Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1

Never has Batman's VOICE been more badass.

It's a bit of a shame the narration is removed in this animated version of the classic-kicking-off-the-dark-'n-gritty-period-in-all-of-comics-comic since it gives Old Halfcrazy Batman some more context, but this more streamlined version definitely does a nice job with the rest of the material. I loved how this felt like an 80's vigilante action movie (thanks for that, cool soundtrack!) and I'm now regretting not immediately watching part 2 afterwards.

Dear Hollywood, let Zak Snyder make the live action version of this that he wants to, but then cast Nick Nolte as Batman. You'll thank me later. The voice work in this goes from great to god awful LIKE THAT. *fingah snap

"This isn't a mud hole. It's an operating table."

the animation is terrible and Frank Miller is an idiot

Better than the comic, IMO. Frank Miller's 'classic' take on Batman, while quite good, suffered from obvious problems (Frank Miller's politics, cough cough). In it's animated form, the story becomes more nuanced. The choice to remove the narration from the comic was, in my mind, an excellent one.

The Dark Knight Returns is my favourite graphic novel of all time. As soon as I heard about this 2 part animated feature I was incredibly excited and just hoped that Frank Miller's superb material would be translated in the right manor. The result is mixed quality. I'm not entirely sure if it works as a feature length adaption. There's no doubting that it's faithful to the source material and there are moments of brilliance. This is probably the strongest of the 2 parts and it's worth a watch.

Actually quite impressive. Not usually a fan of these animated superhero flicks but I'm very much looking forward to part II.

Very good as far as animated superhero movies go. I know there's a high volume of them lately, and they can be pretty hit or miss, but this is one of the good ones. It's every bit as good, if not better than Under the Red Hood.

Deserves respect for being a faithful adaptation of one of the greatest graphic novels ever written. Yet, it still lacks the gritty surreal qualities of the actual book. Its very weakness is being too straight forward with no creative ownership. The graphic novel added the internal monologue as a way of tapping into batman's somewhat twisted brain but what you see is what you get in this adaptation. The voices of the characters are good for the most part but the mutants sound pretty campy.

Some moments that were - seemingly unintentionally - hammy and hilarious, but also a rather cool MMA-aware final fight scene. A patchwork of middling stuff made interesting by Old Batman and some swank action.

It's a faithful adaptation, and that's the problem. It's weird how much they've stuck to the page, that the voice acting just sounds stilted at times. Very entertaining though, probably one of the best Batman related things ever.

Pretty decent adaptation of the comic.

A pretty faithful adaptation of the first half of the groundbreaking comic book. Some of Miller's hyperbolic style of writing seems overdone (or operatic if u like it) now & his liberal characterizations glib & (only slightly) ridiculous. This particular geek also isn't sure why they left out so much of Batman's mental narrative (esp. his suicidal "This would be a good death" thoughts), but if u loved the comic that cemented Batman's tone in comics AND films 4 decades 2 come, u'll love this.

Parts 1 & 2 - Uneven and at times uncertain Batman reimagining should have been either much longer or more stripped down - Part 1 is a little tedious, focusing too much time on the mutants, who are not especially interesting as villains - Part 2 picks up considerably, with Emerson's terrific underplaying of the Joker a highlight, and bringing a rivalry with Superman to the forefront (and neatly undercutting his "boy scout" image); Weller is an unfortunately one-note Bruce/Batman.

Very well written dialogues and story . Not something extraordinary but still worth watching, specially if you liked Nolan's Batman.

Not terrible, but pretty underwhelming.

This being a review for both of them, this is an impressive story with impressive animation. On page and screen, Frank Miller's take on the Dark Knight is one of the strongest adaptions and will win you over. In my opinion, better than all of the Nolan trilogy, this film and book is a classic; not only in comics, but in every form of literature.

Traditional retelling of the famous graphic novel. Not perfect and some of the talent is questionable but still well worth seeing.

audiovisual 68 overall feeling 66 avg 67

Voice acting is inconsistent but Peter Weller ended up working out much better then the trailers first suggested. Miller's stories aren't plot driven they're character pieces so without the internal monologues we only end up with half the picture here. Music needed more punch. Overall bad direction is what's hindering this when Year One showed Miller can be done beautifully (even within restrictions). I'm still holding out for Part 2.

More streamlined than the graphic novel, obviously, but it nails the neat ideas of it. The news segments, the debate on Batman, Batman being haunted by his past, good animation, everything works. Though some of the voice acting needs improvement, that doesn't really take away from the experience that much. I really like a lot of these Batman animated movies, I think it's kind of cool to see these alongside the more 'realistic' Nolan ones, though the Nolan movies are better.

Batman animated movies have a tendency to be much better than one would think, that's probably why they breed like rabbits. This one takes Batman in a new direction, and it works, it's a fantastic Batman adventure only bogged down by it's truncated length and obvious incompleteness. You're looking at a 70 minute run time for this one, it ends half way through the story. Is the second half a good match and a tidy ending? Guess we'll have to watch the next one to see.

