Of all superhero comic books, my favourites are the ones published by DC Comics. The company has published my favourite comic book story arcs, and is the home of all of my favourite characters, many of whom have been adapted for the big screen over the years. However, what's undeniable is that Marvel are killing DC on the movie scene, and I have enjoyed all of their movies, characters, and storylines since the release of "Iron Man" way back in 2008. DC have been attempting to catch up with Marvel's massive lead on them in creating a superhero cinematic universe for a few years now. However, both of the movies which are part of the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) have had a pretty divisive reception to say the least, especially "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" earlier this year. It was clear that, if Warner Bros were going to make this universe succeed, they would need to change up their strategies and have a big hit on their hands. Hence we now have "Suicide Squad," marketed as DC's answer to "Guardians of the Galaxy," with the trailers including pop music rather than a deep, booming Hans Zimmer score, as well as more humour instead of a gloomy Superman and Batman growling "do you bleed." So, is "Suicide Squad" worthy of being the big hit that the studio sorely need, or should you avoid it and convince the company that they need to scrap this world, and start fresh? Let's take a look.
The story of the movie revolves around U.S. Intelligence Officer Amanda Waller gaining the authority to put together a team of criminals and super-villains which will be controlled and overseen by her to battle any metahuman or otherworldly threat the world might face. The team includes the assassin Deadshot, the madwoman Harley Quinn, the human crocodile Killer Croc and more. The first act (which lasts about 30 minutes) revolves largely around introducing these characters in an interesting and stylistic way. It almost makes the unbelievable amount of exposition across these scenes acceptable, since it is presented in a unique and humorous way. In fact, this is the main difference between "Suicide Squad" and the other DC movies that we've seen before: it is full of funny and amusing moments. Since many of these characters are firmly on the wrong side of the law and don't care much for helping people. The interactions between the characters are all very believable but equally interesting to watch throughout the movie. However, what the movie fails to do is build a realistic team dynamic between them. Fair enough, when they are first brought together, they do split into pairs and start making plans on how to escape. However, the team have never worked together before this mission, and so it is unbelievable that they would suddenly be able to take down the threat they are up against simply because they actually put their minds to it. There is very little, if any, build-up through the movie to these team moments in the finale.
As the trailers have done a good job of showcasing, only one character that we've already met in DC movies returns here, and that is Ben Affleck's Batman for a quick few minutes (don't worry, that's in the trailer too, it's not a spoiler). Thankfully, Affleck is continuing to do a great job and I can't wait to see him more in the role. However, the main focus of the movie is on the members of the Squad themselves, but only a few are appropriately developed. Will Smith's Deadshot is one of these. Deadshot is one of the only characters in the movie that is given any emotional depth and a reason to support him. The character's likability is only helped by Smith's humour throughout the movie. However, the real star of the movie is Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Appropriately insane and true to her comic counterpart, Robbie steals the show from her co-stars and delivers a killer performance, particularly in the emotional moments. The only other two characters who received any meaningful development were Jay Hernandez's El Diablo (who I can't really go into detail about for the sake of spoilers) and Viola Davis' Amanda Waller, who is far scarier and more intimidating than the Squad. Davis delivers an excellent performance throughout the movie, and she is one of the other characters I can't wait to see more of. The rest of the Squad, on the other hand, is left out to dry. Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag is a dull, generic soldier with no real personality despite the attempt to give him a tie to the villain, Jai Courtney is good as the comic relief Captain Boomerang but is given no real development besides one strange character trait and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is given nothing to do as Killer Croc. However, the worst of the lot is the villain. They haven't really been shown off much in the trailers so I won't spoil it for anyone who doesn't want to know, but they are given absolutely no personality, are not intimidating, and the actor doesn't do a good job at performing this role.
