The bad doesn’t improve much in the conclusion of the animated The Dark Knight Returns, but the good gets markedly better.

The decision to split Frank Miller’s seminal comic mini-series into two films pays off handsomely on the back end, as director Jay Oliva not only gets the extra room to adapt the story’s larger set pieces, but maximizes it.

His primary instrument for doing so, of course, is Michael Emerson’s Joker. First seen as only a smile as Part 1 concluded, this installment sees him reemerge from his own decade-long stupor. Emerson, who’s made a career out of playing eccentric-at-best characters on Lost and Person Of Interest, bites into Bob Goodman’s (and Miller’s) writing. (Goodman should also get credit for grafting as much as he could from Miller’s original script, heavy on internal monologues, into actual dialogue, aside from a couple of family-friendly tweaks to Batman’s last gambit.)

Having both enough time for his version of the story and Emerson’s delivery, cracking with menace, plays out most vividly when we reach Joker’s assault on the county fair. Maybe before now Joker cracking wise — “Excuse me!” “My bad!” — during his onslaught would’ve rang as comedic cliche, but in light of recent events, anyone who read the original work will find it hard not to feel unnerved all over again watching him mow down passers-by..

Oliva also expands on the story’s climactic fight between a defiant, power-suited Batman and Superman, here played by Mark Valley as the straight-man. It’s not Valley’s part his character gets the short shrift when it comes to, well, characterization. But visually, the added time allows for the streetfight between the erstwhile World’s Finest to convincingly escalate into an all-out brawl. A sequence where the two exchange strikes wielding a wrecking ball like a mace jumps off the screen.

Unfortunately, the film’s weakest link turns out to be Batman himself. This isn’t exactly Peter Weller’s fault. It’s just that his delivery can’t help but undercut the material. Bruce Wayne’s final kiss-off to Kal-El, which should be seething, instead comes off as matter-of-fact. Luckily for Weller, the rest of the ensemble — particularly Ariel Winter as the new Robin and Englishman Michael Jackson as Alfred — play off of him well. But his fit for the role remains an awkward one.

However imperfect, though, this adaptation of the story that was the foundation for Batman’s eventual return to pop-culture icon status mostly hits the mark. As a one-shot, there’s every chance an animated TDKR would have turned out impossibly rushed. But the two-part format allows for this Batman’s last run to play out gracefully. Now let’s just hope nobody’s tempted enough to try to do a Dark Knight Strikes Again adaptation.

Related posts: