Hey everyone! It's that time of the week again for
"Flashback Friday" and with all the crazy comic-con news I figured
I'd pluck one of the big news stories and run with that theme. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting as
of yesterday that it is now official, Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns are going to
pen a script for The Batman and the
film will be directed by the caped vigilante himself. This is awesome news for
many reasons, first off its great to finally see Geoff Johns stepping into the
ring and taking part in the writing process. He's becoming the Kevin Feige of
DC/WB and they definitely need that. Affleck directing is the big deal however,
after seeing what he can do behind the camera with Argo and The Town I cannot
wait to see what he can do with a superhero movie that he also happens to be
starring in.
I'm getting side tracked here, in light of this awesome news
I decided to look back on what is personally my favorite Batman movie of
all-time. It's none of the live action incarnations (keep it together, TDK
super fans. I love the movie; it's just not my favorite.) and it's not even one
of the animated films based on one of their acclaimed graphic novels. No, my
favorite Batman movie is set in the future and features a version of Bats
created for television. That's right; my all-time favorite Batman movie is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and
if you haven't seen this film you need to change that immediately. This is one
of the first films to take Batman into its darkest depths and explore the more
sadistic side of the fantastical world.
Batman Beyond: Return
of the Joker (2000)
Animation, Action,
Crime
Directed By: Curt Geda
Despite what you may think of what Dc and Warner Brothers
have done in the live action realm, they have been crushing the animation game
for well over a decade. All starting in the early 90's with Batman: The Animated Series and then Superman after that they came out strong
and only got stronger, they seemed to have a handle on the animated medium.
From there they went on the make The
Justice League and Justice League
Unlimited series, Young Justice
and a whole slate of animated films. One of the most impressive things to come
out of their animated worlds is the creation of iconic characters. It's no
secret that Harley-Quinn was never featured in the comics before showing up in
The Animated Series, she was created as an original character for the show and
became so popular they had no choice but to include her into the official
canon.
The other notable instance of this is the wonderful animated
series Batman Beyond. A new style of
Batman set in the future with an aged Bruce Wayne and a new, younger man behind
the mask this show did something completely new. They took classic DC
characters and created a whole bunch of new ones around them to create an
entirely original batman run that had never been done in the comics. Terry
McGinnis Batman was never drawn before they created him for this show and, much
like Harley, his extreme popularity lead to him being brought into canon. The
show was stylish, inventive and an absolute blast. Its popularity led to a
small feature length film that would push the limits of everything they had
done before it.
Return of the Joker
is a continuation of the show that brings the Joker (Mark Hamill) back into the
new future world of Batman. Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle) has been repeatedly
busting up attempted heists by "Jokers" (Street thugs following in
the footsteps of the infamous villain) who have been stealing high tech
equipment, things high above their intelligence level. It is clear that
something bigger is at play and when the Joker himself reveals himself to Bruce
Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and nearly kills him, McGinnis vows to find and take down
Batman's greatest foe. Some secrets from Bruce's past may make that more
difficult than expected however as he claims to have killed the Joker some
forty years ago.
This film does everything a Batman movie should do. For
starters Batman is actually the main focus of the film, even with an insane
voice performance from Hamill as Joker it is still clear by the end of the film
that this is Bats movie. He is also a master detective, something none of the
live action films have been able to accomplish. McGinnis has a puzzle to solve
and Bruce isn't going to make it any easier for him to solve it. He has to
track down leads, question old friends and potentially hurt the people he loves
to ensure the safety of Gotham. The Joker has built his greatest, most horrific
invention yet and he plans to unleash it upon Gotham. The stakes are higher
than any other film they have done, excluding Man of Steel, and it makes this one
intense movie. Animated or not this movie will have you gripping the edge of
your seat.
As with everything else DC has done in the animated world,
Return of the Joker boasts an insane voice cast and together they make this
film what it is. Arleen Sorkin as Harley, Angie Harmon as Commissioner Barbara
Gordon, and Dean Stockwell as Tim Drake are fantastic and, Melissa Joan Hart
and Henry Rollins add even more support. The heart and soul of this movie are
in the voice performances from Will Friedle as young Batman, the incomparable
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne, and Mark Hamill himself as the maniacal Joker.
These guys do what they do best and it adds so much gravity to this film. Kevin
Conroy has been crushing Bruce Wayne since The Animated Series along with
Hamill as Joker and any time they come together, magic happens.
The initial release of this film on DVD was cut down fairly
significantly to remove a few of the graphic and traumatic scenes and make it
more "kid friendly". This didn't take with the fans however and after
making their voices heard DC and WB released and uncut version of the film that
received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, the first DC animated film to do so.
This is the only version of the film to see, the uncut version is completely ahead
of its time. Its super dark, ultra-violent and wonderfully insane and it showed
us a completely different side of the DC universe that we hadn't seen before
(on screen, I understand this subject matter had been in the comics for some
time). The Joker is a psychopathic genius and his plot this time around is on
an entirely different scale than we typically get to see from his character.
They also manage to pull off one of the greatest and most successful flashback
scenes of all-time. That sequence with Tim Drake and the Joker serum is
terrifying. Every time I see his face and hear that laugh I get chills up my
spine.
This film took advantage of the fact that it was an original
concept and that they had no source material to try and stay loyal to and took
risks to create one of the truest Batman films to date. Still to this day this
is my favorite film incarnation of the iconic hero, even with Ledger's Joker in
The Dark Knight. As much as I adore
that film, I saw this years before it and from the moment I saw his performance
I could tell how much he was influenced by the Joker in this movie and Hamill's
version of the classic villain. Mark Hamill will always be my favorite Joker
and knowing I'll never get to see him dawn the purple suit in live action I
couldn't be happier to have this movie. As of now he isn't going to be doing
the Joker anymore for DC animation so that only gives us more reason to covet
and cherish this film. If you haven't seen this movie, even if you haven't
watched the animated show, check it out first chance you get. You will finally
get an idea of what a Batman film should be and what hopefully Ben Affleck and
company are going to do this time around. I want my master detective god damn
it!
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches
Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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