Wait, there's a character I'm missing, you say? Who could that be? Oh right, one of the focuses of the marketing: the Joker, played this time around by Jared Leto. Now, a lot has been made of Leto's actions on set in the build-up to release, with Will Smith going so far as to say he "only met the Joker" on set, while Leto made a show of sending different items to people on set. Additionally, in typical DC fashion at this point, there was plenty of controversy surrounding the character's look, with the Joker now resembling a punk rocker instead of the psychotic anarchist fans have grown used to. However, having now seen the final product, I have got absolutely no problem with Leto's performance in the movie. It's clear that he has totally devoted himself to the role, and he does a good job of making the role his own. He does not match the level of Heath Ledger's legendary portrayal of the character from "The Dark Knight," but he brings together different personality traits of Jack Nicholson, Ledger, and Mark Hamill's different versions of the character. However, what I do have an issue with is how Joker is utilised within the movie itself. The character is completely inconsequential, and the events of the movie would not have turned out any differently if the character had been cut. Also, the trailers have completely misrepresented the movie here. It is not the Joker vs the Suicide Squad. Joker's entire purpose in the movie is to track down Harley and break her out of prison. What is clear here, though, is that Leto and Robbie have fantastic chemistry in these roles, and it makes me very excited to see them together again in another movie, possibly Ben Affleck's Batman movie.
However, while people may argue about the handling of the story and characters in the movie, what nobody can question is that the action sequences here are on point. As the movie constantly goes out of the way to tell the audience, these are the bad guys, the villains, the criminals of this universe. This immediately gives the action in the movie a unique feel to any other superhero or comic book movie we've seen before. With the characters clearly not caring what happens to each other and not being held back by morality (these guys are willing to and kill more than Batman in Dawn of Justice), the filmmakers have much more flexibility is how they deal with the mindless drones being sent the way of our "heroes." Although, despite the 15-rating given to this movie by the BBFC (who are responsible for all UK film certifications), they still find a way of showing that the group are not actually killing humans. The mix of powers and abilities on screen at the same time in the movie is very interesting to watch. Mixed with the great special and visual effects of the movie (a nice blend of practical and CGI), you're guaranteed to have a great time watching the action being showcased throughout the movie. However, while I am praising the special effects for the majority of the movie, particularly on characters such as El Diablo, there is one particular character which is built entirely out of CGI and looks incredibly strange. The character just doesn't feel like he belongs in the same movie from the rest of the characters, and looks incredibly fake.
The make-up of the movie is extremely well done, and may even be Oscar worthy. Seriously, just take a look at Killer Croc and tell me that the work that has been done to transform the actor into a hideous, realistic-lookign crocodile isn't an incredible feat. The same can be said for the villain's henchmen who, although they may be brain dead in combat, at least they're interesting to look at. The same can be said for the set design in the movie, particularly Belle Reve prison, where many of the Squad members are picked up from at the beginning of the movie. It is entirely believable that this would be the prison used to contain the super villains of this universe. I also enjoyed the cinematography of the movie, which is very clear at all times, and surprisingly lacking in excessive shaky cam or slow motion during the action scenes. It's always good when everything that is happening, despite the often insane amount happening on screen at one time due to this being a large-scale team movie. All of the cinematography and presentation of the movie is presented in a very enjoyable way that is unlike any other movie I've seen in a long time.
If I have one other major criticism of the movie, it's the music choices director David Ayer has has implemented throughout the movie. Constantly throughout the movie, different pop songs will start playing, whether it's a recruitment sequence, a backstory flashback for one of the characters, or (somewhat more predictably) during one of the action scenes. However, very few of these songs are good choices and work in the context of the movie. Imagine my shock when a Kanye West song started playing out of nowhere during the scene shown in the trailer where Deadshot is being tested by Waller. An even worse example of this is when the song "Spirit in the Sky" came on early on in the proceedings. Why is this worse? Because it has been straight-up copied from the soundtrack from "Guardians of the Galaxy," which was the clear inspiration for this type of soundtrack. This is one of the many, many examples in this movie of DC finally showing their desire to follow in Marvel's footsteps. Overall, these songs felt more shoehorned into the movie than anything else.
So, is Suicide Squad better than "Dawn of Justice?" It certainly is, largely thanks to director David Ayer's better handling of the many different characters in the movie. Yes, it's true that a few, such as Deadshot and Harley, are given much more development and backstory than others. However, these undeveloped characters are where the movie is at it's worst, with some receiving so little backstory and character development, that it becomes hard to understand why they have been included in the movie in the first place. The villain is hands down the worst example of this, and is terribly executed, both by the writer and the actor. However, that's not to take away from everything else that is good in the movie, such as the much better writing in the movie, which adds more humour to this universe, as well as the action throughout the movie. Overall, Suicide Squad is a step in the right direction for this cinematic universe, but it still has a long way to go until it can compete with Marvel on their level.
