Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 [Blu-ray] [2013]

While the Dark Knight Rises film was a huge let-down to me, a similar animated movie, Dark Knight Returns, was available to fill its shoes. This movie did everything that I originally hoped Dark Knight Rises would do, including visualizing an old Bruce Wayne, introducing a new, female Robin, and returning to Batman's roots as a vigilante who has to fight the police as well as the criminals. The good: 1. The premise is good. Batman returns from retirement. 2. Batman's voice may seem bland at first, but it grows on you. He seems a lot more intelligent and educated than the previous Batman voices I've heard. I like this change. 3. Batman enters into an all-out fight against Superman. The bad: 1. Animation quality suffers greatly during some of the gunfight scenes, and you can easily notice some very lazy animation shortcuts being taken. I have seen more attention to detail in motion comics! 2. Voices of important characters are sometimes very bland and unremarkable. 3. You need to purchase two separate movies (part 1 & part 2) to get the whole experience. I want to touch on the animation issues. There is a moment in part 2 when Robin is scaling a roller coaster by jumping up the pipe structure. She does not have any depth inside the scene and just seems to hover over the scenery like an overlay. None of the bars ever go in front of her, making it seem like she can fly, which is not the case. Overall, both movies are worth getting, together or apart, and will entertain all Batman fans. The Joker is as sadistic as ever. Dark Knight Returns is based on a very old comic, so do not expect a whole lot of fan-service. These two movies will not show a whole lot of backstory and will require the viewers to have some previous knowledge of Batman lore in order to truly appreciate the story. However, in part 2, Superman is awesome, so if you just want to see the cool superhero fight scenes, get part 2. The DVD/Blu-Ray extras are neither amazing nor stale. You get a digital comic version of the story on the Blu-Ray. The Blu-Ray disc also has a few featurettes. The DVD has a few commercials for other DC animated movies, including Superman Unbound. The featurettes include a few interviews, some retrospectives, and 3 "bonus cartoons", which are most likely Batman Beyond episodes. (I have not checked yet, but part 1 had 2 Batman Beyond episodes on it.) For the most part, the extras do not interest me. I bought these combo packs simply because I wanted as many ways to watch the movies as possible. However, I think the bonus cartoons are very nice bonuses.

I've seen, if not purchased most every Batman animation that's been released on DVD/Bluray. That's why I have to say this is the most mature/adult oriented piece I've seen yet. Because of the mature nature of the themes, I'd make sue the audience is upper-high school or above. Bet hey, if your liberal with your kids, then I guess that's on you :-) Don't misunderstand and think there's a lot of blood and gore in this movie. There's some when appropriate, but it can be a bit much for American audiences, when it comes to animation. That might be true for if you haven't seen much Anime (Japanese animation, which tends, not always, to address more mature topics than American animation; but that's slowly changing :-) So, what would it look like if Batman retired? What would that look like? It makes you consider why he retired and what would make him consider coming out of retirement. And it also asks the question: what happens if the government doesn't want you around, because they feel you're an uncontrolled vigilante? And what happens when you throw in an old arch nemesis into the mix? And what happens when the old Commisioner retires (Batman's ally) and is replaced by a new one? Well, what you end up with is great story telling, intense action, great voice overs (including the guy's voice that played Robocop: Peter Weller). And the background music helps to keep you immersed in the story. One of the reasons this movie is so gritty and mature is because it was originally a graphic novel by Frank Miller. So with such a great writing as the source material, you're bound to have an end result of a great piece of animation! Excellent movie!

The continuation of the story of what Bruce Wayne would be like as an older man who feels all the pain of the abuse that his body took when he was a young crimefighter. The world has gotten more violent and he can no longer sit by yet he feels every hurt in a way he didn't decades earlier. The animation is darker and more like the more recent movies that show the world with the darkness and the pollution of the city. This new tale doesn't pull any punches but tells a good story. It also lets you into the backstory of the intervening decades in a way that makes sense.

I bought this and part 1 on blue ray, becasue I was always a fan of the graphic novel. Storywise its right on, but the only gripe was the same as with the graphic novel. I was never a big fan of the art of the graphic novel, again loved it, because the story was just fantastic. But they tried to mimic the style of the comic into the film and it looked like the characters were deformed, lol. but still if your a fan of the graphic novel this and part 1 are worth picking up.

Frank Miller before he went crazy wrote an amazing comic known as The Dark Knight Returns. This movie is that story brought to life in an animated world. There were some changes from the original story but all for the better imho. If you enjoy the Batman Franchise then you owe it to yourself to put this film in your library. The copy I purchased came with a $5 off coupon for The Dark Knight Returns part 2.

Let me preface this review with the fact that I'm a HUGE Batman fan. TDKR is widely considered one of the best Batman stories, ever. I think the animated movie does a great job at capturing the essence of the original graphic novel. It does stray a bit away from the original in parts, but probably makes it better overall in my opinion. This movie comes in two parts and I recommend both. If you are a parent considering this for your child, just know there is a small bit of risque material in part two.

Dawn of Justice this is not...the film that Zack Snyder has so liberally stolen artistic references from. Faster paced than part 1. Batman takes on The Joker and Superman in this one and does not disappoint. Highly recommended for any fan of Batman or comics in general.

Long live Batman in the DC Animated Universe. Had to add this one to my collection as well.