Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

Director: Sam Liu
Starring: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Tara Strong

Synopsis:
Commissioner Gordon is subjected to a cruel game by the Joker.

Impressions:
When I heard they were making an adaptation of The Killing Joke, I thought, "Oh, that should be cool." Then I started hearing about the controversy about it and thought I might do well to steer clear of it. However, when a convenient opportunity to watch the movie presented itself, I decided to give it a shot. No matter where you stand on a number of issues, you're probably going to have problems with this one. I think people are being a bit oversensitive with some of the complaints, but most of what I've seen isn't without justification. I see what the filmmakers were going for with the extended prologue, but I can also understand those who would complain that it felt disjointed from the main story. While I've seen some vocal opposition to the Batman/Batgirl dynamic, I don't find it entirely without merit, but for me it's not so much a matter of being completely opposed to the idea but rather that it's not handled as well as it could have been. (Honestly, if the prologue was expanded to feature length and more time was spent developing and resolving said dynamics, it would've come off better.) I actually rather liked Paris Franz for his ambition interwoven with an obsession with Batgirl. (Is he a creepo? Yes, absolutely. That's no small part of what made him entertaining.) The main part of the story was a bit clumsy at times, but so was the source material. It was nice seeing Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their roles as Batman and the Joker (Mark Hamill even does a song and dance number! Really!) and Tara Strong does a pretty good job of pulling off the range of emotions for the contentious portrayal of Batgirl. The animation quality is about on par with the TV series, which might disappoint if you're expecting something more (but it's fairly consistent with these DTV releases). If I was ranking based on my impressions alone, I'd go ahead and say give it a watch, but given how a lot of people have received this one, you may want to weigh your options first.

Rating:
50/50