First watched in the theater 7/25/2016
As a big fan of the DC animated universe and their direct to DVD films the idea of seeing The Killing Joke adapted has always been on my mind and really anticipated.
So when I heard we were getting Kevin Conroy, Tara Strong, and especially Mark Hamill to reprise their roles from Batman the Animated Series was like a dream come true.
I might be biased in this sense but I have always thought that Conroy, Strong, and Hamill were the antithesis of Batman, Batgirl, and The Joker respectfully. While I have enjoyed the various live action portrayals of these characters I still feel as though they pale in comparison because these voice actors understand what goes on in these character's heads and breathe life into them like no one else could. So to see them come together for this landmark in comic book history was just amazing.
That's another thing I can't stress enough if you haven't read it yet go out and read The Killing Joke it is short but it is so so sweet in every aspect. Because I can't lie the graphic novel is better then this adaptation but that's almost par for course with every adaptation (almost).
So you might think this was a disappointing experience for me right? No actually I loved this movie.
I don't know if it was because I got to see it on the big screen at my local theater or that there was this behind the scenes look into it and a Mark Hamill interview about his history as The Joker but I loved seeing this story come to life with the characters I grew up with.
Now a lot of fans are divided about this film. Primarily the criticism seems to come from the Batgirl prologue they added in order to make sure the run time met a suitable length; especially with the fact that Barbara ending up (SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON SKIP TO THE BOTTOM IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS)
sleeping with Bruce. Now a lot of people have said this is creepy because he is like her father or that she and Dick Grayson always had a thing on the animated series and this is just Bruce Timm living out his creepy fantasy. I respectfully disagree. First off Batman has always kept himself at a distance with people no matter who he brings into the Bat family he keeps them at arms length he isn't so much a father (except maybe towards the various Robins who he has adopted at some point) but Batgirl is an independent force in all this she is old enough to make her own decisions and like any person she can make mistakes and so can Batman.
Secondly, Barbara already has a father figure in her life . . . HER FATHER!!! She doesn't view Bruce as a father figure but as a mentor and an equal. Also, hints at possible feelings for each other have been dropped numerous times in the animated series before and please Dick Grayson in the animated series was a tool. Barbara doesn't want that. So yeah in my personal opinion I don't see anything wrong with this in fact I almost wish we could have an entire film where Batman and Batgirl work together and kick ass. So on its own I don't think it is a bad story I actually quite liked the humor and the struggles both internally and externally.
However, I would be lying if I said this was a good fit for The Killing Joke. But, to be fair The Killing Joke Graphic Novel is so perfect and powerful that no matter what you add to it that new material wouldn't be as good. But, I still enjoyed the prologue and thought it did its job for what is was trying to do. But, as other fans have said maybe adding more scenes from The Joker's past and present would have been more effective.
Also, I should address the elephant in the room about the issue of Barbara on whether or not she was raped by The Joker. Initially I never saw that connection from the graphic novel; because I always felt like The Joker was more asexual and whatever things he did with Harley (you wanna rev up your Harley) I always felt like that was to keep her appeased and after all they always have had a destructive relationship. However, certain lines of dialogue and the shooting of scenes in this film almost seemed to imply that The Joker really did do that to Barbara.
However, after doing some research I discovered that the word of God have both said this isn't the case. Straight from Alan Moore the author of The Killing Joke he stated that never happened because The Joker isn't interested in sex anymore and Bruce Timm has also stated that he didn't see it that way and it wasn't his intention at all to imply that in this film. So take both of those creators statements into consideration.
But, as for the source material it is spot on. The voice acting and inflections perfect. The musical number by The Joker perfect. The laughs and scares in this perfect. The psychology aspects perfect. Mark Hamill's voicing of The Joker before he became The Joker perfect. And above all Hamill's delivery of the titular killing joke at the end was perfect I have heard fan renditions of it online and I thought they were pretty good but Hamill's rendition was truly perfect it made the whole auidence myself included laugh out loud in the theater along with Joker and Batman.
I am sorry if it seems like nostalgia googles or fanboying are fueling my opinion but I really thought hard before writing this (hell it has been about a month as of today 8/27/2016) I let the initial reaction and my emotions cool down and I re-read my copy of The Killing Joke and thought long and hard about my true feelings toward it. But, after all that I couldn't find any things that make me personally hate or ruin my experience and thoughts on this movie.
So in short I love it's one of DC's best :)
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