Batman The Dark Knight Return Part 1

Plot

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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 in Arkham Asylum since Wayne's retirement.

Arkham inmate and former district attorney 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 rogues gallery. 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 Kelley 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.

The story centers on a fifty-five-year-old Bruce Wayne, now forcibly retired from Batman duty as the result of a national crackdown on superhero vigilantes. Disgruntled and swimming in booze, Wayne floats through Gotham’s streets, watching complacently as the city falls to savagery and crime – thanks in large part to a gang of psychotic young punks who call themselves The Mutants.

As Gotham City darkens, Bruce begins to feel an old presence rising from the depths inside him – and when one of his old foes returns to commit a brazen string of crimes, Batman can be abated no longer. Before he fully knows it, Bruce is back in costume and unleashing punishing justice to the criminal lot of Gotham; but the Mutants and their ferocious leader are a new breed of criminal – one that even Batman may not be able to best.

Oliva and Goodman stick like glue to Miller’s comic, which is probably the smartest move they could make. Most of The Dark Knight Returns from the page is replicated in this film, including the shifts between Batman’s story and ongoing news broadcasts that provide larger thematic and expository context – a welcome inclusion for those of us who were (needlessly) worried that the animated film would sacrifice the layered complexity of Miller’s tale. That complexity reamins intact, as do many of the comedic moments that come from transitions between the actions of the principal characters and the often-satirical commentary of the news broadcasts.

A big point of contention with this particular project will be the look of it: Miller’s graphic novel was illustrated in his distinctly dirty, chaotic, scribbly style, which doesn’t lend itself well to modern animation. Out of loyalty, Oliva sticks with the overall design and concepts of Miller’s artwork, but marries it to the more exact style of high-quality anime films. This creates a unique and gorgeous visual palette, in which we still get Miller’s BTDKR designs (a big, blocky, bruiser Batman being the most iconic); we still get the darkness, grit, grime and hyper-’80s feel of future Gotham City, but here it all looks carefully and expertly animated. Iconic moments from the comics are lovingly recreated in the film, and in general, the Blu-ray visuals alone are worth the price of purchase.

Being a film, Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 also has a chance to expand on some of the more static images and moments in the comics, which brings a level of intrigue to the film even for longtime fans. Such moments include Batman’s confrontation with a corrupt military official, as well as the action sequences and set pieces, which are staged in exciting, often brutal, and totally Batman-esque fashion by Oliva. Dark Knight Returns unequivocally delivers a satisfying action quotient and some classic fight scenes, to boot.

The voice acting is, for the most part, spot on. Peter Weller (Robocop) is not necessarily the first name you think of when imagining a voice for Batman; but then again, Miller’s dialogue in BTDKR isn’t like any other Batman story before or after it. While fans will always clamor for voice actor Kevin Conroy to be handed every animated Batman role, Weller’s strong and steady monotone is (in my opinion) the perfect delivery method for the dry, sardonic Batman dialogue Miller intended. A nice casting choice.

Modern Family star Ariel Winter is plucky enough to voice Carrie Kelley, the young girl who takes up the mantel of Robin, while versatile voice actor Gary Anthony Williams (The Boondocks) uses his signature growl to make the Mutant leader sound like a fearsome foe. The only real fail in casting is David Selby (Social Network), whose light, airy tones sound totally wrong coming out of Commissioner Gordon.

Story-wise, Part 1 covers the first two installments of Miller’s four-part story (“Dark Knight Returns” and “Dark Knight Triumphant”), opening with Bruce Wayne becoming Batman again in order to stop Two-Face, and ending with his war against the Mutants (which has an ominous side-effect). Part 2 will cover an epic showdown between Batman and The Joker, and the fallout of that battle, which sees Batman marked as a fugitive with Superman assigned to bring him in.

Dark, gritty tone, iconic character designs and imagery, thrilling Batman-style action and all the subtext, social-relevancy and multi-faceted story pieces from Miller’s comics? Yep, it’s all accounted for. The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 is a must-buy for any Batman fan – including those who swear by the comic version of the story. Given everything it gets right, this may be DC Universe’s most cinematic and satisfying work to date.

Main Cast

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Peter Weller as Batman

Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelly

Wade Williams as Harvey Dent

Michael McKean as Bartholomew Wolper

David Selby as James Gordon

Gary Anthony Williams as Mutant Leader

Gary Anthony Sturgis as Silk

Trailer

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