Ah, don't you just love being about a month behind on some things. It's glorious, it really is. Batman: The Killing Joke seemed to be July's big center of controversy for the greater collective of comic book nerds, and understandably so. It's one of the most beloved DC Comics stories ever and it's name alone can get people riled up. It was a highly anticipated animated film by both fan and cast alike, since Mark Hamill promised a return from Joker-retirement (though he would break that quite soon) if Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke were to be adapted. And here we are, and here this movie is.
I'm not going to bother you with a review proper. I don't want to review this movie, since my voice would be drowned out in the oceanic Internet and my thoughts are the same as everyone else's, really: The "prologue," as it were, was pointless to the overall story of the "killing joke," the material that everyone wanted to see. That material was adapted and done just fine, with the exception of the closing minutes, which were phenomenal.
I would like to, instead, discuss where I think the film went wrong. Because adapting The Killing Joke is a perfectly fine idea, and in fact this story probably needed to be adapted to film some time or another. We'd seen bits and pieces, ideas and such, dispersed throughout DC's line of live-action films across the years, but we've never seen the full picture.
The film went wrong when it decided to put too much attention on Batgirl in the beginning.
Whoa.
Slow down there, you good folk. I'm not saying Batgirl isn't strong enough to carry her own movie. Far from it! Her solo series has been one of DC's finest comics for years now. I love Babs, who doesn't? Barbara Gordon is one of my favorite female superheroes...but it was improper to place her at the forefront of this story.
Barbara isn't too great a player in The Killing Joke. The point of The Killing Joke is for Batman and the Joker to have their grand finale, their big moment. This is the do-or-die moment for either of them, the point where one of them just goes too far and it has to end. Jim Gordon and Barbara Gordon are put through the ringer, but we see all of this through Batman's perspective, because he has a close relationship with them.
Making Barbara the main character for more than a third of the film detracts from all of that. I didn't feel the weight of the moment of the carnival, it didn't seem like this was a climactic fight between them. The Joker seems to come out of nowhere in the film, if you haven't already read the graphic novel. The movie looks like it's going to be based around some stupid mob fight against Batgirl. Which could be a good movie, but when the promise of the film is for Batman and the Joker to be at odds, it's quite jarring.
Sure you can skip to the parts without Batgirl and probably get a much better experience, but that's like skipping to the end of Batman v. Superman to get a better experience. There's still stuff that came before it, there's still a whole other movie to be had. You're not looking at the film as a whole, and the problem with the film is that the focus is displaced from where it should be for the prologue.
I wouldn't mind if we follow Batgirl for maybe five minutes to see what her life is like, see how everything is, and then BAM. Bad things happen.
The best way that they could've, should've, done this is if they'd had Batgirl and Batman pursuing the Joker as the prologue. You have the opportunity to show why there are no Robins around, you get an idea for the relationship Batgirl and Batman have (and not in that way), and have some possible foreshadowing for what the Joker plans to do for the Gordon family. It leaves the focus on the crime-fighting and the Joker's overall plans.
The prologue with Batgirl being so long also makes the rest of the film seem to short. I kept wondering when it would end and when something would actually happen because dear Lord was none of it even interesting. It wasn't even relevant. Once the prologue is done, Barbara shows up twice in the whole rest of the movie. Good scenes, of course, but really? There's little point for showing all of that if we're not even going to spend any time with her.
Another flaw the film has, and one that I don't see people discussing, is how odd the flashbacks to the Joker's past are. It works better in the graphic novel because of the way that Alan Moore painted the story, and the transitions that Brian Bolland used in the artwork. In the film, it just cuts randomly to the past, setting up the nameless comedian into becoming the Joker as we know him. The flashbacks themselves were fine, but there was little indication that they were coming. The transitions could've been better and would made things smoother to follow.
The only real saving grace is how much they depended on the original source material. Some things were changed, yes, but man there are so many scenes pulled right out of the graphic novel that it was a blast to see them animated. DC's animation studio has been on top of things the last few years and it doesn't stop here, this movie looks awesome. I think the only flaw is that they slightly changed Batman's design, but, it's a very minor complaint.
The best parts are the parts that you can easily tell were ripped right out of the comic, listening to the words while visualizing them on the page. It's far different from anything else in the movie...because it's really so good. It's terrifyingly good, and it made me want to read the graphic novel over again. I suppose the film succeeds in some regard, then.
The ending is even more controversial than before. Whereas in the comic it's the illustrations that make you wonder what's going on, in the film it's the noise that makes you wonder what's happened. I bet if the whole Batgirl opening scene hadn't thrown so many people off they would still be discussing this now. Maybe some years later we'll look back on this film and wonder, "Did he really do it?" I like to think he didn't, but...I don't know.
I guess it's a discussion for another day.
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