Film Review - Batman the Killing Joke (2016)

Batman the Killing Joke is based off of the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and sees Batman (Kevin Conroy) once more on the hunt for the Joker (Mark Hamill) who has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon as he attempts to make him think "Why So Serious?"

The Killing Joke gets off to a rather slow start with a short film focused on Bat Girl (Tara Strong) that really only exists to flesh out the character and has one scene in particular that made me go "Okay what the hell" when you see it you'll know but once the main storyline gets into gear the film finds its stride.

And that stride comes in the form of Hamill himself who absolutely slays as the Joker this time and like the late great Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight (and watching this film I could see where Christopher Nolan and Co got some of their inspiration from for that film) every time he's on screen you just sit there gripped to the seat unable to look away for even a micro second and his "Looney Song" is just fantastic in both a smile inducing and creepy way.

One other thing came to mind when I finished watching this film was how much it felt like (at least to me) that it honoured DC's Graphic Novel legacy in a way that the live action films sadly seem to be turning more and more away from and no doubt this has come as a result of the response to Batman V Superman back in March which was very dark like a DC Graphic Novel would be but it didn't work for an audience more use to the fun and fancy free tone of the Marvel Studios films and as a result the DCU seems to be walking away from its legacy and that makes me a little sad.

And also hearing Hamill in this film also highlighted just how utterly pathetic and deeply disappointing Jared Leto was in Suicide Squad, how could they do that to the Clown Prince of Crime it just makes me really really mad.

And so that was Batman the Killing Joke save for the kinda weak and slow start once the main storyline gets into gear it becomes very entertaining, 3 out of 5.