The Batman Movie Retrospective Series - Batman (1989)

Published in November 2014

 Before you ask, no, I’m not gonna review any of the animated films. Not because live action is inherently superior to animation, but because I’ve already reviewed ALL of DC’s animated films right here. You can read my thoughts on everything from Mask of the Phantasm to Assault on Arkham, as well as several other movie series. Now with that being said, let’s get into the movie.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The mayor of Gotham City orders District Attorney Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) and Police Commissioner James Gordon (Pat Hingle) to increase police activity and combat crime in preparation for the city’s bicentennial. Reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) and photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) begin to investigate reports of a vigilante nicknamed “Batman”, who is targeting the city’s criminals.

Mob boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance), who has already been targeted by Dent, discovers his mistress (Jerry Hall) is involved with his second-in-command, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson). With the help of corrupt policeman Max Eckhardt (William Hootkins), Grissom sets up Napier to be murdered during a raid at the Axis Chemicals plant. During the ensuing shootout, Napier kills Eckhardt, after which Batman suddenly appears. The two struggle, and Napier is accidentally knocked into a vat of chemical waste. Batman flees, and Napier is thought to be dead.

Batman is in actuality Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), a billionaire industrialist who, as a child, witnessed his parents’ murder at the hands of a mugger. Bruce meets and falls for Vicki at a fundraiser, and the two begin a relationship. Meanwhile, Napier survives the accident, but is horribly disfigured with chalk-white skin, emerald-green hair and a permanent ruby-red grin. Driven insane by his reflection, he reinvents himself as “the Joker”, kills Grissom and usurps his criminal empire.

The Joker begins to spread terror in the city, first by lacing hygiene products with a deadly chemical known as “Smilex”, which causes victims to laugh to death when used in certain combinations. The Joker then sets a trap at the Gotham Museum of Art for Vicki, and he and his henchmen vandalize the surrounding works of art. Batman arrives and rescues Vicki, and the pair escape in the Batmobile. Batman gives information about Smilex to Vicki so she can warn the city via Gotham newspapers about the poisoned products.

Bruce meets with Vicki at her apartment, prepared to tell her that he is Batman. They are interrupted by the Joker, who asks Bruce, “Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?“ before shooting him. Bruce, who was wearing body armor, escapes, and recollects that the man who killed his parents asked him the same question; he realizes that the Joker killed his parents. Vicki suddenly appears in the Batcave, having been let in by Bruce’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Gough). After avouching himself to Vicki, Bruce—as Batman—leaves to destroy the Axis Chemical plant. Meanwhile, the Joker lures the townspeople to a nighttime parade with a promise to give away $20 million in cash. When the citizens arrive, however, he attacks them with Smilex gas spewing it from his giant parade balloons. Batman arrives on the scene and saves Gotham City from the attack using the Batwing, but the Joker kidnaps Vicki and takes her to the top of a cathedral.

Batman pursues the two, and at the top of the dusty edifice, he and the Joker confront each other in single combat. When the Joker attempts an escape via a helicopter, Batman grapples the Joker’s leg to a heavy stone sculpture, causing him to fall to his death. Commissioner Gordon unveils the Bat-Signal along with a note from Batman read by Harvey Dent, promising to defend Gotham whenever crime strikes again.

Before we go any further I want to get something else out of the way, this is my opinion. No matter how “totally wrong” you think I am, I still have every right to say what I have to say. If you agree, awesome! If you don’t, that’s fine. You’re more than welcome to tell me your respectful reasons as to why, in fact, here’s my askbox fill it to your heart’s content with why you disagree with me. But don’t go on a rant explaining why I’m somehow stupid or a deplorable human being because I don’t share your opinion on this film.

I tell you this now because, well, I’M TALKING ABOUT BATMAN! The films of this franchise have three radically different tones and everyone has something to say about them. Everyone in the world has a different opinion on what movies are the gold standard and what movies are the bottom of the barrel. And also, this is internet. Where saying something is better or worse than what most folks think is the equivalent of throwing someone’s first born child into a pit of molten lava.

So please, if I say something you disagree with, save your moral outrage for something more important than a guy talking about Batman on his blog. Like say the fact that Tim Burton is still allowed to make movies after this abomination

Now that’s something worth your moral outrage!

PROS:

• Danny Elfman’s score! Say all you want about Tim Burton movies, but whenever he grabs Elfman for the theme you can count on this son of a bitch to deliver! And don’t tell me that his theme isn’t legendary? Astonishing work as always Mr. Elfman, bravo!
  

  

• Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. I’ve never gotten much of anything off of his Batman, but I’ve always kinda liked his Bruce Wayne. He’s just got this calm shy awkward demeanor to him that I enjoy. I hate to bring up this cliche argument, but it really leaves him as someone you wouldn’t expect to be Batman. If someone told you that this guy
  

  

  
  Was Batman, you’d probably laugh in their face. Where as if someone told you that these guys were Batman
  

  

  
  You wouldn’t necessarily believe them, but you’d be looking at them crosseyed for a while just sort of wondering “Or is he?” I also like how he’s always thinking about the matter at hand, he has Alfred do some research on Jack Napier, he does a chemical analysis of hair and makeup products to see if they really are poisoned like the Joker says, and when the Joker shows up at Vicki’s apartment, the first thing he does is hide, but he doesn’t just stay hidden. He grabs a silver platter and hides it under his shirt, and then he tries to distract the creep while he goes for a possible weapon, ie., the poker from Vicki’s fireplace! I like how he’s clearly a smart guy. So good job on that note people.
• Jack Nicholson as the fucking Joker! If there’s one thing this movie gets right character wise, it’s The Joker! This movie does a great job of crafting his darkly comedic persona, and every time you see him you get why people are skeeved out by him. I’m tempted to complain about how they gave him a full on origin story for this film, but I call it a gimme that some films just sort of need to have. I think Jack also perfectly caught his manic persona, how he’s always giggling, joking, and completely over the fucking top! My personal favorite moment of his is the scene where he first reveals himself to his boss after his skin was bleached, and says “Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me… Joker! And as you can see, I’m a whole lot happier!” And that final shot of him lying dead on the ground while a recording him laughing plays on really does freak the hell out of me.
• I really liked Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale, I thought she had a good personality and was a fun presence at the right moments. And I liked her dynamic with Robert Wuhl’s Knox with how he’s always flirting with her and he’s always playfully shutting her down, especially at the end of their first scene where he asks her to marry him and she replies “Nope.” Then he asks if she’ll buy him lunch, and she answers “Maybe.” She didn’t do a ton in the film, but she never did anything to make me dislike her so I think I’ll sit on the side of liking her.
• Robert Wuhl’s Knox is an odd character, but I like how despite the fact that he comes off as a little pompous he ultimately does take a heroic action by grabbing a paint mask and a piece of wood from his trunk to fend off rioters from coming at his car while Vicki is inside it. It’s pretty clear that while he may be a bit off an odd guy he’s not really a bad guy.
• Michael Gough’s Alfred was such a sweet character. He comes off as just the nicest old man ever honestly, and he doesn’t have quite the same no bullshit attitude that Michael Caine’s Alfred would later have, he does make a certain comment about the man he cares for’s lifestyle saying, “I have no wish to fill my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons.” I also love this quick gag during the party where Bruce keeps setting an item down when he’s finished with it, and Alfred picks up each time and places it on his caterer’s tray. Gough just brought a lot of class to the role honestly, I mean for fuck’s sake, he managed to sound tasteful during the fucking Diet Coke commercial for this movie! Also I feel it’d be wrong of me to not note that Michael tragically passed away in 2011. Upon hearing of his death, Keaton actually sent a brief obituary to The Hollywood Reporter, writing “To Mick – my butler, my confidant, my friend, my Alfred. I love you. God bless. Michael (Mr Wayne) Keaton.” Rest in peace Mr. Gough, you will be missed.
• Pat Hingle and Billy Dee Williams didn’t get to do a lot in their roles as Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent, but I thought did perfectly fine in both of their roles. Interestingly, according to the late Hingle, there was brief scene shot where Gordon was seen looking after Bruce Wayne as young patrolman after Bruce had just witnessed his parents murders that for some reason the production decided to not us. I wish they’d included that, if for no other reason than it would’ve given some more meat to Hingle’s role. Either way, nice job gentlemen, and rest in peace Mr. Hingle.
• Bob the Goon. I liked Bob. Bob was a good goon.

