MovieChat Forums > Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012) Discussion > What worked, what didn't

What worked, what didn't

posted 12 years ago by patchesdf
3 replies | jump to latest

Beautiful artwork in this film. It should have been pushed a little more. The scene from the comic book where the general committed suicide should have been portrayed in this film, that particular scene from the comic book of Batman holding the general’s dead body while draped in the American flag is one of the most visually stunning scenes ever drawn, so lost opportunity there to put it in the film.

Peter Weller was inspired casting.

I noticed the movie completely did away with any internal dialogue. I understand why, there’s way too much if it to reasonably fit in the film, and once you go down that road it’ll just be cut for time and not be long enough to make fanboys happy or wind up being too long and cause the film to drag.

Some CG imagery did not work too well and may have looked better hand drawn. The car race at the beginning looked blocky. There was no sense of speed or suspense. Harvey Dent’s helicopters looked boring. The Batmobile did look good.

[–] jamasian_man 12 years ago

What worked

-Gordon has nicotine gum instead of cigars, because cigar smoking nowadays is not as popular as it was in the 80's (also fits in with why Gordon is out late buying bean sprouts, because of Sarah's healthy cooking for him, it makes sense she would make him stop smoking)

-Face's ransom of 22 million instead of 2, because of inflation

-They changed the firecracker scene, which I thought was dumb in the comic

-Loved the flow of the Batman vs. Mutant Leader fight scenes, and how at the end they had batman say out loud his strategy instead of having internal monologue

-They managed to keep the news segments interesting and cut out some of the fat, some of the rather unneeded scenes

-The Mutant's hilarious dialogue said out loud, shiv, dusted etc.

-The music, Chris's score is amazing

What didn't

-Gordon's voice is a bit on the bland side

-I didn't care for Batman vs. Dent, I wanted them to say a part of Batman's internal monologue, especially this line: The scars go too deep

-The voice of the black newscaster at the beginning is nerdy and doesn't fit

-Batman doesn't say the rubber bullets line, the Mutant Leader says it instead

-They show what the Mutant Leader does to the Mayor instead of showing the shocked faces of Gordon and the police, which takes away some of the horror since they let us imagine it when reading the book (I feel the book version is better because the Mutant Leader attacks right as the Mayor enters the room, no pause at all)

[–] spectrx 12 years ago

I agree about Gordon's voice. Just didn't really fit, and I'm still used to Bob Hasting's perfect voice for the part.

And yah, the Batman/ Mutant leader fights scenes were absolutely incredible.

[–] chlamydia-379-918165 12 years ago

"The scene from the comic book where the general committed suicide should have been portrayed in this film, that particular scene from the comic book of Batman holding the general’s dead body while draped in the American flag is one of the most visually stunning scenes ever drawn, so lost opportunity there to put it in the film. "

Wile that IS great in the book, I actually liked the movie's take better. Batman casually walking away, doesn't even flinch or pause when the gun goes off. He just keeps on walking. Trash taken care of. That was so ice cold and hard-edged, and I felt it really sent home the message that Bats wasn't screwing around.