The Dark Knight Returns: A Proper Batman Movie

Anyone like me who has read Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns dozens of times has probably also wondered what kind of movie it would make. Well thanks to producer Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) and writer Bob Goodman you need wonder no more! Yes, the film an army of batfans have waited a lifetime to see has finally been made—albeit an animated one, produced in two parts, that went straight to DVD. As somebody who was ultimately very dissatisfied with Chris Nolan's recent, massively over-hyped trilogy, I was more than a little apprehensive about watching a movie adaption of one of my all time favourite comic books. But I can honestly say that I wasn't disappointed at all. If anything, The Dark Knight Returns (part 2 especially) exceeded my expectations.

 

If you've never read it, Frank Miller's original work is widely considered to be one of the greatest—if not the greatest—Batman stories ever written. More than that, it is, unlike the vast majority of comics, actually taken seriously as literature and Time ranked it as one of the the 10 best graphic novels ever written. I don't want to give too much away but basically the story goes something like this: It is a bleak near-future in which the Cold War is ongoing and superheroes have been outlawed. Batman, now 55, has been retired for ten years following the death of his partner, the second Robin, Jason Todd. But Gotham City is going to hell at the hands of a criminal organisation called "The Mutants" and Batman is driven by his inner demons to once again don the cape and cowl and take his city back. He eventually defeats the Mutant leader and the organisation disbands. But then he must face the equally grievous threat of his arch-nemesis the Joker, who is awakened from a catatonic state by Batman's reappearance. Along the way, Commissioner Gordon retires and is replaced by Ellen Yindel whose first act as Commissioner is to issue a warrant for the Batman's arrest. Eventually, Superman—who is weakened from having just stopped a nuclear warhead launched by the Russians—is asked by the President to bring Batman in. But Batman, who has no intention of coming along quietly, may be the only man in the world with the ingenuity to take Superman down.

 

It is almost impossible to overstate the impact The Dark Knight Returns had when it was first published in 1986. The very first prestige-format limited series, aimed at mature readers, it parodied (among other things) the sensationalist U.S. media and the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Miller's Batman was a brutal vigilante who revelled in violence and was seemingly as happy punching the faces of cops as he was robbers. As such, he not only set the template for all future Batman stories, but those of literally hundreds of other comic book heroes too. Grittier versions of popular characters like Green Arrow and Aquaman would soon follow and almost every superhero would eventually take on a darker hue. Simply put, The Dark Knight Returns was a game-changer that revolutionised the superhero genre. Many would argue that Alan Moore's Watchmen, first published a few months after Dark Knight, is the pinnacle of superhero comics. But for my money Dark Knight has it beat hands-down.

So how well does it translate to film? Really, really well. So well, in fact, that part 1 has a 100% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The traditional animation (always preferable to CGI) is inspired and the voice acting is top notch. Peter "Robocop" Weller makes a mean Batman, Mark Valley is a near-perfect Superman, and Michael Emerson—despite having some pretty big shoes to fill—makes the Joker all his own. There is one major element of the graphic novel that is missing from the movie: Batman's monologue. At first, I wasn't sure how this would work. After all, some of the best lines in the book are those Batman utters to himself. But the truth is that keeping the monologue would have weighed the film down. In fact, there is so much of it in the book that were it used in the movie it would have sounded more like a director's commentary. The golden rule of cinema is "don't tell me when you can show me" and Bob Goodman clearly understands this principle. Ultimately, he made the right choice and I'm convinced the film is better for it.

If you've read the graphic novel, and you haven't done so already, you should rush out and buy both DVDs. If you haven't then you should get the lot because you're seriously missing out on some top-notch entertainment.