CONS

• Look, I’m fine with a movie making deviations from the comics, but The Joker killing the Waynes is fucking stupid.
• The action in this movie is terrible. There’s just nothing exciting to it at all. It’s dull, it’s boring, it leaves me checking my watch.
• I’m with Batman killing because he doesn’t have a choice, I’m with Batman killing on accident, but what I’m not fine with, is him blatantly driving the batmobile into the Axis Chemical Factory and bombing the place to hell so as to get rid of all of The Joker’s thugs. Fuck you movie!
• The final sequences in the church tower and at the parade sequence go on waaaay too long. The church tower scene should’ve been cut completely, in my opinion, and the parade sequence should’ve gone on for 3 minutes before Batman’s plane shows up, and The Joker should’ve then gassed everyone. That would’ve been much better I’d say.
• I really hate how Bats just tries to walk up all the stairs in the church tower, dude, you have a grapplegun! Use it!
• The way The Joker is killed just doesn’t make any sense, if the helicopter was pulling that hard, it should’ve either A. Broken Batman’s line. B. Made Joker lose his grip. Or C. Broken Joker’s leg. Not break off the fucking gargoyle and cause the clown to fall to his fucking death!
• The standoff between The Joker and the Batplane does not make sense. The clown’s right fucking there Bats and you can’t hit him? Aim for fuck’s sake! Oh, and one shot from a revolver with a giant ass barrel is all it takes down the damn plane? Fuck you again movie!
• Kim and Michael don’t have any chemistry. They’re both perfectly fine on their own, but when you have Vicki telling Bruce that she’s loved him ever since she met him, it really does fall flat, and it really shouldn’t.

Overall, I can’t say I like this movie, but I really can’t say I hate it either. If I grew up on it like so many other folks did I might be able to have a softer opinion of it, but I didn’t and don’t. All in all, I’m gonna Tim Burton’s Batman a 6.3 out of 10.

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed this review, or at least, weren’t overly offended by it. And If you did enjoy, head back on up to the start of my review to hear my thoughts on some other DC movies, including reviews of last couple films we were given of a certain Last Son of Krypton! And when you’re done with those, stop on by for my next review where I’ll be tackling Tim’s next Bat-movie

Probably not the same Battime, but absolutely the same BatURL!

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series – Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)

Written In July 2014

You know, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that this movie would absolutely suck. I was absolutely certain that this movie would be frothing at the mouth awful, but now that I’ve seen it, I feel like I owe my friend Sean an apology. We were talking the other day about how Bruce Timm was involved with an animated DC movie again and I said, “Maybe we’ll finally get some good stuff back in here!” And he told me that Throne of Atlantis, the DC movie set to follow this one, would be awesome and I replied “Oh, of course it won’t!” And a few months earlier when the trailer for this movie got dropped he posted a link to it on his Facebook saying he thought it looked awesome and I just commented saying “It’s gonna suck.” I was completely wrong and I honestly owe him an apology. My bad pal, they gave us a fun ride, and I was wrong. Let’s dig into this.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Amanda Waller forms the Suicide Squad where their mission is to break into Arkham Asylum and recover top secret information from Riddler. Suicide Squad member Harley Quinn ends up freeing Joker who makes plans to blow up Arkham Asylum and Gotham City causing Batman to spring into action.

No seriously, that’s all Wikipedia had to say about the movie. I thought about mixing it up for once and actually grabbing the summary from IMDb, but they had even less to say on the matter! But the funny thing is, they said that this movie is based on the Arkham games from Rocksteady… And it really shouldn’t because this movie shares none of those games’ atmosphere, ambiance, writing, or tone. It takes some their designs

And two of their cast members

But it literally has nothing to do with those games. The Arkham games have been described as combining the best parts of the Nolan films with the general atmosphere and focus of Batman: The Animated Series. This is basically if you made Batman the main cop in a 70’s pulp movie. It literally has ZERO to do with the Arkham games at all. But if we’re honest with ourselves, I think we all know that this game

Is gonna be far better than anything the people in charge of DC Animation can come up with at this point. But, we all need a little bit of stupid bloody fun in our lives every now again, so let’s see how Assault on Arkham stacks up against the likes of Justice League War and Son of Batman.

PROS:

• Neal McDonough as Deadshot is the star of this show, and he shines bright throughout! I think his design is probably on the high end for this movie, and his voice just fit this character perfectly. I’m more familiar with Deadshot as a more rogueish character, and there’s plenty of that left here, but it just comes off as more leading man friendly. Great work Mr. McDonough, you make everything cool.
• CCH Pounder returns as Amanda Waller who kills it as always in this role. If anyone of actual influence at DC Entertainment is reading this review, please please please cast Miss Pounder as Waller in one of your movies, you will not regret it!
• Matthew Gray Gubler does the voice of the Riddler and he’s absolutely perfect throughout. Excellent choice!
• Giancarlo Esposito doesn’t say a ton as Black Spider but he’s Giancarlo Esposito so he’s automatically awesome!
• Greg Ellis does a fun job as Captain Boomerang, and I love Boomerang and Deadshot’s rivalry, that made for some good stuff.
• Jennifer Hale as Killer Frost. She’s Jennifer Hale, that’s an automatic pro.
• Nolan North does a kick ass Penguin.
• Kevin Conroy doesn’t do a ton as Batman, but it’s Kevin Conroy. What more do I need to say?
• That last scene is perfect. Let’s be honest here, if you read comics, or if you’ve watched these cartoons, you’ve wanted to see that bitch, Amanda Waller, dead for a long ass time! Thank you so much Deadshot!

