Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is considered to be one of the seminal works in the comics canon, and for good reason: it's an adult, layered work with elements of social and political satire and rich, often-disturbing characterizations of Bruce Wayne/Batman and the other denizens of Gotham. The story's complexity made it clear to Bruce Timm and the DC Animated Universe team that the usual 80-minute long adaptation could not hope to capture the essence of Miller's story, and so the decision was made to split the book into two films. This Deluxe Edition joins the two halves together for the first time via a "seamless" edit into a single film. Despite not having seen the separate parts, nonetheless there is a moment roughly at the midpoint of the feature that smashes to black before continuing, so it is my belief that they simply removed the credits from Part 1, spliced on Part 2, and tagged on a new credit sequence with the cast and crew from the full feature. Structurally, the film still narratively plays as two conjoined halves, but the consistency of the overall tone and thematic motives throughout, as well as of the cast and crew, keep the full 148-minute presentation relatively unified. It's nice to have the full story all in one place. In terms of quality, "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" is right at the top of the DCAU canon. The source material is of course top notch, and director Jay Oliva and screenwriter Bob Goodman have hewn closely to Miller's opus. Minor incidents have been omitted and certain aspects of the narrative have been shuffled (again, necessary to the production of the film in two parts), but the core of Miller's material is in there. The largest change is the removal of much of Batman's inner monologue. But for a single voice-over in the "rebirth" sequence, this aspect has been excised from the film. This was originally a major concern for me because so much of the comic's best writing is located within these internal monologues, but enough of the best material has been incorporated into dialogue or otherwise dramatized to satisfy, and the film is much better off than if they had simply slathered voice-over narration all over the place. Like a cherry on top of a rich sundae, a definite sense of 1980s style is infused throughout the film through the production design, slang, and music, much like in Zach Snyder's underrated live-action adaptation of Watchmen. The voice cast is solid. Peter Weller's portrayal of Batman seemed flat in the trailers I had viewed prior to the release of the film, but in context he's just fine. A few moments here and there weren't quite convincing, and I -- as would many of my generation, I suspect -- would have preferred Kevin Conroy in the role, but overall I'm happy with the result. David Selby as Jim Gordon doesn't quite sound right at first, missing a more athletic timbre more common in other animated incarnations of the character, but his world-weariness grew on me. Michael Emerson's Joker is frighteningly cerebral and restrained. The rest of the voice cast, including Ariel Winter as Carrie Kelly, Mark Valley as Superman, Michael McKean as Dr. Bartholomew Wolper, and with bit parts filled by the likes of Paget Brewster, Grey DeLisle, Robin Atkin Downes, Maurice LeMarche, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen, Wade Williams, and Conan O'Brien (!), is excellent. As a digitally-animated film, the video transfer is quite good with vivid detail and excellent color; I noticed aliasing in several places, but this likely is a flaw of the source material. The audio is in DTS-HD 5.1, and while it's not reference quality it does a fine job of immersing you into the film with excellent bass in Christopher Drake's pulsing electronic score and in the action sequences. The main benefits of this Deluxe Edition, other than gathering the full adaptation in one package, lie in the new bonus material. The first new extra is a feature-length commentary track with director Jay Oliva, writer Bob Goodman, and voice director Andrea Romano. It's an engaging, informative track with very little self-congratulation, focusing instead on their reasoning behind various decisions in the adaptation and in the process. If you're a fan of commentaries, you will enjoy it. The second, and arguably more important, new extra is "Masterpiece," a 78-minute documentary centered around Frank Miller and the creation of the graphic novel itself. Interviewees include Miller, Klaus Janson, Dennis O'Neil, Jenette Khan, Michael Uslan, and Grant Morrison, among others. It focuses on Miller's rise in comics and the decisions that went into the creation of "The Dark Knight Returns" and is very informative. It should also be mentioned that all extras from the releases of Part 1 and Part 2 (production featurettes, bonus episodes from the animated series, and digital comics excerpts) are included, minus previews for Part 1 and Part 2, which makes sense now that the feature is present as a whole. Except for the commentary, all the extras are housed on a second Blu-ray disc that is unfortunately stacked underneath the feature disc to leave room for the DVD copy of the film on the package's second spindle, but as Blu-rays are very scratch-resistant this is really a nitpick. Finally, a note to parents: this is not a film for children. In fact, I am utterly amazed that this was released with a PG-13 rating. There are sustained sequences of graphic, bloody violence and hundreds of people are murdered quite unambiguously on screen, in addition to mature themes of insanity, sexual innuendo, and impending nuclear war. I am not a prude nor do I believe that any of the violence of the film should be excised, but I would advise that the film be treated as though it has an R-rating. All things considered, this is a fine package of an excellent animated adaptation of one of the most celebrated comics of all time and is more than worthy of my highest recommendation.