Warner Brothers has a small industry of turning DC graphic novels into direct-to-video movies, and, for the most part, it works. While none of it achieves quite the level of Batman: The Animated Series or Justice League, there’s nothing inherently offensive or bad about them.
It does, however, occasionally raise an odd question. Like, just who is this faithful and well-animated version of Frank Miller’s Batman what-if for, precisely?
The short answer is “the casual viewer who hasn’t read the graphic novel”, but honestly, if you have any sort of passing interest in Batman, you’ve read The Dark Knight Returns. It’s one of the seminal Batman stories, the kind of book that somebody interested in Batman comics would probably find at the local library or dig up at Barnes and Noble. More to the point, this adaptation is faithful right down to the dated slang and grim ’80s urban rot setting, which means anybody who hasn’t already read the book is essentially locked out. Really, it’s safe to say that a fair chunk of the audience for this probably isn’t even going to get what Miller was sending up.
So clearly it must be for fans of the novel, which this being a “Part One” would cater to… except if you’ve read the novel, you’ve seen the movie. It’s pleasant that this is essentially a stand-alone feature, but there’s nothing here to add any depth or reason to justify this project except “people who like Batman will probably buy it.”
It’s sad because the animation is good and the writing is faithful, and clearly this had a decent budget behind it. This may be a cash grab by Warners but for those working on it, it’s clearly a labor of love. It’s by no means bad, either technically or artistically, just essentially unnecessary. Perhaps, Warners, instead of tying them to someone else’s script, you let this team take Batman for an original spin of his own?
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I torrented it. YEEHAW.
Don’t do that. These guys put a lot of sweat and love into this. They deserve better.
I’m guessing this originally was suppose to come out within a few weeks of when The Dark Knight Rises opened but got delayed. The trend with comic movies in recent years has been to release an animated movie to both cash in on and help promote their big screen counterpart.
Yeah, I know what you mean, but not in this case. Most of the ones you’re talking about are to varying degrees direct companion pieces to the big screen counterparts. I won’t say timing in proximity to The Dark Knight Rises had *nothing* to do with this film’s release… If anything, they might have kept ‘em a season apart to cut back on the “They did an animated Batman movie as a cash-in, and LOOK HOW MUCH IT RIPS OFF FROM CHRISTOPHER NOLAN!” (Yes, said idiot faction exists… Sad, but fuckin’ true)
is it just me? I’ve never liked any of these direct-to-video Marvel or DC flicks. they all seem like they’re made for children. I mean, I’m sure that’s the demo they are mostly going for, but still. as an adult, I can’t seem to enjoy them that much.
maybe this will be different since it’s Frank Miller’s stuff.
Yeah, this is pretty much the book, just like “Batman: Year One”. Softened a bit, maybe, but not really for kids.
I actually really enjoyed Crisis on Two Earths, though I’m not sure how much of that was just me loving James Woods as Owlman.
Yeah, that’s the thing, the casting is really on point with these things. Woods as Owlman was hilarious, Peter Weller is really good here, it’s kind of frustrating because I think if they were given a freer hand, the team here might give us something great.
“people who like Batman will probably buy it”
Isn’t this typically the target audience?
Dark Knight Returns needs to be a feature film. It’s the BEST.
This is as close as we’ll get and honestly I’m OK with that. Honestly, I’d rather see the team behind this be given a little leeway and actually do something new with the character.
I wouldn’t say a Dark Knight Returns adaptation unnecessary — it’s one of the best Bat-stories ever and hasn’t got a straight adaptation until now.
It just looks really bland though. The art style has been smoothed out way too much. The art and layout of DKR was a huge part of what made it compelling. The story needs more than “blandly competent” execution.