CONS:

• I hold no disrespect at all to Troy Baker and Hynden Walch, I think they’re both absolutely terrific voice actors and I’ve loved them in lots of stuff, but good God did they make for a terrible Joker and Harley. My issue? They’re both impersonations. I know DC struck gold with Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin, but if they both gave up the role, you really shouldn’t be trying to recreate them, give someone a chance to do something different. Also at one point, Joker barges in on the Suicide Squad and proclaims “I’M HERE BITCHES!” That’s not a Joker line, that’s a fucking Deadpool line, and you know it. As for Harley, why the fuck did you need to show her tricking Deadshot into sleeping with her? This is an actual movie people, not fucking fanfiction!
• Is there any particular reason why they strip the women down so often in this movie? Any reason that makes sense and isn’t just an excuse to put titties on the screen in some capacity?
• Whoever these KGBeast and King Shark people are, they really don’t need to be in more movies.
• How do make a movie that’s only 75 minutes feel too long? You could’ve easily cut out the entire sequence where Deadshot has to wrestle with Captain Boomerang for control of a helicopter, and then wrestle with Joker while Harley tries to figure out what the hell to do. And then you could’ve cut the fight between The Joker and Deadshot inside the building where the helicopter crashes into, and the fight between Batman and Harley for the Joker’s hammer.
• A subplot in this movie is that the Joker has a dirty bomb planted in the city. Okay let me explain something here; The Joker always justifies his crimes as being a form of comedy. So what in hell is comedic about blowing half the city to hell with a nuclear bomb? What could be even remotely comedic about that?

All in all, despite my quibbles, Assault on Arkham is a big step forward after the last three DC movies ranging between okay, awful, and even worse. I’m gonna give this one a 7.2 out of 10.

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Pts. 1 (2012) & 2 (2013)

Written In February 2014

Did this truly need to be split up into two films? Could we not have just had a 2 and half hour adaptation of this story? Also, this makes me wonder, if it was so important to get every little part of the graphic novel into this film, why was the same not done for All-Star Superman, a story many would argue is equally important to the man of steel as this one is to the caped crusader? Sounds a wee bit fishy if you ask me.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

After the death of his protégé Jason Todd, billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne was forced to retire from his Batman persona. Ten years later, Gotham City is overrun with crime and terrorized by a gang known as the Mutants. The 55-year-old Wayne maintains a friendship with 70-year-old retiring Police Commissioner James Gordon, while the Joker (Batman’s archenemy) has been catatonic inArkham Asylum since Wayne’s retirement. Arkham inmate Harvey Dent undergoes plastic surgery to repair his disfigured face. Although he is declared sane, he quickly goes into hiding following his release. Dent’s disappearance, news stories of the crime epidemic throughout the city and the memory of his parents’ deaths drive Wayne to become Batman once more. He combats serious crimes, rescuing 13-year-old Carrie Kelley, but now struggles with the physical limitations of age.

Public reaction to his return is divided; Dent’s psychologist, Bartholomew Wolper, blames Batman for creating his own villains. Dent resurfaces, threatening to blow up a building unless he is paid a ransom. Batman defeats Dent’s henchmen, learning that the bombs will explode even if the ransom is paid; he realizes that Dent intends to kill himself. Batman disables one bomb, and the other detonates harmlessly. He defeats Dent, who reveals that although his face was repaired he still thinks of himself as Two-Face. Kelley dresses as Robin and looks for Batman, who attacks a gathering of the Mutants with a tank-like Batmobile (incapacitating most of them). The Mutant leader challenges Batman to a duel; he accepts, to prove to himself that he can win. The Mutant leader (who is in his prime) nearly kills Batman, but Kelley distracts him long enough for Batman to subdue him. The leader and many gang members are arrested. Injured, Batman returns to the Batcave with Kelley; he allows her to become his protégée (despite protest from his butler, Alfred Pennyworth).

Batman has Carrie disguise herself as a Mutant, and she lures the gang to a sewer outlet at the West River. At the Gotham City Police Department, the Mutant leader murders the mayor during negotiations. Commissioner Gordon deliberately releases the leader, providing an escape from the building, which leads to the sewer outlet. Before the amassed Mutants, Batman fights the leader in a mud pit; the mud slows the leader, removing his physical advantage, and Batman overpowers him. Seeing their leader’s defeat, the Mutants divide into smaller gangs; one becomes the “Sons of Batman”, a violent vigilante group. Batman’s victory becomes public and the city’s inhabitants are inspired to stand up against crime. Gordon retires after meeting his anti-Batman successor, Ellen Yindel. In Arkham, televised reports about Batman bring the Joker out of his catatonic state.

Feigning regret for his past, Joker convinces Wolper to take him on a talk show to tell his story; he makes plans for his escape with an old henchman, who supplies him with mind-controlling lipstick. Meanwhile, Superman, who works as a government operative in exchange for being allowed to covertly help people, is asked by the President to end Batman’s vigilante activities. Framing these events is a growing hostility between the USA and the Soviet Union over possession of the island of Corto Maltese. As Batman’s continued presence humiliates the national authorities, Yindel becomes commissioner and orders Batman’s arrest, and Superman warns Batman that the government will not tolerate him much longer.

Joker makes his talk show appearance as Batman fights with the GCPD on the studio roof; while they fight, Joker kills Wolper, gasses everyone in the studio to death and escapes. He finds Selina Kyle and uses one of her escorts and his lipstick to take control of a congressional representative, who calls for a nuclear strike on the Soviets before falling to his death. Batman’s investigation leads him to Kyle, whom he finds bound and dressed like Wonder Woman. Kelley notices cotton candy on the floor, and Batman deduces that Joker is at the fairgrounds. There Kelley accidentally kills Joker’s henchman while Batman pursues the Joker, who indiscriminately guns down dozens of people. As Batman corners a wounded and partially blinded Joker, he admits to feeling responsible for every murder Joker has committed and intends to stop him permanently. In the ensuing fight, Joker stabs Batman repeatedly, and Batman breaks Joker’s neck in front of witnesses.

Content that he made Batman lose control and that he will be branded a murderer, the Joker finishes twisting his neck, killing himself, ultimately brings an end of their conflict. The GCPD arrive and Batman, bleeding profusely, fights his way to Kelley and escapes. After Superman deflects a Soviet nuclear missile, he is hit with the blast and badly injured; the detonation creates an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out all electrical equipment in the United States and causes a nuclear winter. As the city descends into chaos, Batman, Kelley and Gordon rally the Sons of Batman and the citizens of Gotham to restore order, and Yindel accepts that Batman has become too powerful to take down. While the rest of the powerless U.S. is overrun with crime, Gotham becomes the safest city in America, embarrassing the President’s administration and prompting them to send Superman to finally stop Batman. Batman and Superman agree to meet in Crime Alley.

Wearing a powerful exoframe and supported by Kelley and former Green Arrow Oliver Queen, Batman fights Superman, using various tactics to make the fight even. When Superman gains the advantage, Queen hits him with an arrow made with synthetic Kryptonite, severely weakening him. Batman defeats Superman, and claims that he intentionally made the Kryptonite weak, to defeat Superman without killing him. Batman then apparently dies of a heart attack, while Wayne Manor self-destructs, and Alfred dies of a stroke. In the aftermath, the world learns that Wayne was Batman; all of his secrets are destroyed with the manor and his finances disappear. As Superman leaves Wayne’s funeral, he gives Kelley a knowing wink after hearing a faint heartbeat coming from Wayne’s coffin. In underground caves, Wayne is revealed to have faked his death and makes preparations to continue his mission more discreetly, allied with Kelley, Queen, and his followers.

