My Review of Batman: The Killing Joke

Rating Scale:

12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; might not watch it again but still happy I watched it for the first time
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made

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Good morning, friends. Here is my review of Batman: The Killing Joke. This film was based—or semi-based on the graphic novel entitled with the same name. However, once you watch the movie... you will see severe crippling problems that even plenty of Batman fans would agree with me on. While I like the rest of the movie, the entire first half was completely unnecessary and irrelevant to the story. Let’s talk about them.

1). The entire first thirty minutes was focused solely on Batgirl/Barbara Gordon (voiced by Tara Strong). I don’t know what Sam Liu or the writers were smoking on, but the prologue with Batgirl has absolutely nothing to do with The Killing Joke. That’s the first thing. Secondly, why is she being sexualized in this movie? Stop trying to imitate Michael Bay, movie!! Sure, Batgirl is hot and all, but why do we need a sex appeal in a Batman movie let alone an animated one?! Thirdly, this Batgirl is just an ego-centric, rebellious, and stubborn character. Her annoying attitude just took me out of the movie.

2). That douchebag who kept hitting lustfully on Batgirl... why? Just why? That dude was a pain to watch. What purpose did he serve in the entire movie let alone throughout the whole first act?! All that he did was lust after Batgirl, act like an ass, and behave like a sociopath who just screamed “I love you, Batgirl! I love you!” YOU ARE NOT THE JOKER!!

3). Oh, and the part where Batgirl says “cute” to that same guy after he left her with that message about something... WHAT??? Batgirl would never say “cute” to a criminal who is trying to get that close to her. Even Batman pointed that out!

4). Now, the worst part of the whole movie... the sex scene between Batman and Batgirl... WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!!? He is your freaking father figure for crying out loud!! That’s like a 40 year old man porking a 20 year old girl! That’s just so wrong on so many levels! How is it that Gordon didn’t sever his friendship from Batman after that?! Did he ever find out about that?! If not, then Batman is keeping a very dark secret that would damage their relationship! Also, Batgirl and Batman literally had an argument with each other! They had a brief fight and then they suddenly pause to kiss and have sex??? What?? That just came literally out of nowhere and had no business being in this movie.

5). It was really nice seeing The Joker’s backstory as to how he became the Clown Prince of Crime. However, I didn’t like the fact that those scenes of the flashback were disjointed and were thrown haphazardly to appear randomly at whatever scene the writers felt bringing in. If only his backstory filled up the first 30 minutes of the movie, it would’ve been so much better.

6). Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker. I love hearing them again.

7). The second half nearly followed accurately the same events that happened in comic/graphic novel even though I’ve never read it. I actually appreciate that they did it. Still, if only they just cut out that whole Batgirl prologue and replace it with The Joker’s backstory, I would’ve liked it much more.

8). The story (during the second half) was interesting. I actually liked the tone they were going for that captivated the tensions in the film.

9). They perfectly nailed Batman and The Joker’s relationship here. Two sides of the same coin. Batman even tried to reach out his hand to his archenemy to help him and rehabilitate him. Even during what could have been their last moment of contact with each other, Batman is unwilling to kill him despite both of them running out of options. Wow... learning from the Magic of Friendship, eh Bruce? 😏

10). The ending was... dark and unsettling. That joke The Joker was saying was actually symbolic of their overall relationship, and man... that was so deep and poetic. Honestly, I don’t really think Batman killed him when he put his hands around his neck while laughing so hard. Speaking of which, that laugh was creepy. He hasn’t laughed since he was captured and chained by Harley Quinn above a piranha tank. Just wow...

So yeah, this film has its pros and cons that could both make you think and cringe at the same time. Trust me. Therefore, I rate it a 5/10. If only they had removed that Batgirl drama entirely and replace it with The Joker’s backstory, that would’ve been awesome and a massive improvement. If you want to watch this film, please skip the first 30 minutes, then you have the ACTUAL Killing Joke movie. Any thoughts?

Peace.