Batman The Dark Knight Returns Part 1: Review
Set in an alternate future where a 55 year old Bruce Wayne (Peter Weller) stopped being Batman after the death of his former Robin Jason Todd, the crime rate has escalated and the city is overrun by a gang of thugs simply known as the Mutants. Harvey Dent is now a new man after undergoing plastic surgery to make his face complete again but it still raises a question of how much of his mind is completely repaired. Bruce witnesses the Mutants become more and more brutal so he decides that he can’t escape who he is and dons the cape and cowl once again. With the help of a 13 year old girl named Carrie Kelley (Ariel Winter) who buys a Robin costume and decides to aide the newly returned Dark Knight, they go straight to the source of the citywide crime spree and head out after the leader of the Mutants.
DC Entertainment has done it again with this adaptation of Frank Miller’s take on Batman. Separating this story into two movies was a wise decision. I would’ve hated to see this movie with everything rushed and crammed into and hour and a half. I’m sure plenty of people had their hesitations when this was first announced as The Dark Knight Returns is a critically acclaimed and fan favorite graphic novel but it was done with the fan in mind. It was pretty faithful to the graphic novel but couldn’t be 100% accurate because of the obvious graphic violence and blood. The animation was fantastic with it being pretty similar to the source material but with a modern take on it. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the story itself as it was transferred perfectly for the small screen. The Two-Face/Harvey Dent portion of the story was done great as well. Wade Williams brings Dent to life with a heartfelt performance making you ultimately feel bad for him. Hearing Peter Weller as Batman was a bit odd at first (because all I kept thinking about initially was that Robocop was Batman) but it really made sense. Kevin Conroy will always be Batman to me but Weller gave the performance that needed to be given for Bruce Wayne at this stage in his life. Wayne is weathered and tired but still has fight in him and that came across magnificently in his voice acting. There are some scenes that you notice right off the bat (no pun intended) that Nolan lifted from this story that were in The Dark Knight Rises (you’ll notice them). I loved this movie and really can’t wait for the second part. Just thinking about the (SPOILER ALERT) fight between the Man of Steel and The Dark Knight really makes me anxious to see it. This is a MUST SEE for sure!
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 is available now on Bluray and DVD from Warner Bros Home Entertainment