If you listen to Kevin Smith podcast, Fat Man On Batman, then you’ve been gravely over sold the fight between Batman and Superman. But let’s talk about this matter for a brief second as well. Now Frank Miller was the first writer to start this immortal conflict, or as I prefer to think of it, the Batfan dick waving contest that never seems to end, and for the time it was monumental. It really sold just how big this story was, because now Batman has caused so much ruckus that SUPERMAN, the Last Son of Krypton himself, is coming down to crime alley to kick his ass. And then Batman “wins”! If you’re paying any attention to this article, you’ll note that I put quotes around that word. Because does Batman truly win? Think about it. At the end Bruce basically says that Clark’s gonna let ‘em slip so long as they keep quiet. Earlier in the story, Oliver remarks that Bruce had a bad habit of being mysterious but LOUD about it. If you’ve just gotten the living shit beat out of you and have had to go into hiding and change your methods of doing your business have you TRULY won? And as for the fight itself, Superman was beating Batman’s ass the whole time. And on top that, not only was he weaker than normal and holding back, Batman repeatedly had to weaken him FURTHER to really get the upper hand. And it wasn’t like he was fighting him with his normal Kevlar armor, he was basically working in the Mark I version of this thing.

If you’re getting your ass beat as basically Iron Bat, you’re not winning the fight, especially if you have a HEART ATTACK right on the spot once you finally get the upper hand. So put simply, Batman didn’t really win that fight. But let’s talk about the rest of the movie.

PROS:

• While a little wooden at some crucial moments, Peter Weller is terrific as Batman!
• Ariel Winter does great work as the wonderful Carrie Kelley!
• Wade Williams gives a really good, and surprisingly understated, performance as Harvey Dent.
• Michael Emerson gives a wonderfully creepy performance as the Joker, but that’s par for the course with Micheal Emerson.
• Mark Valley is terrific as Superman!
• Ariel Winter excels as Carry Kelly!
• I’m not familiar with this actor, but David Selby is terrific as Commissioner Gordon!
• The action is terrifc, more so in Part One I’d say.
• The score by Christopher Drake is stupendous as always!
• While I think there’s something lost in translation of the story, with the absence of everyone’s inner monologues, the script does a good job incorporating some of the more important bits into the dialogue.
• When everyone’s starting to realize that the Batman is back for sure, one of the news anchors gets a little smirk on her face like she knows for sure who this is and she’s glad he’s back!

CONS:

• It bugs me a little that Conan O’Brien is voicing Dave Endocrine in this movie since he was specifically designed to be an analogue to Dave Letterman. Look at this!
  
  And I love Conan! I love him to death! But don’t tell me it would’ve made more sense to go after Letterman!
• While Part 1 is pretty restrained, it feels like Part 2 is more interested in the violence of the story than the story itself like. Like did we really need to see the Joker stabbing Batman that many times? Take it from Hitchcock, Jay Olivia, not seeing things is more disturbing than actually seeing them!
• Did they fight for the topless woman with Swastikas tattooed over her nipples? Because that was random and ridiculous in the book and it’s still ridiculous here.
• Okay, it’s official. Andrea, you need to quit calling Rowin Atkin Downes, because he’s irritating as hell. You couldn’t called anyone else for a one armed crotchety old Green Arrow? Really?!
• Does Frank Miller have a thing for needlessly shoehorning in Catwoman? Because he did it here AND in Year One, and frankly I’m not sure which is worse. But I guess this is because instead of a badass martial artist and thief with an ill temper, you have an overweight madam. And am I the only one who questions that? If you didn’t enjoy being a hooker, why would you go on to employ them? Anywho, that’s another that should’ve been left out here.
• Again, Hitchcock. Leave it to the imagination. You didn’t need to show us Harvey completely disfigured to explain to us how he sees himself in his mind’s eye, we already got the point when he said he knew everyone was really disgusted by him even though they were pretending he looked normal. You already told us through that one what Harvey believed he thought he looked like, you could’ve gone without spelling it out for us.
• Why is Lana Lang the head of the Daily Planet? Wouldn’t it make more sense, if it was Lois? What did Lana ever have to do with the Planet? I get the feeling Frank doesn’t know his left from his right with Supes, so I get that he’d probably confuse the two perhaps, but why wouldn’t someone bother to change this little detail to improve the story?
• Why did they leave the bit with Selina dressed up as Wondy while tied up in the movie? This story was originally written by a known misogynist, he probably had Selina dressed up as Wonder Woman to degrade the character. Why not just leave her in one of these?
  
  I feel like this would’ve been a large improvement to the film, as not only would it it remove the degradation of a wonderful female character, but also make the scene make a little more sense, because why the hell would you have a Wonder Woman outfit at an escort agency?
• The scene where Superman saves a blind man who’s fallen on the tracks of a subway station, instead of just flying down scooping the guy up then dropping him back on the waiting platform he just stops the train. That’s stupid.
• Okay, I know it’s a little controversial to change the time and setting for a comics to film translation, but this sorely needs one! It doesn’t make any sense to have Reagan and the Cold War in  a movie released in 2012/2013! Here’s a suggestion, move up to say 2007 when we had the housing market crash and have the president be Bush, and the foreign baddies be Iran or North Korea or something. You still have a republican president to (justifiably) bash and you have a foreign threat for Superman to pound.
  

All in all, despite my problems with Part 2 and my dislike for the idea of Batman somehow beating Superman, I really dug this movie! I have a lot of affection for this story, despite it’s glaring problems, so all in all I’m gonna give it an 8.4 out of 10!

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

Written In January 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

At a manor in Sarajevo, Ra’s al Ghul ruefully realizes his mistake in allying himself with the Joker, while his assistant informs him that the Joker has captured Jason Todd, the second Robin. In a warehouse, the Joker brutally beats Jason with a crowbar while Batman races there. Joker then leaves the warehouse and traps a half-dead Jason inside. Although Jason attempts to escape, a planted explosive destroys the building before Batman can rescue Jason.

Five years later in Gotham City, a masked criminal called the Red Hood takes command of the drug trade, assuring eight prominent drug lords protection from Batman and crime boss Black Mask and more money in return. Elsewhere, Batman intercepts a stolen truck carrying Amazo, anandroid weapon, and Nightwing arrives to help take it down. The drivers reveal they were under Red Hood’s orders before being assassinated by their employer. Batman gives chase and eventually ends up at the chemical plant that created the Joker, who was the original Red Hood. The current Red Hood confronts Batman and comments, before escaping, that it is the site of Batman’s first great failure.

Regrouping, Batman and Nightwing check on the Red Hood’s movements; since the Red Hood had appeared, drug trafficking is high, but crime as a whole is down in Gotham. Afterward, they interrogate the Joker at Arkham Asylum about Red Hood; the clown merely taunts them with Jason’s death and denies involvement. Angered over his stolen android, Black Mask puts out a hit on Red Hood, who promptly hijacks another weapon shipment, with Batman and Nightwing interrupting. During a chase over the city rooftops, Red Hood displays physical skills similar to Batman and Nightwing’s. Red Hood then eludes them at a train station, where a planted bomb explodes and injures Nightwing’s leg. Back at the Batcave, Batman sends Nightwing home and then discovers Red Hood knows his secret identity.

