filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

bmtauto Some Batman Animations are off. Bad story line, bad acting, bad animations. This one is on point.

BatStarIndyFreak I'm a lifelong HUGE Batman fan, just 'The Dark Knight Returns" was never akin to my tastes. Still I decided to watch this making every effort to take on a fresh outlook, hoping it would help me see everything in a new light, but I'm sorry to say it made things worse by magnifying some of flaws I already sensed. When reading the comic I had a good sense of Batman as an amped up version of the rogue cop, with the established cops gunning for him, and that's the standout flaw. The cops gunning at Batman made the Stormtroopers look like certified sharpshooters, and they repeated that scenario OVER and OVER, making less and less confident in strength of the conflict facing Batman.I do like Peter Weller's performance as gritty Bats, and he makes his tough guy dialogue count. The actions scenes, not including rapid and inaccurate gunfire, do adrenalize. The story in the comic depicted Batman being far more aggressive and edgy than I prefer him to be, and I watched this knowing to expect that here. Between that issue I already had, Frank Miller's art style implemented which I'm not big on, some dialogue that feels shoehorned in (Carrie Kelly's parents talking about the sixties), anti-Reagan sentiment, and as mentioned before--unrealistic depictions of dodging swaths of bullets, it didn't work for me. All power to Frank Miller die-hards (I myself am a Jeph Loeb die-hard) who felt refreshed over this oft called Batman magnum opus.

utgard14 First part of the animated adaptation of Frank Miller's classic comic book miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns. The comic was highly influential on the direction of superhero comics over the last 30 years. It tells the story of how Bruce Wayne returning to being Batman after a ten year absence and how the world has changed without him. This first part deals with Batman return to battle a gang known as the Mutants that is terrorizing Gotham, as well as the release of Harvey Dent (aka Two Face) from Arkham Asylum.For the most part, it's faithful to the comic so no complaints there. The animation is decent but I can't help being disappointed it isn't more stylized. There was an episode of the 1990s Batman cartoon that featured different stories told by kids about Batman. One of them was an homage to The Dark Knight Returns. The animation in that tried, despite its television limitations, to match the style of the Frank Miller/Klaus Janson artwork from the comic. I think this would have been better served had it also tried to match that art. Instead it's fine for what it is but it isn't particularly impressive or stylish. Christopher Drake's music is very nice and at times evokes a John Carpenter vibe that I liked. The voice work is solid but I miss Kevin Conroy's Batman.It's hard to capture what made the comic work, particularly because so much of what worked was due to the time in which it came out. Translating it faithfully word for word or picture for picture doesn't necessarily mean you can make it click the same way it did in another medium made at another time. The sad reality is this story has been copied and ripped off in various mediums since its release. Batman as a character is now firmly established in the public consciousness as the grim & gritty Dark Knight, whereas at the time the source story was first released it was cutting edge stuff. So the impact is lessened is what I'm saying. That's not the fault of the people who worked hard on this; it's just that too much time has passed and this just can't have the same impact it would have had it been made 25 or 30 years ago. It's still a fun watch, particularly for comic fans, but it will likely leave some viewers wondering what the fuss is all about. Best seen as a whole with part 2.

BeefMaple Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, not to be confused with the live action film The Dark Knight, is a two part animated straight to DVD release by DC Comics and Warner Home Video based on the classic graphic novels by Frank Miller. In this story a fifty-five year old retired Bruce Wayne is called back into action by Gotham City plunging into chaos as a result of a new and deadly gang and their brutal mutant leader. In Part two of the films we see that his return is not met exclusively with positive reaction however, as many are understandably against a self-regulated masked vigilante being such a key aspect in the cities safety, including a newly appointed police commissioner and even the United States president. These films are excellently animated with a stunning use of angles and lighting being clearly considered of the utmost importance in the drawing of every single frame. The movement of the characters and objects very fluid and at no point appears to be preformed half- heartedly. However, the title character of Batman/Bruce Wayne himself does often seem out of place when standing next to other characters because of how he is drawn as too large and almost gorilla like at times.The voice acting by every single member of the chosen cast is excellent with each member, even Conan O'Brian, never once feeling out of place. Peter Weller in particular does an amazing job bringing proportional weight to the voice of a largely figured Batman/Bruce Wayne. The cast of characters is very strong; especially with the second part bringing in some additional iconic characters as a surprise. The first half introduces a new villain and although some argue that it should have been a more recognizable character others would argue that the fresh face brought forth an element of unpredictability and was excitingly different and effective.The overarching topic of discussion within the movie's narrative is if the extreme cases that make a character like Batman a possibility justify the presence of said character or not. Is there a point where a vigilante can be, or should be, above the law or government? For the most part these films do a tremendous job of showing both sides of this argument, although it does lose something in its clear bias in favour of the hero's perspective throughout. From a personal perspective I view this film, both of its parts together, as the ultimate superhero movie despite its occasional faults. It isn't held back in what he can do and say because of its intended audience being adults, although I wish they had gone more in depth about the ideological debate and that it had not definitively chosen its side preemptively. I would recommend this film to anybody interested in superheroes that are old enough to withstand some of the more graphic scenes within.