FilmSnobReviews

Title: Batman: The Killing Joke
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Sam Liu
Starring: Kevin Conroy, Tara Strong, Mark Hamill
Runtime: 1 hr 16 mins 

What It Is: Based on one of the best-selling and most iconic Batman stories takes flight and Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are our captains as the caped crusader and his crazed foil. Finishing up the very important cast is the legendary voice actress Tara Strong playing Batgirl. We get a story of Batgirl learning from Batman and having to deal with some personal demons. An infamous incident involving The Joker leads Barbara Gordon to a wheelchair and Bruce Wayne to possibly breaking his unwritten rule.

What We Think: This movie is a mess and on top of that a gross disappointment. Surely hearing Hamill and Conroy would be back and voicing characters I’ve grown up with but its all a mess. Structurally there’s just not a coherent story. Sure it uses the classic graphic novel as a backbone but this movie never gets its legs due to that backbone being broken. I don’t even know what to say about the third act of this movie besides UGH! It’s so nondescript and cheap. Please stop doing this in movies!

Our Grade: D, DC, listen to me here. Your animated features have always been a hallmark of Warner Bros. producing your films. This has been the case since Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Recently, however, stuff like Justice League vs Teen Titans or the AWFUL Son of Batman. Let’s get it together will ya! I have a certain expectation and I know this is something that the studio can do. I can’t recommend this to anyone really. One interesting thing you’ll notice is that this film is rated R. Yeah, they didn’t take this nearly as far as they should have. Pass on this.