I didn't like this story in comic form, but this adaptation really improves on the comic. A lot of the poorly written political satire is gone, and what is in their is focused on how people are reacting to Batman. That is the weakest parts of the story, when they flash to a bunch of TV news anchors discussing batman with people, but it doesn't take away from the main story, which is an aged Batman coming out of retirement and kicking butt.

The Dark Knight Returns seems to be steeped in socio-political commentary to the point that the Batman story almost becomes redundant. Watching this for the 1st time in 2018, Miller's obvious support for the authoritarian is uncomfortable at best. The animation is dated but not bad. The Harvey Dent plot is an interesting character study, while the plot with the "mutants" feels weaker.

Bruce Gordon opening bad dialogue+bad bruce voice+cool mini/nice arkham asylum+invalid joker didn't move til bat on news+dent face fix psyche but felt both sides evil+wayne sponsored rehab+love psyche breaks/personalities made bruce return+killed pimp cab/ripped driver money+cop liking batman/rookie not+dump fight mutants+ew rubber bullets+leader challenge/bat tests robin save+she was lame before stopping thief unrealistic+fire beat leader in front of them converted to sons of batman fight crime

This is the animated adaptation of the comic from the 90s. Decent action and vision of the future (for the comic's time). Funny how a few decades later the material is now not a cutting edge as back then. Almost prosaic.

SEt in the same world as Batman: Year One. I thoughT Batman Year One is EXACTLY what the DCAU should strive for: a gritty, bloody, dark counterpoint to the kiddish & jokey MCU. While def dark and gritty, TDKR:1 doesn't reach the same heights as its predecessor. The Mutants are just not compelling antagonists and Old Batman isn't who I wanted to see the next movie after Year One. The graphic novel is translated faithfully to the screen, however, so a fan of the book will enjoy the film.

Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns is a pretty dense read. There's subtext and character development, but there's literally a lot of text. 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part I' doesn't feel as dense, but that's a good thing. You still get the development, the imagery and the violence, but it doesn't feel like the same load as the comic. It's almost breezy. It really takes 'show, don't tell' to heart as Batman doesn't continually mention that he's old. He just is. No need to spell it out.

Eh, its fine but also nothing new for the character and not very compelling

Not all the voices worked for me (newscasters and a few others felt like characters from the old school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon) but the story is top notch. I look forward to watching part 2.

In most ways - especially regarding plot - superior to Nolan's 'Rises'. Bring on Part II.

Tipik Batman hikayesi değil özgün, bu yönüyle güzel kendini izlettirmeyi başarıyor. Kurgu ve ortam genel olarak başarılı, tempo zaman zaman düşüyor o kadar.

Really enjoyable animated Batman flick. The ageing Batman storyline works really well, and the animation and voice work are all admirable. "This isn't a mud hole, it's operating table... and I'm the surgeon!" Great line. Bring on Part II.

A bit surprised at first, to see an old Batman. Thankfully he still kicks ass. The film felt a bit repetitive at times, and has an annoying character (which I won't spoil). Entertaining enough to watch it all, and planning to watch the second film too.

I can see why the graphic novel got praised from a historical perspective, but honestly I found it almost unreadable. On the other hand this movie is very nicely stylistically engaging and very nicely told, which I found to be a pleasant surprise. I'm very excited to see what they'll do with part 2. My criticism include what I found to be a miscast Batman voice (Optimus Prime be damned) and some otherwise only "sorta good" performances. But overall give this a watch if love the Caped Crusader.

I rarely get engaged in animated films. And this didn't do much for me. The story is obviously good given the source material and I hope this will one day be a live action feature. Until then I prefer the comic.

This was my first foray into the animated Batman universe, and it is a very solid film. The story takes an interesting and rather dark angle, and it's competently adapted to the format.

"I want you to remember, Clark. In all the years to come, in your most private moments, I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one man who beat you." spot-on adaptation of my favorite comic when I was a kid (waaaaay back). if you're a fan, there's so much epic conclusion going on, you can hardly let it sink in. no doubt, this is where nolan bit huge chunks out of to cook up the recipe for his infamous trilogy.

It's good with good characters that each play their roles fine. There are better stories about Batman and his story.

Faithful to the comics!

Overall, I'd say the plot is rushed, Robin's role in the movie is rushed, the media's role is overused, and the time spent pointlessly including Two-Face would have been better spent characterizing the Mutant Leader. Beyond these issues, though, the movie has incredible imagery, and does a great job in its debate over whether Batman is ultimately a force for good or evil, giving plenty of support to both arguments.

It's fun but also painful to see Batman gone old. But what can I say? I loved this movie! It's atmpspheric, features a well chosen soundtrack and it's so pitch-dark and brutal. It's like the essence of Batman. Without the inner monologues. Then again, these do have the tendency to come across involuntarily comical anyway.