Batman: The Killing Joke Movie Review!

Hello DC fans, this is my review of The Killing Joke movie adaptation! Know we have been hating on this movie, but here’s something rarely said about it… a positive review!

Know I think this has been a over hated in my opinion, and while I do agree with some of the criticism, I actually like it. Yes, I do, and I’m gonna talk about why!

Know let’s start out with the whole Batman and Batgirl having sex thing. Now I actually didn’t care. No seriously I didn’t. Maybe it’s wrong, but in the Batman Beyond comics, it’s revealed that Bruce got Barbara pregnant. Wait. No ones hating DC for actually having Batman get Batgirl pregnant, but when he simply just haves sex without getting her pregnant, that’s when the hate comes in? Feels weird to me.

Anyways, my suggestion is to skip the prologue and watch the actual Killing Joke parts, I did. I just feel like it should have been written better, then I would have watched it. I just feel like maybe if it adapted Death in the Family it would have been better since it happened in the same year both by the Joker himself. I understand why they added extra parts, it would have just been like 30 minutes, but they should have just expanded the story and answer some questions such as “How did the Joker get the freaks to join him?” or, “How did the Joker find out where Gordon and Barbara lived?” and, “How did the Joker even escape and get a replacement?” There’s just a lot of wasted potential with it, that I think they should have delve into some more.

Know let’s talk about Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill’s as Joker. The best Batman and Joker ever have returned to give us another great performance for this film! I think they did the characters perfectly! That’s all I have to say for Batman and Joker.

Now let’s talk about how it compares to the comic version. It adapted the comic version amazingly! Unlike the Batman: Hush adaptation. Every panel we see is perfectly remade in animation, but it doesn’t feel as great though. There’s a version on YouTube which has the art style of the original comic, and it’s ashamed that it looks better, because it does adapt the film amazingly, it feels like it could have been better, and that what bothers me. This had so much opportunity but it doesn’t feel like it tried to.

Though it does get the characters right, except for the prologue, and it has the animation in a great! I think this is a good animated Batman film, but it could have been better.

Though with all its flaws, I like it. I give this Batman film, a 6.5/10.

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I give it a 2/10. Hamill gives a great performance, but the whole opening is awful, and I was constantly rooting for Paris. By then I have very little care for the main show.

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It’s okay if you don’t like it. But I think some of it is fine with me though.

There is nothing wrong with liking it. I like Superman 3 and love Independence Day 2.

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Correct. I actually like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin for gods sake! I also hated Batman v Superman before, but know I love it.

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I don’t know what you’re talking about here. I remember seeing a lot of outrage when that issue came out, and it definitely got reignited when the Killing Joke adaptation got released. If anything, the only reason why the Batman Beyond comic didn’t get the same level of outrage out of DC fans as The Killing Joke movie was because TKJ was released in theaters and based off of an iconic Batman graphic novel, whereas the Batman Beyond comic was far more niche.

I strongly disagree with this. Trying to cram Death in the Family into the Killing Joke movie would not have gone as smoothly as you think, primarily because altering the ending to either story would seriously screw with the message.

You point out that DITF and TKJ were released around the same time, so let’s go with the actual chronology here. TKJ came out in March 1988, DITF came out in November 1988. That would mean that the plot to TKJ would go first in the movie, and about halfway through, you have Batman, Joker, the joke about the two guys in the insane asylum, and instead of fading to black, you cut back to Arkham, and Joker’s escaped all over again. So now after the slow burn of Killing Joke, you get this globe-trotting adventure where Robin dies, and Batman’s attitude towards Joker goes from “I can rehabilitate you” to “I will see you bleed out in this helicopter if it’s the last thing I do” all within 75 minutes of screentime. So overall, really unsatisfying, and you rob the audience of the ambiguous ending that made Killing Joke so great.

Now let’s say for the sake of argument that you reverse the two stories. Globe-trotting adventure, Robin dies, and Batman swears vengeance upon Joker. Even if you play around with the plot threads and skip over Joker’s time as an Iranian ambassador, so instead you go straight from blowing Robin up in Ethiopia to Joker buying the amusement park and crippling Barbara, it would be ridiculous if Batman went through all of that and still offered to rehabilitate Joker and take him in “by the book”. You effectively take away the impact Robin’s death had on Batman in DITF.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think 6.5/10 is a pretty fair rating for the Killing Joke movie (at least in my opinion), but I really felt like throwing in my two cents here. Is it over-hated? Yes, probably. Would it be better if they snuck in Death in the Family? Absolutely not.

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I think you make some good arguments my for end. I just didn’t know much about these things. Though I’m glad you agree with me.

I think this is what they should have done to expand a single issue into a movie- ditch the prologue/epilogue idea and emulate Superman vs the Elite. Add in character focused flashbacks throughout the movie. One obvious one is a simple addition to the flashbacks in the comic, add one where Joker and Batman face off for the first time. The comic mentioned Gordon giving Barbara nightmares by describing Joker to her. Visualize her nightmares in a horror sequence. Now it is movie length and still has the beginning, middle, and end of the comic.

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That sounds like a pretty good idea.

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Thanks.

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Thanks for your review @BatmanFan2007! I’m always interested to hear differing opinions from my own. I can certainly see the argument that TKJ movie is overhated. I do think a lot of the fandom dogpiled on it based entirely on the prologue sequence. As for my personal opinion, I think bits that are from the original comic are pretty great. And I actually like the epilogue with Barbara deciding to become Oracle. It’s a great sentiment.

However, having Bruce and Barbara sleep together counteracts whatever power that epilogue is supposed to have. Prologue Barbara seems to want to be vigilante purely to get into Batman’s pants. It’s tremendously unprofessional. And it makes Batman look bad too.

As for combining it with Death in the Family. I don’t think that would make sense pacing wise. I could see it mentioned in passing and that’s why Batman is keeping Batgirl at arm’s length. But I wouldn’t shoehorn it in there. I think @MatthewHecht’s idea is the best solution.

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That you mccaggers91. It would still be a good idea to have The Killing Joke and Death in the Family combined into one, but that does sound good.

Insightful assessment here @mccaggers91. I’m in thorough agreement with your take.

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