Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Deluxe Edition

Snatched up the blu-ray last week. They've stitched both halves into one epic movie and added a feature length documentary about the making of the graphic novel and a cast and crew commentary for the whole movie. The doc alone made this worth "double-dipping" for me. New interviews with Frank Miller and other DC creatives. Very cool.
I may do a quick review on this new presentation of the material. Very impressed so far.

I am VERY glad I did not buy these already!

Definitely at the top of my list of all-time favorite movie series.  

Personally I never heard of The Dark Knight Returns, but based on your guy's reaction alone I just ordered it. I'm really looking forward to it getting here!

Although I am a bit curious the "Returns" part seems to imply it's a sequel. Is there another movie that I should watch before this one?

tmorrill wrote:Personally I never heard of The Dark Knight Returns, but based on your guy's reaction alone I just ordered it. I'm really looking forward to it getting here!

Although I am a bit curious the "Returns" part seems to imply it's a sequel. Is there another movie that I should watch before this one?

No. It's based on the story of the same name written by Frank Miller in the mid-80's and centers on the idea of a Batman who has been retired for 10 years returning to crime fighting when Gotham City becomes more of a hellhole than ever before. It is a "what if" story, but one that shaped the feel and approach of mainstream Batman comics for decades to come. It heavily informed the 1989 movie, the animated series and the Christopher Nolan movies. It is the definitive, dark and gritty take on Batman.

Since I don't think Bruce would ever be content to sip drinks in Paris and leave crimefighting behind him, I see this animated movie as almost a "spiritual sequel" to the Chris Nolan movies, which ended on a lame, uncharacteristic note IMO. DKR is, I think, the REAL way that Batman would retire and how that would play out.

Enjoy!

Basically, it's a sequel to any Batman comics you might have read in the broadest of terms.

This is a FINAL story about Batman.

Now, if you WANT more to watch, here's my "animated Batman movie viewing guide":

(NOTE: This guide ignores the classic Timm-verse Batman and its movies. That's another thing.)

BATMAN: YEAR ONE (based on Frank Miller's Batman: Year One graphic novel -- if anything was specifically tied to Dark Knight Returns, this would be the prequel since it came after)

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS (an anthology that was supposed to be tied into Nolan's Batman, for my purposes this works as a loose telling of some of Batman's career as a crime fighter after Year One)

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD (a pretty good Batman tale, inspired by Death in the Family and Under the Hood)

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (the end of Batman's career)


These four animated films form a surprisingly well made, self-contained (mostly) Batman continuity, even if they aren't meant to be.

BenAvery wrote:Basically, it's a sequel to any Batman comics you might have read in the broadest of terms.

This is a FINAL story about Batman.

Now, if you WANT more to watch, here's my "animated Batman movie viewing guide":

(NOTE: This guide ignores the classic Timm-verse Batman and its movies. That's another thing.)

BATMAN: YEAR ONE (based on Frank Miller's Batman: Year One graphic novel -- if anything was specifically tied to Dark Knight Returns, this would be the prequel since it came after)

BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS (an anthology that was supposed to be tied into Nolan's Batman, for my purposes this works as a loose telling of some of Batman's career as a crime fighter after Year One)

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD (a pretty good Batman tale, inspired by Death in the Family and Under the Hood)

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (the end of Batman's career)


These four animated films form a surprisingly well made, self-contained (mostly) Batman continuity, even if they aren't meant to be.

Awesome! Thanks. Turns out I've already seen half of them (Year 1 and Under the Red Hood), so I should be set then.

BenAvery wrote:BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS (an anthology that was supposed to be tied into Nolan's Batman, for my purposes this works as a loose telling of some of Batman's career as a crime fighter after Year One)

The fact that Gotham Knights was supposed to be in continuity with Nolan's trilogy really annoyed me, because it was so blatantly not. Also none of the stories really hit home for me, at best they were OK to decent. It is probably my least favorite DC animated movie I've seen. (either that or All Star Superman, that was just total randomness.) Under The Red Hood though is one of my favorite animated movies of all time!

Well, that Blu-Ray was a great purchase. I both can't believe I haven't seen this before, but am aslo really glad I didn't see it until they were both released.

After watchin' this I bought the "Dark Knight Strikes Back" and found it to be nowhere near as good, it felt too much like "All Star Superman"'s level of randomness.

I guess I'm just missing something because I found Part 1 painful, boring, aimless and brainless (couldn't bring myself to watch Part 2 after my relief at seeing Part 1's credits). Maybe I just know too much about Frank Miller's insanity and Michael Bayishness, but neither my girlfriend nor I could enjoy this, and we tried. Everytime there was a potentially good moment of drama or coolness, the Miller style stepped in with some retarded, out-of-nowhere reference or odd, political cartoon and ruined it. I really wanted to like this, the idea is good, but Miller is just not a good storyteller, like George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry.
It's like Family Guy written by a ritalin-starved thirteen year old.

Dunadwarf wrote:I guess I'm just missing something because I found Part 1 painful, boring, aimless and brainless (couldn't bring myself to watch Part 2 after my relief at seeing Part 1's credits). Maybe I just know too much about Frank Miller's insanity and Michael Bayishness, but neither my girlfriend nor I could enjoy this, and we tried. Everytime there was a potentially good moment of drama or coolness, the Miller style stepped in with some retarded, out-of-nowhere reference or odd, political cartoon and ruined it. I really wanted to like this, the idea is good, but Miller is just not a good storyteller, like George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry.
It's like Family Guy written by a ritalin-starved thirteen year old.

Wow. Than you would HATE All-Star Batman and Robin. I didn't get any of what you described regarding DKR, but everything you wrote would fit perfectly with a critique of his Batman stuff written from 2000 onward. Of course now you've got me wondering if Miller is actually a very consistent writer and for some reason I'm not seeing those traits in his earlier work.