This is the Batman movie I’ve waited a lifetime for.
The rest of the world can continue praising the animated series from the 90s until they turn blue in the face if they want to, but Warner Premiere’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 is the best on-screen adaptation of the Caped Crusader I’ve ever seen, outside of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 picks up a few months after the events of Part 1, with Gotham City and the rest of the world still coming to grips with the return of the Batman after a 10-year absence. Batman’s return has given birth to a gang of vicious vigilantes calling themselves the Sons of Batman, but it’s also awakened something far worse.
The reemergence of Batman (Peter Weller) has brought the Joker (voiced brilliantly by Lost’s Michael Emerson) out of a decade-long catatonic state, and the Clown Prince of Crime wastes no time getting back to his old tricks, setting up a final confrontation between the two arch-rivals.
Additionally, the media circus created by Batman’s renewal of his war on crime catches the attention of the US government, who forced Batman and the rest of the Justice League into retirement 10 years earlier. The only superhero remaining active and under the government’s control is dispatched to put Batman back on the leash – the Man of Steel himself (voiced in the film by Mark Valley).
If you read my review of Part 1 back in September, you’ll know that I took the folks at DC Animation to task for staying too faithful to Frank Miller’s classic graphic novel. With the second part, the film is played equally close to the source material with a big difference – this time it works.
The Dark Knight Returns began its life in 1986 as a four-issue miniseries, and the first two books (adapted into Part 1 last year) are fairly introspective. The biggest and most important beats aren’t action-oriented. They’re monologue-driven portraits of who Bruce Wayne is and why he needs Batman just as much as Gotham City.
The second two books of the series were written as though they were tailor-made to be put on-screen someday, and director Jay Oliva and screenwriter Bob Goodman are more than up to the task.
We see the Joker murder an entire talk show audience and dozens of people at the Gotham County Fair, two massive battles between Batman and the Gotham police, a showdown between Superman and the entire Soviet army (a running subplot has the US and Soviets closer than ever to all-out nuclear war), the final confrontation between Batman and the Joker, and everything comes to a head when Batman and Superman square off in every nerd’s dream fight.
In spite of all the massive set pieces, the pacing is perfect. A lesser director may well have allowed all of these sequences to fly out of control, but the film does a fine job of ensuring that each minute of screen time leads to the next. It may be a lot of knock-down, drag-out action, but it’s all in service to the story – a quality lacking in many DC animated adaptations.
As for the voice acting, this is by far the finest assembly of performances producer Bruce Timm and voice director Andrea Romano have put together yet.
While Weller and David Selby (who voices Jim Gordon) seemed to be going through the motions the first time around, they seem engaged and energetic in Part 2, lending considerable gravitas to their respective characters.
Ariel Winters returns as Carrie Kelly/Robin for this film, and she carries her enthusiasm from the first installment into this one. Carrie grows a lot as a character, transforming from the wide-eyed, precocious kid we met in Part 1 into Batman’s ultimate “good soldier.”
And then there’s Michael Emerson. The Joker is not an easy role to play, and many have tried in previous animated adaptations, the best of them seeming like pale imitations of Mark Hammil’s work from Batman: The Animated Series.
Emerson displays an uncannily-wide range in his performance, perfectly capturing both Joker’s madcap lust for senseless violence and his large capacity as a master manipulator. He goes from subtle to maniacal like turning on a light bulb, and it’s an absolute thing of beauty.
There are a ton of lists out there folks have made of the greatest Batman stories of all time, and The Dark Knight Returns is consistently at or near the top.
WB, despite a weak opening salvo with Part 1, has done the Caped Crusader’s most famous tale justice in a big, bad way.
High-Def Presentation
Warner Bros. brings The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 to Blu-ray with a gorgeous 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encode that absolutely puts prior DC animated releases to shame. The color palate is moody but still manages to take advantage of the wide variety of set pieces the film has to offer.
An early chase down an alley between Robin and one of the Joker’s flunkies is dark and eerie but still rich with detail. There’s also a scene late in the film when Superman is caught in a nuclear explosion that flushes the screen with vibrant colors while never overwhelming the viewer.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also great, with great transitions from quiet, dialogue-heavy scenes to exchanges of artillery fire. The mix heavily favors the front speakers, while not packing a lot of punch from the rear, but that’s a negligible complaint.
Beyond the Feature
This Blu-ray, like all DC animated flicks of recent memory, is packed with bonus materials. The highlights are a pair of documentary shorts.
First up is When Heroes Collide (9 minutes), a look at the earlier-mentioned Ultimate Question of the Nerds: “Who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman?” There are a number of interview subjects, including legendary Batman scribe Denny O’Neill, who ultimately carry a seemingly-insignificant convention argument into a fascinating discussion about the inherent differences and similarities between the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel.
The Joker: Laughing in the Face of Death (14 minutes) takes a look at what it is that makes Batman’s arch-nemesis tick and looks into why the character has connected with audiences so well. This feature is highlighted by archival interview footage with Jerry Robinson, the man largely responsible for the Joker’s creation in 1940.
In From Sketch to Screen: Exploring the Adaptation Process with Jay Oliva (44 minutes), the director walks us through the creation of several key scenes from the film with animatics and storyboards. I get the feeling that this was intended as an audio commentary track (which I would’ve preferred), but it’s still interesting and works well as a stand-alone feature.
Rounding out the bonus features are a trio of animated episodes (two from Batman: The Animated Series and one from Batman: The Brave and the Bold), a digital comic excerpt from Frank Miller’s original graphic novel, and a sneak preview of Superman: Unbound.
A few months back, I gave The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1 a hard time for staying too close to the source material.
Now, having seen The Dark Knight Returns – Part 2 also sticking with the bulk of Miller’s original work, I couldn’t be happier. Part 2 is a broad, over-the-top, cinematic story, and it’s treated with the utmost respect and delivers as a fantastic film.
Only Christopher Nolan has done better. This is a good Batman adaptation.
More than good enough.
Shop for The Dark Knight Returns – Part 1 on Blu-ray for a discounted price at Amazon.com.
