The Dark Knight Returns

One final jab at Dawn of Justice, as this the last DC thing I'm doing for a while. It should come as no surprise that a part of the inspiration for Dawn of Justice is The Dark Knight Returns, and while I'm not reviewing the comic, I do want to review the animated movies. And yes, I said movies. There are two parts to this. So let's just go in order

The Dark Knight Returns Part 1: Just goes to show how incompetent the GCPD is without a Batman

It has been 10 years since the last sighting of the Batman. Most of his enemies are in prison, or in therapy, a gang calling itself the Mutants now claims to own Gotham, killing random innocents just because its fun. Harvey Dent has also gone into hiding, after having his face fixed, his psyche broke again, thinking that both sides matched to look like the destroyed side of his face, not the other way around. With all this happening, Bruce has had enough of the fear that has grasped the city, and after 10 years, leaves retirement to renew his work, illegally, as the Batman. Bringing in Harvey Dent and stopping is giant suicide stunt, and bringing in the Mutant leader, breaking the spirit of the Mutant gang, while also recruiting a new Robbin, to replace the long dead Jason Todd. While not as grand as other Batman stories, it does tackle how much older Bruce is now, and him easing back into full time work as Batman. Though chances are, if you're watching Dark Knight returns, you're not watching it for Part 1, you're watching it for...

The Dark Knight Returns Part 2: This is why we wanted to see Batman Vs Superman

The Joker wants to tell his side of the story... and ends up just wanting to kill everyone. It's THE JOKER, what did you expect? However that, is really just a side plot. The main plot of Part 2 is this: Since the Justice league broke up, due to national laws, Superman has been hired by the US government to aid in national security and to the American government, or more accurately the president, thinks Batman is a problem to national security. As such, Superman is put in charge of bringing down Batman and... that doesn't work out too well. Sure, he does stop Bruce, but its because of other reasons.

What I like about this story is that it does provide a look into the tolls of being Batman, something that hasn't really been covered in any of the other Batman material reviewed so far. He refers to Robbin as a Soldier, the battles as a war. This Bruce is colder, takes less shit, even going so far as to risk killing a civilian to try and stop the Joker, due to how many people he let die because he let the Joker live. To say nothing of his speech to Superman, this is probably the coldest Batman interpretation reviewed so far, which is saying a lot as he's normally cold, and thankfully I can say that because Mr Freeze isn't in these movies.

While the music isn't much, as it kinda feels generic in comparison to the scores for all the other DC animated things reviewed recently, the animation is spot on. It is beautifully animated, allowing for the more somber moments to shine, while also allowing you to feel all the blows when it shifts to the action sequences, especially in the battle against Superman. To those disappointed in Dawn of Justice, I urge you to give this a look, it might help with those pains. But for now, I'm done with DC, I do have a PSA for you all on Sunday, but the next review is going to be the Dark Phoenix Saga. Enjoy.