I really enjoyed this movie. The big motorcycle fight/chase scene was way to long, but that's about my only complaint.
*******************Spoilers*******************For me this is how superhero tales are meant to be - it's about bigger themes, about archtypes and mythologies. I've been a reader/collector for 30+ years now with Bats being one of my favourites. And, personally, I found that Batman could easily have been a secondary character in this movie and it still would have been excellent.
Mr. Bales ridiculous gravelly voice annoyed me, so I was glad there was little dialog for him.
One of the best scenes in the movie was on the convict ferry when the felon throws the remote over the side!
And Two-Face isn't dead - sure we saw a body on the ground, but the funeral was for Harvey Dent the public persona. I wouldn't be surprised if Two-Face made a cameo in the same way Scarecrow did.
There are many other interesting themes, but I leave them alone for now
Loz -I think you are completely wrong about
The Killing Joke. I also think you missed both the main point of the comic (which is opposite of the movie - in the movie Joker succeeded in "turning" Harvey Dent, and in the comic, he was entirely unsuccessful in "turning" James Gordon), and the meaning of the ending. The joke was an explanation of why the Joker could never be able to stop himself, and the laughter was a sad reflection of both men's inability to cope with the grotesque consequences to come because of it. I would even go so far as to say that Batman sees his own strict code, his own inability to kill the Joker (as he alluded to in the beginning of the story), is as much to blame as the Joker's flaws.
You are right about Brian Bolland's artwork though - it is moving.
I had never heard the term "women in refridgerator", and looked it up - quite interesting, but not overly surprising. I think it is an unfair comment for this story though, keep in mind the story was written over 20 years ago. Barbara's shooting was crucial to the story - the fact that she had a secret identity as Batgirl was inconsequential - her near fatal flaw was being Jim Gordon's daughter.
Also I think that keeping Barbara a parapalegic and much later giving her a fantastic purpose in the DCU has been far more interesting than magically curing her back a la Batman.
MacArthurBug - glad to hear you screen the books. I don't think
The Killing Joke is any worse than the movie, but find a difference in static gore and and bright explosions on the screen (In particular, the scene in the Chemical factory in the comic still gets to me).
I'm curious if your daugher is more into the herosim of the Batman or the chaotic nilism of the Joker. The answer would change any recommendations I could make. There are quite a few graphic novels out there. Personally, I've enjoyed
Batman in the Seventies - these came out just before my time, and I found them to be interesting stories with a serious undertone at times.