A friend of mine talked me into watching the animation on HBO Max with him and then writing this review. I believe it's my first review here of an originally direct-to-disc movie, but hey, if I count TV movies, why not? My main cause for hesitation was that it's only half the story, but then I confirmed that Part 2 was released at a later date, so they really should be seen as separate features.
In what might be the same year as the Frank Miller comic from which it's adapted, 1986, Bruce Wayne (Peter Weller of Robocop fame) is 55 and has hung up the cowl for a decade. Jim Gordon (David Selby), who knows Wayne's secret, is on the verge of joining him in retirement. But it won't be a quiet final month for the police commissioner's career: The so-called Mutant Gang -- who are not of the X-Men superpowered variety, though their leader (Gary Anthony Williams) looks it -- have been on a seemingly pointless murder spree. Furthermore, Harvey Dent (Wade Williams), thought to have regained sanity now that he's no longer literally two-faced, goes back to acting like Two-Face, if sadder. Well, it's not so hard for the ultimate vigilante to come out of retirement....
It's interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't. One former Robin is out of contact; another is dead. The Joker (Michael Emerson) has long been catatonic, and I assume most of the other classic criminals are also out of the way somehow. Yet Batman doesn't even need a practice run to get back to being almost as awesome as he was in his prime. And Alfred (Michael Jackson -- not that one), despite advanced age, is still providing reluctant but valuable support. Now there's a champ.
Miller has a similar reputation to Alan Moore's: He writes dark and gritty DC comics that are intelligent at their best and misogynistic at their worst. Thankfully, this is no Sin City, and not just by virtue of a PG-13 rating: The female characters generally don't end up dead or as sex workers. OK, there are only a handful of plot-important ladies, and one of them, Carrie Kelley (Ariel Winter), is young enough that she trains herself to be the next, possibly best Robin before she's anywhere near Batman's height and before he has any idea what she's up to. (She really ought to upgrade the costume, though.) The other women of note are Ellen Yindel (Maria Canals-Barrera), Gordon's replacement; news anchor Carla (Grey Griffin); and maybe a couple commentators.
What's there to commentate on? Why, the controversy of Batman, of course. He takes the law into his own hands, so the public and even the cops are divided on how to regard him. Yindel disapproves. To be fair, while he apparently sticks to his no-killing rule, his zeal for being an underworld nightmare is such that he does a lot of things that would almost certainly result in deaths in RL. The surreal action borders on funny for me and my friend. As do certain character designs.
That's about where the arguable weaknesses end. TDKR1 stands out more in positive ways, such as psychological and philosophical examination. Some scenes have highly artistic cinematography. The villains are competent but never outshine the heroes. The ending would be satisfying for a stand-alone work, yet it doesn't stop me from wanting to check out the rest.
Indeed, I've moved Part 2 to the top of my DVD queue. It won't be the next picture I watch, but I should have the first part pretty fresh in my mind when it arrives.
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