Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s Animation Bang time again and today we’re looking at Batman. Ah~ Batman, besides being the greatest superhero the world has ever known he also has the best rogue gallery of all time and standing at the top of that rogue gallery is none other than The Joker. He is everything Batman isn’t and is the perfect yin to Batman’s yang. Over the years these two have battle countless times in multiple comics. No matter how many renditions you see or read The Joker will always be there to fight Batman and will go down in history as being one of the best villains ever. Yet despite this we really don’t know that much about him. He’s never been given a full backstory into how he became The Joker. The only thing we know for certain is that he fell into a vat of acid which changed his life forever but other than that nothing else. What did he do before he became The Joker is a total mystery, there have been multiple origin stories but they’ve never been confirmed as true or not. But the one origin story everyone likes to believe is The Killing Joke story. Coming out in 1988, The Killing Joke was a one-shot graphic novel written by Alan Moore who wrote V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and other notable DC comics and was drawn by Brian Bolland who drew Judge Dredd vs Judge Doom and Camelot 3000. This was one of the first novels that tried to provide an origin story for The Joker and it’s also considered one of the best and darkest Batman comics out there. This novel holds a special place in my heart as this was the first Batman book/comic I read. Yeah, back in middle school I was scrolling through the comic book department of my Border’s bookstore when I saw the novel and decided to pick it up. Keep in mind, at this point the only thing Batman-related I was familiar with were the live-action movies and animated show so I thought this novel was gonna be like the animated show. Boy was I wrong. This novel was dark, violent, scary, but at the same time beautiful. The artwork was amazing and the writing was captivating that I couldn’t put the novel down at all. It opened my eyes to the true nature of Batman and I liked it. Fast forward to late last year and it was announced that WB was going to turn the hit novel into a movie and not just any movie a rated R animated movie featuring the voices of the legendary Mark Hamill as The Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman. Fans were excited and anticipated this movie for months until it finally came out 2 months ago. Did it live up to the hype? No not really but it was still good. Let’s see what they did right and what they did wrong in this dark tale. This is Batman: The Killing Joke.
They start the movie with some filler (gotta pad out the runtime somehow) where Batman and Batgirl are chasing this truck being driven by mobsters. They manage to stop the truck but the perpetrators get away. Luckily, Barbara uses the police cameras (daddy’s little hacker) to find the ringleader in an alleyway trying to steal priceless artifacts and belongings from his uncle (man, stealing from your own family. That’s just low). Batgirl springs onto the scene where she manages to take out the two underlings but the ringleader turns out to be a bit more of a challenge than she would have thought. She gets sprayed with sleeping gas but manages to escape just in time (yeah I prefer one of first crushes not to get raped by mobsters). She wakes up later at night to meet up with Batman and find out who they’re up against a guy named Paris and he wants her to stay out of this for her own good which pisses her off. So after that scene Barbara goes to the library and vents about her relationship with Batman with her gay friend (man bitches be crazy). Paris eventually sends a video to the police asking to meet Batgirl again and since the guy has objectified and become personally attracted/obsessed with Batgirl, Batman wants her to sit this case out for her own safety. But she refuses and goes to face Paris herself. He leads her on a wild goose chase where we see he took out his own uncle and has to fight her way out only to get saved by Batman. This of course leads to another argument on the rooftop (can’t you guys fight at home or in the cave like normal people?), where it gets physical, and then sexual (scene here: //youtu.be/BfoAUOzQHlw. Okay wow. That was both hot and a little disturbing at the same time. How did that even happen? We go from a very intense fight scene to Batgirl taking off her shirt and everything. Also, a little disturbing seeing a college girl doing it with a guy who’s got to be in his 40s and is old enough to be her father. I know this kind of stuff happens in real life but it’s still kind of disturbing. Not to mention you just did it with your most trusted ally’s daughter. Putting her in harm’s way is one thing but doing it with her, that’s just wrong. Also for those of you out there acting all opposed by this scene remember it’s an R-rated movie not to mention Batgirl initiated the act and Batman just gave into the temptation. In truth, both parties are at fault here and gave into their desires). So after that magical night, Batman pretty much avoids her all together (can’t believe I’m saying this but details. Was he good? How was she Batman? What positions did you do? Please tell me) until she finally works up the nerve to call him and they talk where she tries to see if they can get things to go back to the way they were (//youtu.be/_n5E7feJHw0) but Batman says they’ll talk later. He heads down to the docks to take on Paris where he falls into a trap and gets corner only to get saved by Batgirl where she beats the hell out of Paris blaming him for ruining everything (pretty sure you did that yourself. I’m just saying. He didn’t point at you and tell you to have sex with him, you did that yourself. Scene here: //youtu.be/prG7QIs1BbE). After Paris gets arrested Barbara decides to hang up her cape and caw and move on with her life for her own safety and good (well that was a pointless prologue. Let’s move on to the real story).