Batman also recalls that Jason once used such escape maneuvers, and that he became violent and impulsive as he grew older. Meanwhile, Red Hood is attacked by the Fearsome Hand of Four, a group of four assassins working for Black Mask. He stalls them to lure Batman out, and together they incapacitate three while Red Hood kills one. When Batman confronts him about it, Red Hood insists that he is doing what the Dark Knight is unwilling to do: killing criminals who step out of line. Batman offers to help Red Hood, who refuses and leaves. Batman later uses a blood sample from the battle to confirm that Red Hood is in fact Jason Todd, back from the dead. Meanwhile, Red Hood fires a rocket-propelled grenade into Black Mask’s office, nearly killing the crime lord. Pushed to his breaking point, Black Mask cuts a deal with the Joker: He will be released from Arkham in exchange for killing Red Hood.

Bruce discovers the body in Jason’s coffin is a fake. Enraged, he visits Ra’s al Ghul for the truth. Ra’s reveals that five years previous he commissioned the Joker to distract the Dynamic Duo during their investigation of one of Ra’s' terrorist plots, but the clown kidnapped and murdered Jason, which Ra’s saw as unnecessary. To make amends, Ra’s chose not to make war with Batman anymore, and attempted to revive Jason in theLazarus Pit, which yielded disastrous results: Jason was driven over the edge by the chemicals in the pit, and fled. Meanwhile, the Joker abducts Black Mask and his associates and tries to burn them alive in a bid for Red Hood’s attention. Red Hood reveals his plan the whole time was to intimidate Black Mask into freeing the Joker so he could arrange a meeting. Batman intervenes, saving Black Mask and his underlings, but Red Hood gets away with a captured Joker in tow.

Red Hood takes the Joker to an abandoned apartment and savagely beats him with a crowbar the same way he was beaten five years ago. He then meets Batman in Crime Alley, where they first met, and they get into a fight that culminates with Jason holding Batman at gunpoint and demanding to know why he has not killed the Joker. Batman says that although he’s thought every day about killing the Joker, he can’t bring himself to do it — he knows if he starts killing, he’ll never stop. Jason gives Batman a gun and an ultimatum: Either Jason will shoot the Joker, or Batman has to shoot Jason to stop him. Batman silently declines participation, drops the gun, and walks away. Angry and hurt, Jason shoots his gun at the back of his former mentor, but Batman dodges the bullet. Batman then disables Jason’s gun with a batarang. Jason activates a bomb, and slumps to the ground, defeated.

Batman tries to defuse the bomb, but the Joker stands in the way, determined to see that they all die together. Batman knocks the Joker aside to try and save Jason as the explosive goes off. When the smoke clears, the Joker and Batman are revealed to have survived, but Jason is nowhere to be found. In the aftermath of the incident, a news report reveals that the Joker was returned to Arkham and Black Mask is back on the streets after paying a million dollars bail. At the Batcave, Alfred Pennyworth asks Batman if he should take down the memorial holding Jason’s old Robin costume. Batman refuses, saying nothing has changed. The film ends with a flashback of Jason’s first day as Robin, in which the boy declares that it is the best day of his life.

This movie broke my heart. When Jason stood in front of the Batmobile, in the Robin costume, you could see just how PROUD he was! And then they made it even worse with this line…

Literally My Reaction:

 

If a freaking direct to video animated movie about BATMAN can create that level of emotion in you, it shouldn’t have been direct to video! There are some bits of acting here that I don’t think I’ve seen in some major movies, animated or live action. Time for some pros and cons!

PROS:

• Jensen Ackles is fantastic as the titular Red Hood, young, weary, arrogant, hotheaded, and at some points kind of noble. I really love how emotional he gets in one scene where he criticizes Batman for having never killed the Joker, especially when Bruce Greenwood and him were likely never in the studio together.
• Bruce Greenwod is a wonderful Batman, you can really hear the heartbreak and feelings of failure in his voice when he finds Jason’s body. And when he argues with Alfred over whether or not Jason’s situation was in fact, his fault, you FEEL his anger. He knows that he screwed up, and he won’t let it go. We even get some nice moments of levity at the end where he’s joking with Alfred about why Jason’s is taking so long. He’s just really great! I’m glad he got to even better work in Young Justice!
• Wade Williams as Black Mask! I already loved this guy from his days on Prison Break, but God almighty was this guy hilarious! I especially loved how over the top angry he was! ESPECIALLY the bit where he was punching his thugs in the face because he was so damn pissed off! I also the few moments where he wasn’t being funny though, where he’s actually considering the situation. Like the moment where he stops to wonder, maybe he isn’t actually the Hood’s target, but a casualty of his war with someone else.
• Jason Issacs as Ra’s Al Ghul, I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of this guy as a Batman villain. I kind of think that for the same reason I think Dracula was a random choice to have him go head to head with in The Batman. You have this ancient war lord who has lived on 4 centuries due to a mystical fountain of youth called the Lazarus Pit. And then you have Batman, a billionaire vigilante detective who fights to protect Gotham City. This guy is WAY out of Batman’s league! He’s not a threat to Batman, he’s a Justice League villain! But, all that being said, Jason does a pretty good job here. He sounds genuinely upset that he wound getting Batman’s ward killed for no damn reason at all. And he sounds honestly regretful that he underestimated that Joker. And I buy that he honestly wanted to help Jason.
• John DiMaggio’s Joker! I love this guy! He’s such a sick bastard! You see him laughing his head off about beating a teenager to death with a crowbar! And simultaneously awful and wonderful about this performance is he manages to makes something so terrible so entertaining! I also love how he sort of tells the same joke twice, but it really doesn’t work either time, it makes me think about how this Joker was apparently once an awful comedian, in this version at least. And what I also adore, are some of this Joker’s expressions. Like the bit where he challenges Batman to go ahead and kill him, saying “Are you gonna do it this time? Are you just gonna put in another body cast for six months?” Or when he realizes that Jason is the Red Hood and he’s just like “OH MY FUCKING GOD! BEST FUCKING PLOT TWIST EVER! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” He also does a good job with the love of making Batman angry. Like the bit where he’s in prison and he’s talking about killing Jason, he knows he’s gonna piss Batman off, and he’s looking forward to it. Or the scene where Batman throws a batarang at Jason and causes his gun to explode, and he praises him, proclaiming “YOU ROOTIN’ TOOTIN’ EAGLE EYED GOTH LOVING MARKSMAN! YOU FOUND A WAY TO WIN! AND EVERYONE STILL LOSES!!!!” He’s just such a delightfully sick fuck!
• Vincent Martella as Robin is fantastic! He does great work throughout the flashbacks, but his first scene where the Joker is beating the crap out of him, he conveys so much so well through just some grunting, groaning, murmuring and stammering. In fact that entire scene was perfect on the part of both the actors and the animators. Jason tries to stand up and makes it just two steps when he’s trying to get out, and then he falls over, so he crawls over to the door and tries hard to get it to work. His face is determined, then frustrated. He thinks he’s just screwed up and he’s never gonna hear the end of it from Batman, but then he sees the bomb counting down from 9 seconds on the clock. He looks at in horror then lowers his eyes in resignation. He knows he’ll die, and he’s made peace with that knowing that he’s done good work and that even if he doesn’t make it, Batman will avenge him. All of that is conveyed through some sighing from an actor and a handful of hard working animators who put their soul into this movie.
• Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing! Like I said last time with Justice League: New Frontier, perfect casting is perfect! I couldn’t say I could see him returning to the role, but I’m glad he got to do his great work here. He comes off as someone who’s used to working with Bruce, and while he knows he gets pretty rough with crooks, he doesn’t come like he’d be doing that himself if he were in his place. And of course, by obligation, he is quite the snarky bastard.
• This movie has such a great sense of humor! Not just with Black Mask and the Joker, there’s even some humor in the flashbacks. There’s a scene where Batman walks down an alley and finds the Batmobile with it’s wheels removed. He calls this unbelievable but he doesn’t even sound angry, he sounds genuinely impressed someone could fuck up his car while he was out. He’s just like
  
• The score is wonderful.
• The animation is awesome.
• The story is wonderful.