Pros
In-depth and emotional backstory for A FEW Squad members
Some excellent performances
The use of humour throughout
Fun action sequences
Make-up and costume design throughout the movie
Cons
Some severely underdeveloped characters
Terrible villain
Bad music choices
Rating: 6/10
Release Date: 5th of August, 2016
Starring Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, and Ben Affleck
I, like millions of other people, love a good action movie. These movies showcase incredible, often insane stunt work, intense action and on the whole events which we would never see in real life. However, just because I like them, doesn't mean I can ignore the fact that some of them have ridiculous, non-sensical plots which drive the action even taking place. That's why I appreciate it so much when a movie with an intelligent plot comes along. One franchise which has (mainly) done this, is the Bourne franchise. I say "mainly" because 2012's "The Bourne Legacy" was a bad movie, but the rest of the franchise before that, led by Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, are all great movies, with the third movie in that series ("The Bourne Ultimatum") being particularly well made. The reason I hold these movies in such high regard is because they are a perfect blend of intense action, excellent acting, and smart, engaging stories. It was a shame when that trilogy ended in 2007 and both star Damon and director Paul Greengrass seemed adamant that they would not be returning to make another instalment for a long time. That is why it was a great reveal at the Super Bowl this year when a new Bourne movie was shown off, reuniting Damon and Greengrass once again. After the disappointment that was Jeremy Renner's "Legacy," the trailers made this movie look to be more of what we loved from the Damon movies from 9 years ago. So, did "Jason Bourne" live up the hype that had been built up around it? The short answer is yes. The long answer? Well, let's take a look.
Like I just said, the Bourne movies are known for their intelligent plotting. The movie of the series have never just been generic action movies, but have also included some interesting detective and spy elements, with Jason attempting to both figure out the secrets of his past and bring down some corrupt government operations. Thankfully, this newest instalment continues this trend. Now, the trailers, like the one above, have been pretty vague on story details, so I'm not going to spoil them here. What I will say is that events occur at the start of the movie which cause Bourne to come back into the CIA's crosshairs as he goes on a personal journey to uncover more details about his past. This main plot is an engaging one, to be sure. Early on in the movie, emotional depth is added to the story to make the audience care about Bourne getting to the truth of what happened in his past. This is also cleverly linked into the characters we meet throughout the film, giving them all compelling character arcs and backstories as well. However, the other side of this coin is the irritating and downright absurd subplot revolving around social media and privacy online. It's natural that the writers would have felt the need to implement technology into the story somehow since it has evolved so much since 2007 when the last Matt Damon Bourne movie was released. Some uses of this, though, are outright silly and unbelievable, which only breaks the audiences immersion in the movie, while also slowing the pacing of the story down drastically. This story should have been removed, or at the very least cut down.
Look, people hate on "The Bourne Legacy" a lot, and that's not what this review is meant to do, but this movie only emphasises how much this series requires Matt Damon at the head. Jeremy Renner just does not have the same charisma as Damon on screen, and it goes without saying that Damon is just much better at making the character seem appropriately haunted both by the fact that he can't remember anything in his life from before the events of "The Bourne Identity" and the actions he can remember and has carried out over the 3 films that have come before. The actor is on form in this movie and, although he does not have a lot of lines and only around 290 words to say in the whole movie, he is easily watchable and interesting every moment he is on screen. However, he is not the only great performance in the movie. Both Julia Stiles and Vincent Cassel make the most of their limited screen time and lines and both have interesting character arcs, particularly Cassel's assassin character who has an unexpected relationship with another character in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones, on the other hand, has much more to do in the movie. Jones delivers a brilliantly sinister performance that makes the audience hate his actions, but at the same time understand his motivations at all times. Make no mistake though, you'll never root for him over Bourne. However, possibly the best performance in the movie is the one I was most excited to see, and that is Alicia Vikander's performance as Heather Lee, a tech analyst at the CIA who is the franchise's new link between Bourne and the CIA. The reason Vikander is so interesting to watch throughout the movie is because her true allegiances are cleverly kept ambiguous, while she also goes through an engaging character arc which sees her go from a naive agent to a battle-hardened member of the agency.
That's enough about the story and acting though. Important though they are, the aspect of the movie that most people will probably be going for is the ferocious action that the Bourne franchise is known for. Director Paul Greengrass has thankfully delivered on this. Every single action scene is packed full of tension, with you fearing for the safety and lives of all the main characters, even in early action beats like the motorcycle chase sequence through the Athens riot. The close combat and hand-to-hand fight sequences featured throughout the movie are also very intense and continue the brutality that the Bourne franchise has become renowned for. The stunt work in the movie is also fantastic and deserves to be commended. It's great to see Matt Damon once again performing all of his stunts where possible, which helps all of the action to seem far more realistic than if an obvious stunt double can be seen at different points throughout the movie.