So after about 30 minutes of filler we get to the real story. Batman gets called in and sees a room of dead bodies with smiles on their faces (okay, now we’re getting into the stuff I was expecting to see and yes, it is creepy). Batman wants to speak with The Joker so he goes to his cell to talk about their relationship into what’s going to happen to them (oh that’s an easy one. One of you will die or both of you will die). After talking for a bit Batman discovers that The Joker he’s talking to is a fake and he goes apeshit demanding to know where the real Joker is (scene here: //youtu.be/zI-wRaRhB10, probably honky Harley Quinn. It’s what I would do). We then cut to The Joker where we see he’s buying a carnival (I’m sure it’ll be a better carnival then the Dark Carnival from ICP) and as he’s buying the carnival we get to see a glimpse into his possible past (I say possible because one of the great things about this comic is that we’re not really sure if this is The Joker’s real past. Chances are he’s confusing his past with someone he’s killed and has placed himself in the story. It really speaks volume about The Joker’s character. Like he’s so gone that he doesn’t even remember how he became the person he is today) where we see he was a struggling comedian who was married with a pregnant wife and they were poor (scene here: https://youtu.be/FubrQBXw9nY. Damn, it’s confirmed. The Joker is good in the sack. That explains why Harley goes back to him again and again). After this flashback we return to the present where The Joker pays a visit to the Gordons residence and shoots Barbara in the stomach (and despite being an R-rated movie they don’t show it. Come on guys, you’re an R-rated movie. Take advantage of it. Earn that R-rating). The shot doesn’t kill her but it pretty much shatters a piece of her spine and paralyzes her from the waist down, she’ll never walk again (scene here: https://youtu.be/7J8fRdipe3U). We then get another flashback to The Joker agreeing to help the mob pull a heist by breaking into a chemical plant he used to work at in order for the mob to get to a bank to rob it in order to get some money. In order to hide his identity, they give him the Red Hood outfit and even though he still has his doubts he agrees to go along with the heist (scene here: https://youtu.be/NVscMCOd4Rs). Batman goes to visit Barbara in the hospital where it’s hinted that on top of being paralyzed for life she might have been raped as well (scene here: //youtu.be/TQijftay9qU).
We then go to Joker’s carnival (they are not responsible for your death or the death of your family members) where Jim is being parade around naked for all the freaks to laugh at. What’s the point of all this, to drive Jim mad. Joker is trying to use Jim to prove to Batman that there’s really not that much difference between him and the average man. That deep down everyone is just like The Joker with the only thing separating them is one bad day. The Joker makes the argument that he’s the person he is today is because he had one terrible, awful, and horrible day where everything just went bad for him and he blames Batman for it seeing as how he capped off his bad day by making him fall into a vat of acid which bleached his skin white and turned him into The Joker who saw the world as just one big joke (scenes here:https://youtu.be/aS7DfbbSj1I and https://youtu.be/PzAhatKEeRI). Anyway, while Batman searches the city looking for The Joker (scene here:https://youtu.be/8ZftrntSveQ. Okay the second random goon interrogation was a stupid change. In the novel he went to go interrogate The Penguin which makes more sense because it’s The Penguin, the crime lord of Gotham’s underbelly. He may not be the most imposing of Batman’s rogue gallery but he’s the guy with information. If there’s criminal activity going on in Gotham he’ll know about it. Plus, it would have been so much cooler hearing him say he’s terrified of The Joker) we get to see Jim’s situation where The Joker starts the descent into madness by talking about memories (scene here: //youtu.be/sZLE_U495uM), followed by a trial scene where The Joker tries to turn Jim against Batman (scene here: //youtu.be/jhk9ztvoYFg), and a song number because we the fans demand to hear Mark Hamill sing (scene here: //youtu.be/thEVDw9pRSk). After the ride we see Jim pretty much dead and unresponsive (Jim, if it’s alright for me to date Barbara don’t say anything) and The Joker sends Batman his invitation to the carnival. He quickly dispenses of the sideshow freaks and then goes to see Jim where he’s still sane and wants Batman to bring The Joker in by the book to show him their way works (even though it doesn’t because in a real world setting The Joker would have been killed a long time ago along with other characters in the rogue gallery). Batman enters the funhouse as The Joker gives his “One bad day” monologue the high point of the whole series. Now Mark and Kevin do a good job reading their lines but the main problem is that Mark is given no narrative on how to read these lines. He just reads them; we don’t hear any emotion whatsoever from him which is such a waste because this is where The Joker is pouring out all his heart here. He’s trying desperately to show us his way of thinking. He should sound sad and angry that no one understands him and simply ignores his line of thinking. He’s a guy who thinks he has everything figured out and is trying to get everyone around him to see that but instead it all falls on death ears and he is left alone in the world (scene here: https://youtu.be/EvLlWh-guck, and with this scene I can now die an even happier man. Even if there was no narrative just hearing them speak those lines makes me happy). As Joker sits there defeated expecting Batman to pound him into the dirt Batman instead talks to him about how he doesn’t want to hurt him or kill him. He wants to help him return to normal and offers his hand to The Joker but he says no saying it’s far too late for him. Than The Joker tells a joke that in all honesty makes Batman laugh (the deadliest weapon in his arsenal) ending the movie (as well as the comic) on a question that has plagued fans for years. Did Batman kill The Joker at the end (scene here: //youtu.be/l3DWn2OPwvM. It’s one of the biggest questions in the comic. Fans have theorize that Batman strangled The Joker while others say Batman took him in after they shared a laugh together. Whatever happened at the end is anyone’s guess and it’s all up to your interpretation). If you stick around after the credits you’ll see that Barbara is doing well and has become Oracle (scene here: //youtu.be/DUtH_DMJ3J8).
