I was stoked when news first broke about a potential Batman: The Killing Joke adaptation. But then over the course of the last 6 months I have heard nothing but scathing reviews for the finished product. I more or less just brushed it aside as fanboys being up in arms because it wasn't 100% faithful to the source material. But I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit concerned that the movie was universally despised. Well, having just watched this, I can say without bias that this is pretty bad. The writing is just awful and everything you have heard regarding the new Batgirl Prologue is every bit as bad as it has been made out to be. The writing was so awful that I was literally shocked at some of the scenes that ended up in the movie. The whole Batgirl/Batman sex scene is the biggest offender and this has nothing to do with a massive age gap between the two. It's how the writers chose to portray both characters after sex. He pretty much 'ghosts' her as he can't handle a relationship and she comes off as jilted and irrational having been spurned. Cliche much?

As for the second half of the movie which is The Killing Joke story, that too was a huge letdown. Sure, this half is somewhat better. But the Prologue was still fresh in my memory that it taints what comes next. But lets be clear, this too suffers from sloppy writing and pacing. Not only that, I just was not digging the animation as much as I had hoped for, The only saving grace for the movie as a whole was the fact that they manage to get both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their iconic roles of Batman and Joker one last time. But beyond that, there really isn't much here to recommend....even for fans of the book like myself. Definitely a Skip.

Sigh.