In addition to the action, the technical aspects of the film's production are also on point, especially the cinematography. If you are firmly against the use of shaky cam in a movie, then just get out now and don't bother with this one, since you're going to be mortified. The camera is constantly on the move throughout the movie, especially during the fight scenes. I'm not complaining since the use of shaky cam in a movie can actually improve the audience's immersion in the events to an extent, with it adding to the intensity of the action, as well as tense sequences where characters are attempting to go unnoticed or escape from their pursuers. I've mentioned before my respect for movies when they largely use practical effects over the tempting prospect of CGI in modern filmmaking. As with all the entries in this series so far, "Jason Bourne" uses practical effects for the majority of the movie, with only a few natural uses of computer generated effects here and there, and even they are difficult to pick out due to how realistic they look. Once again, the heavy use of practical effects add to the realism of the movie, something that is often hard to achieve as action set pieces are forced to become much more elaborate and large-scale.
There are a few other aspects of the movie, which I would like to give a mention to as well. Costume design, while only a small part of the movie itself, is excellent and suits the different situations of the characters. Set design is also brilliantly executed, with the inside locations all seeming very realistic, but it is the different locations around the world that Bourne is visiting that is the real draw. Just like many other spy franchises, the movie features a great deal of cities and towns from many different continents are all extremely interesting to watch and gives each act and set piece in the movie a unique flavour and feel to it. However, the main part o the movie which I wanted to mention was the soundtrack. The music of the movie by John Powell and David Buckley is fantastic and may be my favourite soundtrack of the year so far. Needless to say, that the iconic theme of the series, Moby's "Extreme Ways," also makes a return at the finale of the movie and makes for one of the best movie moments of the year so far.
So, is "Jason Bourne" the best movie in the franchise? No, it's not. Is it the worst though? Definitely not. In my opinion, it's not even the worst of the Matt Damon Bourne movies. It's true there's a slight issue here in the technology and social media subplot. It's dull, ridiculous and drags on for far too long through the movie's runtime. However, there's plenty to love here. The acting from all the actors in the movie is superb, and the story is equally compelling when it is focused on further exploring the character of Jason Bourne. The action set pieces scattered throughout the movie are once again the highlight here, with them being just as brutal and ferocious as the previous movies, if not more so. The cinematography and visuals of the movie as a whole as on point, as well. It's refreshing to see this kind of movie in a summer blockbuster when we're getting absurd and stupid movies like Ghostbusters at the same time. It's good to have Jason Bourn back and I hope that this is the beginning of a whole new chapter of the series. This franchise has been Bourne again. Sorry.
Pros
Brutal and intense action sequences
Great acting across the board
An engaging story
Cinematography
Fantastic soundtrack
Cons
A few ridiculous plot points and one boring subplot
Rating: 8/10
Release Date: 27th of July, 2016
Starring Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassel, Julia Stiles, Riz Ahmed, Ato Essandoh, and Scott Shepherd
So, I was away during Comic-Con this year, so I didn't get to cover a lot of stuff I would like to have talked about. So let's get some of that out of the way quickly: Doctor Strange looks awesome, as does Wonder Woman, Justice League is a little concerning but it's too early to pass judgement, and The Flash and Arrow TV shows look like they are taking one step forward but several steps backwards. What's left, though? That's right: the Marvel Netflix shows. The killed it at Comic-Con this year, giving us not only our first glimpses of Iron Fist and the highly-anticipated Defenders mini-series, but also at the next Marvel show that will be gracing our screens: Luke Cage. Bringing back the character from Jessica Jones, the little teaser they showed was mainly one corridor fight sequence (Marvel seems to really love these, huh?) and it looked pretty encouraging. Now we have a full trailer for the show, that gives a clearer look at other aspects of the show, including the villain and a few of the supporting characters, as well as the setting. Check it out below.