CONS:

• Ra’s Al Ghul is 400+ year old war lord and the Black Mask is a hardened criminal mastermind, WHY THE FUCK WOULD EITHER OF YOU HIRE THE JOKER?!?!?!?! YOU KNOW HE’S NOT GOING TO DO WHAT YOU WANT! HE’S JUST GOING TO FUCK YOUR SHIT UP!!!!!
• It feels like they tried to write Jason as a bad apple from the start, which really bugs me, because the entire reason Bruce took him in is because he was impressed that he could even manage to steal from him. And all of his interactions with Bruce where he’s acting rebellious were nothing you wouldn’t see any other teen do. Jason may have been a hothead, but he was a good kid. He wasn’t a bad seed.
• This wasn’t isn’t for something that is in the movie, so much as it is for something that isn’t in it. I would’ve liked to see Dick have a flashback about Jason. It wouldn’t have been difficult for a couple scenes with them. One with Jason as Robin and one with him as Red Hood. I can’t think of any time where they’ve been portrayed as being on good terms and that really bugs me. I get they’d be on bad terms now, but wouldn’t they be good together beforehand?

All in all, I can’t say this is the best DC animated movie or the best Batman movie, but it is definitely a grand one and I can’t help but love it! Batman: Under The Red Hood gets an 8.5 out of 10!

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - The Batman Vs Dracula (2005)

Written In January 2014

Before I get to the plot, can I just say… This a REALLY random set up in my opinion. Who would even think to set up a powerless hero who’s normal shtick involves being a detective, not someone who typically goes head to head with supernatural beings, and even when he does, 7 times out of 10, he’s hanging out with the Justice League and people who DO work with this kind of stuff. I’m just saying. Onto the plot.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The Joker and the Penguin break out of Arkham Asylum and race each other to find a stash of stolen money hidden within a crypt in Gotham Cemetery. The Joker is quickly intercepted by the Batman and is electrocuted when he falls into a river by his super-charged joy buzzers while the Penguin takes the opportunity to enter the cemetery himself. While searching through a crypt, the Penguin accidentally cuts his hand while using his umbrella-sword to open a coffin he hopes contains the money, finding a body instead. The blood from his hand drips on the corpse’s heart, which brings it to life; it is none other than thevampire lord Count Dracula, his body having been moved from Transylvania to Gotham City after his “death.” After attacking and turning a watchman at the cemetery into a vampire, Dracula hypnotizes the Penguin into becoming his non-vampiric servant so that he may lead him through Gotham to feed and guard his coffin during the day while he regains his strength.

While patrolling the city, the Batman witnesses a vampire attack, but decides to put the incident at the back of his mind and, as Bruce Wayne, proceeds to host a corporate party at his manor. The invigorated Dracula appears at the party, disguised as a cultural anthropologist under the name Dr. “Alucard” (“Dracula” spelled backwards), claiming to be visiting to study the Batman (believing his legacy had an influence on Batman’s existence), and takes an interest in Vicki Vale, a reporter who is interviewing and dating Bruce. After failing to turn Bruce into a vampire to quench his thirst, Dracula turns a waiter into a vampire that assaults Bruce’s butler Alfred. Realizing the imminent danger, Bruce immediately deduces “Alucard” is Dracula. Upon further research, Bruce learns that Dracula is behind the disappearances of several Gotham citizens, who have been dubbed “Lost Ones” by the media and turned into vampires, and attempts to find a way to synthesize a vaccine for the victims. Due to eyewitnesses claiming to see a bat-like figure during the attacks, however, it is mistakenly reported that the Batman is behind the disappearances instead. When Batman goes to Gotham Cemetery to look for Dracula, he gets chased down by a SWAT unit, all of whose members are taken by Dracula as they chase him back into the city. During a fight with the Batman, Dracula offers him to join him in his conquest of Gotham, though the Batman naturally refuses. Just as Dracula has the Batman at his mercy, the sun rises and Dracula is forced to retreat, vowing to kill Batman for rejecting his offer.

At the cemetery, the Joker reappears alive and well and confronts the Penguin, saying the shock to his head helped. He asks where the treasure is, thinking Penguin has already found it, chasing him into Dracula’s tomb. However, despite Penguin’s warning to not open Dracula’s coffin, Joker ends up “breakfast in bed, freshly-squeezed” for Dracula. The Batman tracks down the vampire Joker as he feasts in a blood bank and captures him. While the Batman attempts to concoct an antidote from the Joker’s infected cellular structure, Alfred discovers that Dracula once had a vampire bride, Carmilla Karnstein, who met her demise when she was exposed to sunlight. During his research, however, Bruce stands up an understanding Vicki, who is soon kidnapped by Dracula. Finally, the Batman is able to cure the Joker of his vampirism and ascertain the location of Dracula’s lair in Gotham Cemetery before returning him to Arkham. He then proceeds to mass-produce the vaccine to defeat Dracula and cure his victims.

Dracula attempts to sacrifice Vicki's soul to reanimate his bride Carmilla. Upon learning that Vicki has been kidnapped, the Batman rushes to Dracula’s lair with his anti-vampirism vaccine and arsenal of weapons, defeating and curing all the “Lost Ones” that attack him in the catacombs beneath Gotham Cemetery. The Batman then frees Vicki, disrupting the reanimation ritual. Dracula sends the Penguin to recapture Vicki while he fights the Batman, who lures Dracula into the Batcave and towards his prototype solar energy-storing machine and incinerates him with the sunlight stored within, reducing Dracula to a pile of ash and bones. This also frees the Penguin from his control, who, while chasing Vicki, finally finds the hidden treasure that caused all the trouble in the first place. Sadly for Penguin, he is arrested and blamed for Dracula’s kidnappings, causing the media to think he was forcing people to find the treasure. Having defeated an ultimate evil, the Batman triumphantly continues his duties to defend Gotham against anyone who may threaten its safety.

Contrary to my opinion of this being random, I really dug this movie. It didn’t quite hit me like Return of the Joker, Phantasm or Sub-Zero, but it was a much appreciated breath of fresh air after having to put up with Mystery of the Batwoman being so… Uninspired. This however, what’s a more inspired (if not, again, random) idea than Batman having to match wits with the Gothic Prince of Darkness, Count Dracula. Brought to a wonderfully creepy life through the voice of character actor, Peter Stormare. And makes this movie better for me, is that it’s set in a series that was a big part of my childhood; The Batman! While in all of my last four reviews I praised Kevin Conroy and company for their delightful and iconic takes of these characters, Batman: The Animated Series was not the Batman I grew up on. Like many, I actually spent my Saturday mornings looking forward to the continuing adventures of the caped crusader on Kids WB brought to life through the efforts of Rino Romano and company in their own series, The Batman. And that’s not to say I never watched B:TAS, I caught a few episodes here and there growing up, and of course like any sane 12 year old, I religiously watched Justice League and Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. I also watched plenty of Teen Titans as well, but that review is next on the itinerary. But either way, I don’t get why people don’t talk about this show so much? It may not have had the same level of prestige as TAS and it may not have been as reverent to what came before it as The Brave and The Bold. But it was still pretty clever, the animation was generally pretty great, and how do you not love that theme by U2’s The Edge? Anywho, let’s get the pros and cons!

