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Thursday, August 11, 2022

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS PARTS 1 & 2 (2012; ‘13)

Jay Olivia directs, nicely putting the famous Bob Kane characters thru their paces, but the main creative force here is undoubtedly the Graphic Novel style of Frank Miller’s mid-‘80s comic books.  This animated version, initially released in two parts (a conjoined edition is basically the same thing), works best in the cleaner narrative lines of the first half.  Part 2 has too many story lines competing for attention . . . plus Superman; always a bad sign.  (But nice of Part 2 to nail down the date for us by bringing on President Ronald Reagan.)   The graphic style feels somehow thicker, heavier than it looked on page, a particular problem not only for our middle-aged Batman/Bruce Wayne (55 here), but also for the tank-like, serrated-toothed villain of Part 1.  A shame, the characterizations in Part 2 are all superior, but there’s just too many of them.  (And using reverse fast-forward to clear things up not nearly as satisfying as old-fashioned page flipping.)  But the real event here, at least for non-Batmanophiles, is noting how much the modern Batman franchise has relied on the Miller tone & template in the best of the Batman films.  Mostly in crepuscular aura & attitude for Tim Burton; plot & character lifts in Christopher Nolan’s film trio; and even more directly (downright steals) in JOKER which at least had the decency to list Miller in the credits . . under ‘Thanks.’  Yeah, thanks a lot!

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/LINK:  Frank Miller’s original ‘80s artwork in the news today!  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/arts/frank-miller-sues-widow-dark-knight-returns-art.html

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Any of the series entries mentioned above would do nicely.  (On Tim Burton, only his first.)  OR: For an unusually good animated take: BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM/’93.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/02/batman-mask-of-phantasm-1993.html

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