Right away, the big thing that we can take away from the trailer is that this is clearly going to be a very different series from both Daredevil and Jessica Jones. For one, the show has abandoned the Hell's Kitchen area where both of the other Marvel Netflix properties has been set in favour of Harlem, where Luke Cage is traditionally situated in the comics. That means entirely new communities, gangs, people, and tone to the other shows. One of the more subtle differences is highlighted by the end of the trailer. The neighbourhood is aware of what Cage is doing, he's turning his face to TV cameras even though he might not want credit for his actions, and he is clearly showing that he is the one attacking the criminal operations in Harlem. This is very different to the masked Daredevil or PI Jessica Jones. What could this mean for the series? The most obvious thing is a different relationship between the hero and the villain, with Mahershala Ali's Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes (who I'll get to in a bit) shown to be threatening Cage in person. If this means that Luke and Cottonmouth will be facing off more in person, then I'm very encouraged by what I'm seeing here.
Mike Colter returns from "Jessica Jones" as Luke Cage
The trailer introduces a few new characters to the series, although some are given more time to shine than others. Of course, Mike Colter takes the spotlight as Cage himself, clearly shown to be the reluctant hero for the city. This should please comic book fans, since Cage typically asks to be paid before helping someone out, making up one half of the "Heroes for Hire," alongside Iron Fist. They're basically enforcers who take cash. Anyway, the villain is one of the other characters who is given more screen time. As I said, this is Cottonmouth, the leading crime boss of Harlem, who seems intent on ruling through fear, which Cage threatens. However, I think there's some little details which haven't been revealed about him just yet. Look at the way he is beating a guy to death so hard close to the beginning that blood is spraying up onto his face and shirt. The show synopsis also says that "Cage must confront his past" in the show. Is it possible that, since the show is going to explore the root and cause of Luke's abilities (as shown in the trailer), that Cottonmouth could have been part of the same experiment and is now using whatever his powers may be to rule the city, making him a match for our hero in a fight? I think so, but that's just me speculating. We only really get glimpses of other characters, such as Rosario Dawson returning as Claire Temple once again, seemingly only to cement that this takes place after Jessica Jones and because she probably has to be at this point. We also get a few quick shots of Simone Missick as Misty Knight and Alfre Woodard as Mariah Dillard, but there really isn't enough to talk about here, so let's move on.
Mahershala Ali as he appears in "House of Cards," another Netflix show
Prior to this trailer, what the marketing team had really focused on showing off was the action in the show, and for good reason. Continuing to play a big part in this trailer, the action looks very different from Daredevil and Jessica Jones, yet again. Thanks to his unbreakable skin, Cage is basically a tank and so has absolutely no need to do any fancy acrobatics or jumping over tables. He seems fine with just taking the hail of bullets coming his way, and then throwing the fools shooting at him through the air. One more factor I want to mention about this trailer is the use of humour. Yes, it's a small point and is overshadowed by the action and the intensity of the actors at quite a few points, but the little bits of humour scattered here and there only reassure me that this is going to be a dark series. Thankfully, just like the comics, we'll get appropriate and tasteful bits of humour where appropriate. It's not like someone's going to be cracking a one-liner while Cottonmouth is beating his henchman or others to death, though.
Alfre Woodard plays Mariah Dillard, a politician and cousin of Cottonmouth
Overall, does this trailer get me more excited for Luke Cage? Absolutely. I'm intrigued by the next direction this series is taking over every other Marvel property to date, but it is still backed up by some great acting, interesting characters and some simply incredible to watch action set pieces. The trailer has done it's job really well of getting myself, other fans of the comics, as well as just casual Netflix viewers, excited for September 30th to watch the whole series over one weekend.
All episodes of Luke Cage premiere on Netflix on September 30th, 2016.
Starring Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Mahershala Ali, Alfre Woodard, Theo Rossi, Frank Whaley, and Rosario Dawson.
There are plenty of comic books worthy of being adapted into films, either live action or animated. Every single fan of comics accepts this as an undeniable fact. Just look at how Marvel and DC alike have used the basis of some of their great storylines to form the plots of some of the movies in their live-action universes: Marvel used the Civil War arc for their latest Captain America venture, while DC loosely used elements of the well-known Knightfall storyline in creating "The Dark Knight Rises." However, many comic book fans often look to animated movies when looking for plots that resemble the comics much more closely, with some even being exact replicas of the graphic novel they are adapting. DC, in particular, have been ruling this section of the market, with many of their movies all being extremely well-reviewed. These include "Justice League: War," "Wonder Woman," "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths" and the (absolutely phenomenal) "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox." So it's fairly understandable how so many people, myself included, who were extremely excited when an animated adaption of Alan Moore's acclaimed graphic novel "Batman: The Killing Joke" was announced, with an R-Rating to boot, making it the first R-Rated DC Universe animated movie. This comic has aged extremely well, and is seen by many as a turning point for the character of the Joker, making him into the more murderous and psychotic criminal we all know and love today, with the book giving a more detailed insight into the character's psychosis than fans had ever seen before. Now, this movie has been released digitally and on DVD. Unfortunately, while by no means all bad, "Batman: The Killing Joke" is a bit of a let down, with entirely new pieces of story being added which only served to lower my score on this one.
