues to own the role of Batman. Nothing has changed.

The flashbacks of Joker’s backstory are also great. They don’t deviate from the comics at all, it’s really just a completely accurate visual representation of what you’ve been reading for 25 years. Hamill as a young Joker works well also. You can tell he’s just an average man who’s slowly slipping away the more he fails to provide.

Also, after he falls into the vat of chemicals and emerges as the Joker… that laugh. Man, that laugh. Priceless.

The entire sequence of Joker torturing Commissioner Gordon on an amusement park ride is spot on. Hilarious song and dance on top of Joker forcing Gordon to look at pictures of Barbara after being shot, it’s very dark and surreal. It makes you cringe a little, almost as if you have a feeling of hope that no one in real life will ever be as fucked up as this guy is to do these things.

The final sequence where Joker and Batman share a laugh is very warm and hopeful in the sense of closure. While both are clearly psychotic, and nothing is bound to change, they went out sharing a laugh. It gives a sense of normality to this fucked up story.

OVERALL

The Killing Joke had the potential to be the greatest animated Batman film of all time in my opinion, but fell a little short with non-canon storytelling that was accompanied with half-baked ideas and poor character development and plot points. When it stays true to it’s original story, The Killing Joke is a force of a film. The voice acting is damn near phenomenal (aside of that god damn monologue) and the sadistic and brooding mood of the entire film keeps you completely unsettled throughout it’s entirety. Let’s just hope that if there’s ever a sequel, Batgirl and Batman use some Batbirthcontrol for their rooftop Batlove.

Final Score: 7/10

Want more reviews? Let me know in your feedback!

Future film reviews to come:

Thanks for reading!