Batman - The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 [Review]

Written by John. Follow him on twitter: @UKFilmNerd

The Dark Knight Returns comic book was a big event when it was released just over twenty five years ago with the story of Bruce Wayne now aged fifty five. He hasn’t been the Batman for just over ten years and Commissioner Gordon is also about to retire. A new gang called the mutants are starting to terrorise their way through Gotham City.

Harvey Dent (Two Face) has had extensive plastic surgery to repair the damage to his face and after counselling provided by Wayne is now ready to enter society again. But it transpires that Dent has only changed physically, he is still Two Face inside.

Not long after his release from the psychiatric hospital, Two Face holds Gotham to ransom with a bomb. This forces Wayne out of retirement, to become Batman once again and save the city. The media is divided about his comeback. Does the city really need this form of vigilantism again?

The story is broken up with regular news breaks that keep you up to speed on what is happening. Usually it’s about the gang known as the Mutants. I know this is how the comic was written but I found it rather irritating after a while.

It has been many years since I read The Dark Knight Returns and had essentially forgotten the entire story. It may have been fresh and exciting twenty five years ago but as a virtual newcomer I thought this was average at best. Batman has retired, then he’s not, beats the mutants and then a small setup for part two.

I nearly turned off several times because the story just wasn’t keeping me interested, but as a Batman fan and as a service to you loyal reader, I watched to the end just to make sure my reasons were justified.

The animation itself was great which mimics the comic very closely. I definitely recognised one shot which was Batman illuminated by lightning as used on the front of the trade paperback.
The voice casting was good too. Although this time around it’s worth noting that Kevin Conroy who regularly voices Wayne/Batman has not been used here. Peter Weller who is most famous for portraying Robocop voices Wayne and a grand job he does of it too.

I’ll probably be checking out part two as this introduces the Joker into the story who will be voiced this time by Michael Emerson rather than Mark Hamill. Michael is known to most of you as Benjamin Linus from Lost or most recently Harold Finch from Person of Interest which has just started airing here in the UK.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is available on DVD/Blu-ray in the US now. There is no release date for the UK at the time of writing.

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