Fans of the "Killing Joke" comic book story know that it is a relatively short graphic novel all things considered and it is understandable that Warner Bros may have thought that there was not enough material to fill an hour and a quarter (the average length of one of these animated movies). As a reviewer, let me just say that I am fully aware that sometimes the studio have to make changes to certain elements. However, if the writers are going to add new elements to the movie all I ask is that it fit in with the rest of the story and be just as well written. That, therefore, brings us to my first big criticism of this movie: the first 30 minutes. This is an entirely new first act which sees Batman and Batgirl working together prior to the events of the comic book to bring down a new crime boss in Gotham called Paris Franz (I wish I was joking on that one). Unfortunately, this whole half an hour feels entirely out of place, with all of the new characters introduced not being integrated in anyway into the rest of the main story later on. The whole plot of Batman chasing down a crime boss with no powers, abilities, or even interesting personality (besides a twisted love for Batgirl), also feels very boring and dull, especially considering the Joker comes into the story later on, making the audience completely forget about these early characters. All of the new characters are also stupid and stereotypical to boot: the aforementioned generic mob boss, the British henchman, the much older crime lord, and many more. The whole purpose of this side story is simply to emotional weight to the characters and the events that transpire within the main plot of the story later on. Overall, it feels pointless and out of place.
This is only made worse by the fact that the final 45-50 minutes of the movie are excellently written, and much more entertaining to watch, largely down to the integration of the Joker into the story (after being completely absent for the first act) and his dynamic with Batman and Commissioner Gordon. The Joker's backstory was also a fascinating aspect to see translated to the screen, with the writer's successfully making this murderous psychopath actually slightly sympathetic. That is, until the audience is constantly shocked by the violent and mature acts that are shown on screen. Make no mistake, this is more violent and unlike any animated movie we've ever seen before. However, while I am singing the praises of the writers here with regards this section of the movie, this may be largely down to the fact that scenes of the movie are exact replicas and have dialogue that is word-for-word from it's comic counterpart. The final aspect of the story which I have to mention is the ending. I won't spoil it here, but they absolutely nailed it. Appropriately shocking and ambiguous, the ending leaves the audience speechless as promised by the synopsis and leaves us up to decide what has truly just happened on screen.
Look, there's one more element regarding the story that I just need to talk about. If you've seen the movie or have simply been reading up on the movie recently, there's a fairly high chance you know what I'm talking about. It takes place about 20 minutes into the movie, around two thirds into the dull first act, and you may want to skip this paragraph if you want to avoid absolutely all spoilers revolving around this movie. Still here? Then let's talk about the unbelievable "#Batsex" controversy. Yes, that's right, I can now confirm for myself that this is not some sort of mass joke across the Internet and is actually a part of the movie. So, while Batman and Batgirl are chasing down the new crime boss I mentioned, there is a scene on a rooftop where Batman is trying to convince Batgirl that she needs to leave this particular case alone. As she gets more frustrated, she starts hitting him, eventually pinning him on the floor before....starting to kiss him. What follows isn't shown explicitly, but they do straight up say what happened. This is a downright insult to the character of Barbara Gordon and is included for no reason other than in an attempt to add more emotional depth to the character so that Batman is more emotionally affected by the tragedy that strikes later in the movie. Barbara is absolutely ruined by this scene, and I'll explain why. Rather than being the strong, independent character that she has always been in the comics, able to hold her own without the constant aid of the Batman and continually standing up against his judgement (although there is some of that here), she was never portrayed as the emotionally confused and clingy young woman that is seen here. Her conversations early in the movie with her stereotype friend in the library would be more akin to conversations you would here in a high school between two teenagers than between two adults. Overall, this may be more my reaction as a fan than one any other viewer may have had, but I see this as an insulting and cheap ploy to add some emotional weight to a character with absolutely no regard for the history and personality that they have had in the comics for over 30 years.