PROS:

• Peter Stormare is wonderful as Dracula!
• Kevin Michael Richardson gives a great performance as the Joker, I find him extremely underrated!
• Tom Kenny surprisingly makes for a pretty kick ass Penguin.
• Rino Romano is wonderful as Batman and Bruce Wayne respectively.
• Tara Strong is in this movie, I like Tara Strong.
• There are parts of this movie where the Joker is arguably creepier than Mark, Jack and Heath’s Jokers respectively. Not combined of course, God only knows how creepy that would be. Or maybe just Scott Snyder. 
  Seriously, what the fuck man?
• This Dracula is actually DRACULA, it’s not some toned down cartoonish caricature of the Lord of the Vampires, it is the real deal and creepy as hell.
• The vampires in this movie suck blood, they don’t steer away from it, we see them actually chomping down on people’s necks and lapping it up.
• Before being brainwashed, The Penguin refuses to serve Dracula. This feels pretty in character to me, given how much of an arrogant bastard he generally is.
• Vampire Joker is especially creepy!
• This is more of pro from the actual series, but I like that Penguin and The Joker are actually worthy physical combatants to Batman. They aren’t some guys who use tricks to best the guy, they can actually best him physically. This makes the fights more intense when you realize that these are actually guys that Batman can’t put down with ease.
• Batman actually gets to use science to solve his problems for once. This is something that we never really got to see Batman do in his prime in these movies. I say in his prime because we see Bruce trying to synthesize an antidote for the Joker Venom in the Batman Beyond movie. But regardless, Batman isn’t just a master detective and excellent combatant, he has degrees in advanced science and engineering! This is something I enjoy seeing
• The flashbacks/dream sequences in this film are wonderfully eery and well handled, especially with the repeated use of the Martha Wayne’s pearls falling onto the ground and always transitioning with the sound of a gunshot.
• When we first hear that the Joker’s broken out of Arkham again, all of the inmates sort of cheer. I find that funny.
• Joker’s “death” was really well handled, and while it wasn’t as emotionally effective as it was in Return of the Joker, it was, again, very creepy. With The Joker letting go of the ledge he was hanging from screaming “BYE BYE BATSY!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Quickly realizing his joybuzzer was malfunctioning and struggling to keep afloat when hits the water as the electricity brings him to his final end. Or so I thought.
• There’s this quick scene where Dracula feeds on the Joker inside his coffin and Penguin tries to make a joke about it, but you can see he’s absolutely horrified. This is especially great because of the Penguin’s face where he just stares at the scene like “That is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”

CONS:

• While I generally find Tara Strong to be a delightful presence, I don’t get why Vicki Vale had to be here.
• While the movie doesn’t stray away from the horror aspect, I wish it had the maturity to actually talk the way characters would here. I’m not asking for something like Blade where characters openly and actively use the f-bomb multiple times throughout, but actually throw out some real insults.
• At the end of their final conflict, as Dracula is dying, he proclaims in a horrified confusion that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Why did he just now acknowledge this? He never noted it beforehand or even hinted at knowing this, it just sort of comes off like a superhero movie cliche that the villain must always find out the hero’s true identity before being finally defeated.
• I wish we’d been given more explanation about these vampires, every good movie featuring these creatures gives some kind of explanation about what the deal is.

Overall, this was a real treat. It felt good to hear Rino, Tom, Kevin and Alistair Duncan again as Batman, Penguin, Joker and Alfred respectively. Peter Stormare was great as Dracula. And the story was surprisingly effective emotionally, I won’t say it hit me as hard as Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker, but it did something that none of these other movies have really done for me; creeped me the fuck out! I’d say Return of the Joker came close, but with that added element of science fiction, in my mind it felt like something that could easily be corrected. With this movie though, I was genuinely left wondering, how the fuck is this going to be fixed? Ultimately, I’m gonna give The Batman Vs. Dracula a 7.8 out of 10.

DC Animated Superhero Movie Retrospective Series - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)

Written In December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Many years back after Nightwing (Dick Grayson) moved to a new city to fight crime on his own, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Tim Drake, Dick’s successor as Robin, and disfigured him to look like the Joker, and tortured him to the point of insanity over a period of three weeks. In the process, Tim revealed Batman's secret identity—and the secret of what drives him to be Batman. When Batman and the Joker fought their final battle, the Joker got the upper hand and subdued him. The Joker then tried to persuade Tim to kill Batman. Instead, the boy, due to a trace of his former self still active, turned on the Joker and killed him, and suffered a mental breakdown in the process. Batman and Barbara buried the Joker’s body deep beneath Arkham Asylum, while Harley fell into a pit after she was fighting Batgirl and was presumed dead as her body was never found. The only other person who knew about what happened that night was Barbara’s father, Commissioner James Gordon, who promised to keep that night a secret. One year after the incident, Tim was rehabilitated, but Bruce forbade him from being Robin again, blaming himself for what happened and vowing to never again endanger another young partner. The event puts a strain on the relationship between Bruce and Barbara, leading the latter to retire as Batgirl to join Gotham City Police Department and in time follow her father’s footsteps as police commissioner. Tim eventually settled down with a wife and family, and a career as a communications engineer.

In Neo-Gotham City, the Joker resurfaces after having disappeared 40 years earlier. He has taken over a faction of the Jokerz, and on his orders, they steal high-tech communications equipment. One heist happens to coincide with Bruce Wayne’s formal announcement of his return to active leadership of Wayne Enterprises, as the Joker reveals himself to the world. Despite Terry McGinnis’ intervention, the Joker escapes. Bruce insists that the Joker must be an impostor, as he claims to have witnessed the real Joker’s death decades before, yet all evidence suggests otherwise. Bruce, unwilling to let Terry face the Joker, impostor or not, demands that he return the Batsuit, to which Terry reluctantly complies.

Later, Terry and his girlfriend Dana are attacked by the Jokerz at a nightclub. At the same time, the Joker ambushes and attacks Bruce in theBatcave, leaving him for dead. Terry defeats the Jokerz, and Dana is taken to the hospital for her injuries. Terry rushes to Wayne Manor, and finds Bruce near-dead from Joker venom. Terry quickly administers an antidote, and tends to Bruce with the help of Barbara Gordon.