Final Thoughts
So how was The Killing Joke? Well the first half with Batgirl is pointless just like everyone says. There’s no getting around it, the first half of this movie was pointless and unnecessary. It adds nothing to the overall story and is just filler. I was never a big supporter of Batman/Batgirl’s romantic development; I always saw their relationship as a father/daughter or mentor/student. So why have this filler in the first place if it served no purpose to the story? Well many fans have theorized that the first half was trying to explain the overall relationship of Batman and The Joker. We see Paris slowly develop an obsession with Batgirl just like The Joker with Batman and how Paris almost pushed Batgirl into the abyss just like The Joker has done to Batman a number of times. Okay, I can understand that, but why use Batgirl to explain Batman and Joker’s relationship? Wouldn’t have been better that instead of focusing on Batgirl they instead showed Batman and The Joker’s first confrontation with each other? You know, showing where the obsession began sort of like in the Arkham Origin game. One of my favorite scenes was when Batman saved The Joker from the falling building and Joker is both shocked and angry that Batman would do such a stupid thing in his eyes. Something like that would have worked out better and would have tied to the second act showing us how years later their relationship has evolved into this disturbing relationship where it ends with one if not both of them dying.
As for the second half of the movie, it delivers on what we wanted to see. It’s definitely dark, sadistic, sad, action-packed, and exciting to watch. While there may be a few changes from the actual novel I didn’t really mind them all that much except for like one or two. The story of The Joker trying to show everyone how they’re not so different from him is both an intriguing and sad tale into Joker’s possible past. Again, we’re not entirely sure if this is The Joker’s true past but if it is it’s understandable why he became the person he is today. His story is sad, he’s a victim of the world just like Batman and when he couldn’t figure out why something like this happened to him at least one that made sense to him he went insane saying that being sane or insane doesn’t matter. Still, despite what he may believe, I still think there’s some sanity left in him even if he himself denies. I mean why else would he put Jim through all of this? Even near the end we see a small spark of sanity in him when Batman offers to help him and he refuses hinting that he knows he’s messed up but knows no one can help him because he’s too messed up. He’s fully aware of his actions and expects sympathy from no one.
The animation is good although some of the character designs can look a little off at time and the music is also good matching the tone and setting of the movie and what’s going on in each scene. As for the voice acting it’s debatable. It’s great to hear and Mark and Kevin playing The Joker and Batman again as these two have become the voices of these two iconic characters and while the two deliver you can tell they had little to no direction in some scenes. While the “one bad day” speech was good it could have been better. The director never really gave Mark any direction during this scene and as a result it just comes off as okay instead of spectacular or great as it should have been. Finally, the movie never does anything to earn that R-rating. While there are some pretty disturbing scenes I didn’t see anything that warrant this movie to be R-rated. It feels more like a PG-13 movie. If anything Assault on Arkham felt more like an R-rated movie when compared to this one. We had people’s heads getting blown off, more fight scenes with guns being fired, people getting electric therapy, and they actually showed partial nudity. This movie felt afraid and unsure of what they could get away with and decided to play it safe.
Final Score
The final score for The Killing Joke is a 7/10. Ignoring the first half and the voice acting not being as great as it could in some scenes, you will see that this is a good movie telling one of the greatest Batman stories of all time and is worth checking out once if you’re a fan of Batman or comics in general. I highly recommend you check out novel. The movie is the good but I think the novel is much better. It will change your perception of The Joker just like it changed mine when I first read the novel. Now, you’re probably wondering, how does this movie stack up to Mask of the Phantasm? Well I’ll save that conversation for next week. Until then, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, clips, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com