Let's move on, however, from one of the major negatives of the movie to one of the big positives: the voice acting is on point throughout, and this was to be expected. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill truly are some of, if not the very best actors to play the characters of Batman and the Joker together over the years. Conroy has voiced the character for so many years and once again delivers a stone cold performance of the Dark Knight, while also doing a great job injecting emotion into the character when describing how close he has come to the edge during his crime fighting career. Mark Hamill once again delivers a suitably insane performance as the Clown Prince of Crime, but he truly shines during the flashback sequences showing the Joker's origin story scattered throughout the movie. These scenes allow Hamill to inject far more emotion into the character than ever before, and it is his performance that makes this character's road to insanity over the course of his "one bad day" actually understandable. The character's suffering and pain is extremely believable and it largely down to this that the audience is able to feel any kind of sympathy or empathy for the character whatsoever. The final main player in the story is Tara Strong as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. It is mainly in the first act that this character has the time to shine, and Strong does an excellent job of portraying Barbara as an emotional and relatable character, particularly in her feuds and fights with her mentor. However, there is another scene which comes later in a hospital where Strong also does a fantastic job. The rest of the supporting cast also do well although they have got much less to do in the grand scheme of things. The only other character really worth mentioning is Ray Wise who voices Commissioner Gordon. While I'm not going to spoil the extent of his role in the second half of the movie, Wise delivers a very pained performance that is very suitable in the scenes which consistently shock the audience. Overall, there is amazing work across the board from all of the voice actors in the movie.
One aspect of the movie in particular is a very mixed bag. I said much earlier in the review that DC have been outdoing all of their competitors in the animated superhero movie market for years, with excellent animation across the board. The expertise they have persistently shown is present to an extent in this movie. For example, all of the main character's movements and actions look excellent (especially Joker) and are of the standard that fans would have expected from any modern animated movie. The detail that can be seen on these characters is breathtaking and deserves to be commended. The influence of Bruce Timm is particularly clear here. Timm acts as the producer on this movie and was also one of the show runners on the excellent "Batman: The Animated Series." All of the character models look like they have been lifted straight out of that show, which is a nice bit of nostalgia for any long time fans of the character such as myself. However, that said, there are plenty of pieces of animation in the movie that look absolutely terrible. This is completely unacceptable considering today's standards of animation. This never really involves objects or characters in the foreground of frames, but normally in the background. This may seem like a small nitpick to a lot of people but these stick out like a sore thumb. One of the many, many examples of this present throughout the film is in a police chase near the start of the movie. The police cars chasing the large van look incredibly low quality and have not had the sufficient amount of detail applied to them that would be expected of a movie being released in 2016. It only adds insult to injury that the foreground images and characters look so good which means that all of this terrible animation in the background in entirely down to either laziness or a severe lack in budget.
In the end, "Batman: The Killing Joke" is (mostly) a joy for comic book fans, but may infuriate casual viewers in a number of ways. It is undeniable that the first act is only there to add emotional depth to a few certain characters but is an overall weak addition to Alan Moore's fantastic story, with fairly generic plotting and characters throughout the first half hour. Not to mention the lacklustre scene I mentioned earlier, which is guaranteed to infuriate fans of the comic and characters. That's not to mention the background animation in a number of scenes, and you're going to have a much better time if you can ignore that kind of detail. However, this doesn't take away from the positives of the movie. As I said, the second and third acts of the movie are absolutely excellent, and the main characters are all extremely well animated and voice acted. A mixed bag to be sure. DC are undoubtedly still leading the pack with regards their animated features, and "The Killing Joke" comic is definitely worth a read if you get the chance. If you're already a fan of the source material, then I'd say this is worth a watch. If you are just getting into the character and the comics, then it's probably worth checking out a few comics and animated features to enjoy this one more. To be honest, you'll probably enjoy it more. At least #Batsex won't annoy you as much.
Pros
Fantastic voice acting
A compelling and often shocking story
Some great animation on the main characters...
Cons
....But plenty of less than great animation to be found
A dull first act
One particular insulting addition
Rating: 6/10
Release Date: 8th of August, 2016 (DVD Release)
Starring Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Tara Strong, Ray Wise, Robin Atkin Downes, John DiMaggio, Brian George, Maury Sterling, and Nolan North