The animation is a bit standard but it looks better in motion than it does in stills.
as someone who doesn’t have the income to really read comics i really do like these animated movies. i really enjoyed year one and under the red hood
I was a huge fan of the comic when it came out. The epic stuff in part 2 with Superman was some of my favorite stuff. I don’t remember it clearly though. I watched this and not having seen any of these cartoons before, it seemed to have a cheap afternoon kids cartoon feel to it. I guess I had just hoped for better animation. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by other things. Peter Weller I thought did a great job aside from reminding me of Robocop way too much, and the action sequences were done well. I think the main thing I thought was missing that I suppose never works that well in movies anyway, was the inner dialogue. It really helps build and push the story. Anyhow, I agree that I don’t know anyone that is even remotely interested in this except for fans of the comics. The other group only got it on accident thinking it was The Dark Knight Rises. Studios must love the slower thinkers in the population.
Inner dialogue is REALLY hard to do properly onscreen (Ever see David Lynch’s version of Dune?). I agree the animation has its flaws, though. Still, it’s pretty solid.
Considering EVERYTHING ELSE adapted straight from Miller has retained the narration to great effect, it’s clear his particular brand of retro-pulp poetry translates translates uniquely well to the screen. Considering places where they majorly tweaked the dialogue were the only times the film gets clunky, they really should have just trusted the source material (especially since their love of it was clearly why they made the movie in the first place).
I enjoyed this probably more than most of the recent DCAU features. And while I agree with Dan about really wanting to see this team flex their creative muscles on an original Batman idea…. can we get them to do Court of Owls first?
Please?!
I don’t think I’ll be watching this. I’ve read the graphic novel and saw the Dark Knight Rises (not the same, but it borrowed heavily in some aspects from Returns, like Begins did with Year One, which was also unnecessary). I’d like to see The Long Halloween, Kingdome Come, or Grant Morrison’s RIP in animation. Or a Nightwing movie. I’d be down for a Nightwing movie.
The way DC is pushing Dick, he’ll probably have his own live-action movie soon.
Well, Seitz, I think your argument can be applied to any “essential” printed comic: WATCHMEN. 300. KICK-ASS. SIN CITY. ROAD TO PERDITION.
The key is, are you (the director) going to bring something fresh and new and worth watching? In the case of stuff like SIN CITY, 300 or KICK-ASS, these were largely unknown works and waiting for a visual hook to bring in an audience. WATCHMEN was a wank-a-thon. “Let’s do an awesome, visually arresting opening, then use the comic as a storyboard for two hours, then change the ending…IT”S A MASTERPIECE OF CREATIVE GENIUS!!! (snorts line of coke)”
To be fair to Watchmen, the original ending would NOT have worked.
Haven’t watched this yet, but just after reading all this, I can’t help but think of the first time I watched both of the “Hulk vs.” videos when he fought Thor and Wolverine. All I could think to myself is “Okay, so Hulk is fighting some badass people…cool, I guess? Why should I care?” simply in the sense that they didn’t seem to exist for anything other than trying to possibly make more Hulk fans, but they didn’t appear to be written that way. I don’t know, maybe I’m just a shitty fan or something.
See, I don’t see the validity of the “unnecessary” argument, ’cause reading something on the page as a comic book and seeing it in motion are two distinctly different ways of experiencing a story. Read the book many times, loved seeing it play out in beautiful animation. Weller’s Batman is… well, different, but I could get used to it. And as with the Watchmen movie, there ARE plenty little flourishes that are a nice touch, ’cause both films are clearly made by fans who’ve had 20+ years to dream of little touches like “exploded-Rorschach-makes-a…rorschach in the snow”/”shadows fall across Bruce in race car at the beginning like so.” I’m reserving full judgement on how successful this really is ’til I see Part 2 (which after all *does* contain the real dramatic meat of the story), but for now I feel Year One was by far the more satisfying adaptation. While the main characters are generally solidly voiced, plenty of the supporting work is just awful. And while I can see giving the voice-over a shave, cutting it out entirely loses a lot (it was pretty essential to Year One’s whole effect).