When Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller first came out, I bought them, read them, put them away, and then traded them. I traded a guy for all of his John Byrne for all of my non John Byrne comics. It was one helluva one-sided trade in his favor. That was twenty years ago and when I quit collecting. DKR is definitely what hurt the most in the trade. (I did get signed OMAC in the trade, but I gave them away as a wedding present to a collector. He went nuts for them and I knew that they were going to a good home.)
Bear in mind that I haven't read DKR in twenty years.
When I saw the ads for the first part of the animated movie, I went nuts. I did get to see it and I was absolutely floored. It was damn nice to see things in a way that a comic book can't exactly convey. For example, the rooftop scene with all of the smoke bombs. Just a quick glimpse of Bats' silhouette, and then a bud guy gets dragged away into a barely imaginable beat-down. I was literally on the edge of my seat during that scene. Intense.
But the absolute best was the very end of part one with the Joker. Just the tiniest of blurbs and I was left wanting more (in a good way). I was seriously going OMG!!
Got to see part two. Mostly disappointed.
There are three things in the original that I was looking forward to seeing animated in part two of the movie.
The first was the Joker in the Tunnel of Love. In the comic, the narrative gave a lot of weight to Bruce's horror and the Joker's insanity. But it just wasn't there in the movie. Chase scene, a little dialog, and then over. IMHO, there should have been a voice-over narrative. I mean, the narrative in the comic really had impact, which wasn't present in the movie. (I was disappointed with the portrayal of the Joker in general in the movie.)
The second was Superman and the flowers. Again, no narrative. It was done and over, and that's it. A man on the edge of death looking for the tiniest of things to hang on to.
The third was the final fight. I was actually mostly pleased with it. My only quibble is that the final beatdown could have been a little more brutal. I was waiting for Bruce's boot to be on Superman's face as Bruce delivers his final line, but that didn't happen. Bruce and Oliver could (should) have twisted the proverbial knife a lot more. Quibble that I'm okay with.
The one thing that did impress me about part two is how the older super heros had developed over the years. Hints at history between them, and how they dealt *mostly* politely with each other. For example, "Where?" burned into the ground and Bruce simply saying to the sky, "Crime Alley." As a whole, I think conveyed rather nicely.
I really should go back and read the original comic again. If I bump into it, I most definitely will. F5 for my head and give the movie another go.
posted 02-01-2013 08:43
