Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

 It's a fairly safe bet you are acquainted with the saying that the book is better then the film? 

That goes for this one with a vengeance.

See, the novel 'The Killing Joke' is one of those iconic Batman-tales and with good reason. It is grim, unrelenting and brutal, yet makes the Dark Knight feel like a more fleshed out character. That it also gave us the start of the Joker through flashbacks was a nice bonus, but it did nothing to lessen the impact of the Joker's murderous spree. Heck, the shooting and violation of Barbara Gordon still makes readers feel uneasy to this day. 

But alas, this animated adaptation captures none of the essence, even though it follows the comic almost panel for panel. 

To pad out the runtime, there is a throwaway plot at first concerning some mobsters and one of them has a thing for Batgirl. Nothing too special and pretty perfunctory, if not for the fact that Batman and Batgirl get it on after an intervention. 

Is there anyone who wanted to know this, outside of fan fiction? 

Then it launches into 'The Killing Joke' with the lamest segue ever: a voice-over stating that "Nothing prepared us for what was to come." If that isn't cringeworthy, I don't know what is. The big crime here is that some stories work better on the pages and this is one of those cases. There is no threat, there is no real darkness and just because your characters swear and you see people getting shot, doesn't make it edgier. In fact, on screen it comes across as cheap. Especially the flashbacks to Joker's origins feel weirdly out of place here. 

What does work, as always, are actors Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their iconic portrayals of Batman and Joker. But you do get the sense that Hamill was held back, as he couldn't be as extravagantly over-the-top as in 'The Animated Series', which is a true shame. Especially because you know how well he can pull it off. Also, where the ending of the comic is a classic and leaves you in the dark, this one doesn't. It tries to recreate the same feeling, but hints way too obviously at what happened and it just doesn't work. 

Is it horrible? No, the animation is excellent, but the depiction of the novel feels flat and bland. This time, you are much better off reading instead of watching.