After Terry insists on being let in on what really happened to the Joker, Barbara reluctantly tells him what happened. Terry decides to question Tim, who denies any involvement and bitterly says he had grown sick of his past life as Robin. Terry then suspects Jordan Pryce, who would have taken control of the company were it not for Bruce’s return. Jordan Pryce, thinking he will become CEO, plans to hold a private party on his yacht with his girlfriend Amy. However he finds Dee-Dee in her place, Amy having been tied to a pole and gagged at the port. Terry finds the Jokerz on Pryce’s yacht, who reveal that Pryce had hired them and given them access codes. However, the Joker has sent them to kill Pryce, as he is no longer needed. Terry rescues Pryce before a satellite laser destroys the boat, and then turns him in to the police with a recording of Pryce’s conversation with the Jokerz.

Back in the Batcave, Terry deduces that Tim must be working with the Joker when he discovers that the high-tech equipment the Jokerz have been stealing can be combined to form a machine that takes control of any satellite, even an orbiting military satellite with an automated defense system and fire it at will, thus explaining what happened on the yacht—and it can only be built by an engineer of Tim’s caliber. Bruce is skeptical about this claim, but nonetheless sends Terry to question Tim again. Terry tries to confront Tim, but is lured into a trap by the Joker, who confirms that he and Tim are indeed working together. Escaping in the Batmobile, he is then chased through Gotham by the laser-armed satellite.

Terry tracks the Joker to the abandoned Jolly Jack candy factory. After fighting off the Jokerz, he finds Tim, who transforms into the Joker before his eyes. The Joker explains that when he kidnapped Tim and during the three weeks of his torture, he secretly implanted a microchip (revealed later to have been stolen from Project Cadmus) into the boy’s brain that carries the Joker’s consciousness and genetic material, allowing him to physically and mentally transform Tim into a clone of himself at will, eventually becoming strong enough to permanently control his body. The Joker prepares to fire the satellite again to kill Dana, Terry’s family and Bruce, but before he can fire the laser, Terry sets Bruce’s dog, Ace, on him. Terry knocks the Joker's joy buzzer into the controls, destroying the beam’s guidance system, causing it to head to the factory.

The Joker attempts to escape, but Terry seals the factory. A fight ensues between the two, but the Joker is easily able to overcome Terry since he knows all of the original Batman’s moves and tricks. Terry then decides to improvise by using his expertise in dirty street fighting moves and mocking his obsession with Batman and his inability to make him laugh. An agitated Joker throws bombs at Terry, sending him crashing to the floor. The Joker then pins him to the ground and begins to strangle him. Terry, having covertly retrieved the Joker’s joy buzzer, delivers a shock to the Joker’s neck, destroying the chip, reverting Tim to his old self, and destroying the Joker forever. Terry escapes with Tim and Ace before the satellite destroys the factory and the satellite jamming device. The satellite gets deactivated and floats into outer space.

In the city jail, two of the female Jokerz, Deidre and Delia Dennis, are bailed out by their grandmother, an elderly Harley Quinn, who laments what disappointments they are. Meanwhile, Terry and Barbara meet Tim in the hospital. Bruce arrives just as Terry leaves, telling him that it is not being Batman that makes him a worthwhile person, but the other way around. Bruce then joins Barbara and Tim in the hospital room. The film ends with Terry donning the Batsuit and flying off into the heart of the city.

You know how my last review I got up on my soapbox about a controversial fandom issue? Well today I’m going to step back up to it to talk about a real life issue; censorship. This film prior it’s December release back was HEAVILY edited and recut, this was done so because of the Columbine High School shooting in April of 1999. In my humble opinion, these cuts and edits are fucking ridiculous. The film was meant to be rated PG-13, that means it was meant for kids who are old enough to understand the difference between reality and fiction and can understand that the kind of thing that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are wrong and sinister. This movie does feature teenagers/young adults doing depraved things as part of a gang that worships and names itself after a homicidal maniac, but they are quickly shown to only be doing there acts for thrills and cash. When exposed to the Joker’s ways of committing cold blooded murder and laughing his ass off about it, they all react in fear, and from then on are more following along out said fear. The film shows a boy the target audience’s age being horribly tortured and then to preserve the life of his true father figure kills his torturer. The film is clear to show that these actions are not okay, and alludes to an adult Tim Drake having many sleepless nights about his actions here. It also makes it clear, that the main character of Terry McGinnis was a gangbanger who busted shops and hurt people, who does what he does now out of a hope to redeem himself in his own eyes. The point of censorship is to show to prevent kids from getting the wrong idea about the world, to prevent them from knowing that crime doesn’t pay, but it does is decrease the impact of that message. So I beg of you, when purchasing this film on DVD (or Blu-Ray, I don’t if it’s available on that format) please buy the version that is it rated PG-13 by the MPAA, do not purchase the version labeled either “unrated” or just PG. By buying either of the other two versions, you are encouraging executives that it’s alright to undermine the message of the artists behind films. Of the MPAA, all I can say is this;

Now let’s get to the pros and cons of the actual PG-13 cut.

PROS:

• Mark Hamill kills it again as the one and only clown prince of crime! It’s a bit different than his usual take on the clown, but that actually serves the material.
• The Joker is probably his most manic and sadistic during the course of the DC Animated Universe.
• The scene where the Joker kills Bonk is a great example of the Joker’s dark comedy and also parallels with a lot of real life folks who associate themselves with symbols of hate and violence out rebellion without actually thinking of what they’re true meaning is.
• This is Will Friedle’s BEST performance as Terry McGinnis, possibly even the best performance of his career.
• Bruce’s initial refusal to let Terry fight the Joker is great for a couple of reasons. One, it makes sense because while Bruce has been more than happy to let Terry go head to head with plenty of rogues, Terry has never once been up against someone as sinister as the clown. Two, it builds the clown for people who only ever watched Batman Beyond. It doesn’t build up the Joker in general, because if you know Batman outside Beyond, you KNOW the Joker is a major threat and someone to be feared.
• How the Joker is back is actually rather brilliant and genuinely horrific.
• How Terry defeats the Joker is great, and I always enjoy seeing bad people mocked and shown to be as pathetic on the outside as they are on the inside.

CONS:

• While I think Kristopher Carter does a good job with the score, personally, I would’ve gone for a different musical cues at certain moments, and left the music out entirely for others. For example, the scene where the Joker explains what he did to Tim should’ve been left silent until he reveals that he knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, at the moment we shoudl’ve gotten that sort of dramatic drum roll, then the music should’ve slowly risen from that point forward until Bruce crashes through the window and attacks the Joker.
• We don’t see enough of the Jokerz being afraid of the Joker, I think it would’ve been good if Terry caught one after a fight and managed to pry the info of the Joker’s location from them.
• Harley at one point is thought dead in this film but is then revealed to be the Dee Dee twins’ grandmother, personally, I think she should’ve been left dead in spite my love of her.

This film is very much the precursor to the type of movies we’re gonna get to later in this series, particularly Under The Red Hood. So what did I actually think of the movie, well how about a play by play from the doctor himself;

The first scene:

 

the Joker’s reveal:

 

the Joker’s second reveal: 

Bruce asking Terry for the suit back:

 

Barb’s flashback about Tim:

 

When Terry talks to Tim about the Joker: 

When Terry and Bruce find out that Tim IS the Joker: 

Me during Terry’s fight with the Joker:

 

At the ending when Tim is reunited with Barb and Bruce and Bruce and Tim both tell Terry he’s a good Batman:

 

So all in all, the movie entertained me, entranced me, broke me, and left me very happy, I’ll be giving Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker a 9.2 out of 10.