I'm
not a hundred percent sure where to start with this review. Should I
jump straight into the controversy, or share my opinion on the source
material? I guess I should start at the beginning for those completely
unfamiliar with this story. Killing Joke is possibly one of the most
well known and critically acclaimed graphic novels based around Batman's
beloved villain, The Joker. The story is about Joker escaping from
Arkham with a master plan to prove everybody is capable of going just as
crazy as he is. To accomplish this, Joker targets Batman's closest
ally, Commissioner Gordon. Joker knocks at his front door, shoots his
daughter in cold blood, abducts him, ties him to a carnival ride and
forces Gordon to watch as his daughter get abused on a constant video loop.
Throughout the story, Joker experiences flashbacks to what may or may
not be his origin story and Batman is trying to track Joker down. The story
ends on an intense show down between the Dark Knight and the Clown
Prince of Crime.
I
like the graphic novel a lot. While I feel Long Halloween and Hush are
better Batman stories that really dive deep into Batman's character
and larger themes about corruption and the like, Killing Joke defines
Joker. Even though the origin story we are given is unreliable, it still
gets across how Joker feels his life lost all meaning
before being dipped in chemicals. For him, life was a cruel joke and
he's just there to deliver the punchline. He's cruel, dark and twisted,
but still finds a way to make you, the reader, laugh along with him. Killing Joke is
not about Batman, Gordon or anybody else. It is a character study about The
Joker.
That
being said, the book isn't perfect. You might of noticed in my summary
of Killing Jokes' plot that I neglected to mention that Commissioner
Gordon's daughter is Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl. This was intensional,
because Barbara being Batgirl has no real effect on the story itself. It
effected the DC universe afterwards sure. Barbara becomes paralyzed and transforms herself into the technological based hero, Oracle, but that doesn't happen
in Killing Joke. In the graphic novel, Barbara is not just a victim,
she's mostly used as a tool by Joker to drive her father mad. What's
worse is how Batman reacts. He basically doesn't react to it at all.
Batman is upset one of his companions has had their legs taken away from
them, but he's mostly driven to find Commissioner Gordon. Even in the
final battle, he talks more about how Gordon will overcome the damage
Joker did to him and doesn't even mention Barbara. Barbara is an object
in this book and her attack only comes across as meaningful if you have
prior knowledge of who the character is. If Killing Joke is your first
Batman story, the shooting comes across like Joker shot a normal
civilian instead of a hero who has fought in countless battles along
side the Dark Knight for decades prior.
This
is where we start talking about the animated film adaptation. You see,
they tried to fix that problem I just mentioned about Batgirl. To insure
the audience knows Barbara was a superhero before being shot by the
Joker, the film's entire first act is all new material centered around
Batgirl taking on a young, brash gangster named Francs Paris. This
adventure takes place a week before the events of Killing Joke and gives
an explanation on why Barbara gave up the superhero life style. After
the first act is over, the film jumps directly into the events of the graphic
novel. Before we get too deep into how this went wrong, I want to talk
about why this doesn't work on a narrative level. The transition between
the film being about Batgirl to being about the Joker is so clunky, it
feels like you're watching two completely different movies. Sure, the
goal was to familiarize the audience with Batgirl, but her adventure has
absolutely nothing to do with Joker's story. There's no connection
between Joker's gang or Paris'. There's no common goal, there's no
relation between the two, nothing. The story could of featured Batgirl
taking on Joker's goons or taken place in the amusement park Joker buys
at the beginning of his story. Anything would of been nice, but this
Batgirl adventure feels slapped on like a bonus story in a special
edition copy of a graphic novel.
But
where the Batgirl section get really frustrating is how they write the
character. As mentioned before, this is supposed to be the adventure
that leads to her quitting being a masked hero. They do this by having
Barbara almost beat Paris to death. When she saw she was more than
willing to take a life, it scared her into quitting. Which would be
fine, but another large factor in her decision was feeling uncomfortable after sleeping
with Batman.
Yep,
in case you haven't heard, there's a sex scene in the film between
Batman and Batgirl. Now let me clear up a few things. First off, the
most intense thing shown on screen is Batman grabbing Batgirl's butt
while she's on top kissing him and Batgirl removing her shirt, revealing
her bra. After that, it pans up to a gargoyle and fades into the next
scene. So visually, it's pretty much a PG-13 sex scene and nothing all that shocking
happens. Also to the movie's credit, they do depict this as a "Heat of
the Moment" encounter and both characters displayed very poor judgement.
The problem is the implications of them doing the act at all. Let's set
aside the age difference because in this story, while Barbara is in her
mid to late 20's and Bruce is easily pushing late 40's, early 50's,
they are both consenting adults. What bothers me is how Batman is
commonly seen as a father figure to all of his young wards. He raises,
supports and teaches these young intelligent teens who see themselves as
broken and lost. Like any good parents should, he gives his sidekicks a role model for them to strive for. So watching the scene feels like watching a
middle aged man make out with his attractive daughter. But even if you
are willing to look past that, you also have the fact that Bruce is
sleeping with his best friend's daughter. Which is just gross and feels
like a betrayal of trust the two share.
But
here's the real problem with the sex scene, instead of being a story of
a strong female superhero, it's yet another story about how a woman
needs a man in her life to make herself feel complete. Throughout the
first act, Barbara talks with her gay librarian friend about her
relationship problems with Bruce. She explains how she never feels like Bruce
compliments her skills as a crime fighter. It's not enough to
take down the bad guys, she needs to be told by a man, a man she
admires, that she did a good job. At this point I should mention the
conflict between Batman and Batgirl was centered around Paris taunting Batgirl with how much he wanted to sleep with her. Batman begins being
overprotective after Paris successfully hits her with a knockout gas and Batgirl
wants to prove she has the situation under control despite loosing the upper hand during that encounter. Barbara is
constantly seeking approval from Batman throughout this first act. Hell,
what lead to the sex scene was Batgirl trying to prove she
could dominate Batman. It comes off less like she's doing it for herself
and more like she's trying to please him. Which is frustrating, because
instead of using this extra time to tell a kickass Batgirl story, they
fell into a messy story riddled with overused and wildly sexist tropes. Even more frustrating is
knowing this opportunity to tell a good Batgirl story in a highly anticipated movie which would reach a
lot of new fans has been wasted.
Also
this is a minor nitpick, but I'm tired of seeing Batman, in canon,
having sex with other heroes while they're still in costume. Putting
aside how silly it can look at times (See 52 Catwoman Vol.1), it just
doesn't seem practical to me, or comfortable for that matter. You'd
think capes would get in the way and let's hope nothing falls out of
Batman's utility belt while he's thrusting his hips. A smoke bomb going
off as it falls out of a pocket seems like a real mood killer.
Sorry, mind started to wander, what was I talking about? Oh right, Killing Joke.
Besides
that, the movie is fine. The performances of Kevin Conroy's Batman and
Mark Hamhill's Joker are legendary, and the "Looney" musical number is bone chilling. Honestly, if you're going to watch
this movie, skip the first act with Batgirl and jump directly to the
Killing Joke portion. They add a few things to this section of the film as well,
but a lot of it is minor and not even worth nitpicking. There are dips
in animation quality where a few scenes won't look as polished as
others, but again, it's minor stuff.
I'd
say this is a must see, but the first act makes it extremely hard to
recommend. It amazes me how a scene of a naked Gordon being dragged
around by Little People with a cattle prod is out controversied by new
original content.
