After the success of the definitive Batman story, The Dark Knight Returns, it was only a matter of time that the essential Joker origin story, The Killing Joke, would follow. Fast forward to last year’s New York Comic-Con where not only was the film confirmed, but it was mentioned that the film might receive an R rating from the MPAA.

Adding to the initial excitement and anticipation for the film was the casting of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to voice Batman and Joker. There are no two men who have given these characters a unique voice like Conroy and Hamill during the early 90’s with their work in Batman: The Animated Series. It felt as if the stars were aligning to give us another animated DC cinematic masterpiece. Unfortunately, the final product felt more like the adaption of Batman: Year One than The Dark Knight Returns. This was a film that provided more misses than hits.

The Killing Joke is a short read; therefore, it was understood and expected that there would be an added storyline written to elongate the film. When first reading that the added footage would concentrate on Batgirl, I was intrigued more at the fact that Bruce Timm was on board and his excellent portrayal of Batgirl in the animated series would aid to an emotional back story that would be an added punch to the gut once Joker knocks on Barbara’s door. The story written by Brian Azzarello, what we got was utter nonsense, and did nothing more than weaken the character of Batgirl and Barbara Gordon, whose motivations were not to stop crime but to garner the admiration and affection of Batman.

At a panel at last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, Mr. Azzarello was asked by a fan, “Why was this story more about the males in her life?,” citing that Batgirl is a strong female character and this story did her an injustice. Mr. Azzarello fumbled in his response and insulted and admonished the fan for trying to stir up controversy. He stated that “she controls the men in her life in this story” to which the fan shouted out, that she was strong “by using sex.” This incited a long discussion at the panel, where Mr. Azzarello and Bruce Timm added that they added the sex in the storyline and Batgirl’s infatuation with Bruce to give it more substance. Azzarello added:

“I don’t think she’s pining over Bruce at all. She’s pining over the violence.”

Bruce Timm acknowledged,

“It’s complicated. I actually like that in that opening story both Batman and Batgirl make a series of mistakes and then it kind of escalates, because Batman kind of overreacts and then she overreacts to her overreaction. That’s a very human thing. There’s clearly an unstated attraction between the two of the characters from the very beginning and I think it’s there in the comics. If you go back and look at the Adam West show, it’s there in the Adam West show. It’s subtle, but to me it’s always been there.”

Despite Azzarello and Timm’s defense of the Batgirl arch, the first 30 minutes of the film hurt the dynamic and relationship of not just Batman and Batgirl, but Gordon and Batman, where the realization has to come into effect that Batman had sex with his close friend’s daughter, which is hard to comprehend knowing the dynamic both men have. Despite the idolization that Batgirl has for Batman, that line should have not been crossed, because Batman is viewed as the “dad” of the bat family. The search for added controversy failed in my eyes as it hurt the overall pacing and continuity of the film once it hit the main Killing Joke story.

Once the story shifts to the source material, the film improves in quality of performance led by Hamill and Conroy’s voice work in the two main roles. The voice work is on par and for the most part stayed loyal to the novel. The theme of the film, “It only takes one bad day for a person to go mad,” is executed well with Gordon’s bad day coinciding with flashbacks to the one bad day that created The Joker.

Batman: The Killing Joke is a film filled with “what if?’s”. A film that had an abundance of potential with the story and cast when first announced and cast that one would think that it would be close to impossible to be subpar. The final product is nothing more than a middle of the line DC animated film that was concentrating more on controversy than giving a film that fans not only wanted, but deserved.

Reel Talk gives The Killing Joke 2.5 Reels