Batman: The Dark Knight Returns w/ Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Graphic Novel (Blu-ray/DVD/UV)

This 3 hour long animated film is based on the excellent graphic novel by Frank Miller. It stars a jaded, cynical, and brutal Batman who decides to return to fight crime in Gotham after retiring for several years. Along the way he goes up against the likes of Two Face, Joker, and of course, Superman.What makes this film so extraordinary besides the stellar voice cast is that it truly provides an excellent insight into the psyche of Batman. It also has an epic score with an incredible main theme. The animation is also top notch with several standout scenes showing just how brutally effective the vigilante still is in his old age.This is the story that Batman v Superman drew heavily on, so if you liked that interpretation of Batman, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. Superman is also really well portrayed and has none of his self doubt issues from Dawn of Justice.As the headline states, I truly believe this is the best Batman film ever made, animated or otherwise.

Spoilers here:This is more like 3-4 Batman movies in 1. It is part 1 and 2 but it's more like 2 two part movies or 4 total.In the first part, Batman has been retired for 10 years. You don't really know why until later in the show when superman and the President of the U.S.A. (who resembles Ronald Reagan greatly) are discussing how it was made illegal to be a super hero 10 years ago.Due to the huge rise in crime in Gotham, Bruce Wayne puts back on his bat suit and takes up being Batman again.After Batman takes down most of the criminals in Gotham, Superman is sent by the President to shut Batman down. Apparently Superman is the Presidents puppet in this show, not the hero to the world.Batman keeps going anyway and is ignored because Superman is busy helping the U.S.A. with a war, which soon turns nuclear.Meantime on Gotham Commissioner Gordon retires and the new Commissioner is out to take Batman down.Lots more fun ensues. In the end Batman and Superman fight and Batman turns Superman temporarily human, proving once and for all that he could have made it permanent and killed Superman. His last words are "I want you to remember forever that I am the only man that ever beat you, and to stay out of my way".Superman, however, "kills" Batman.He then attends the funeral and his super-hearing detects that Batman, although buried, is still alive.He pretends he didn't hear it and we switch scenes.In the end, Batman and Green Arrow are in a cave with a huge number of recruits who they are going to train in the way of the Batman.Very cool and I wish they would have made a sequel.

Having never seen the original graphic novel, I have to say I was highly impressed by this adaptation. It's three hours long of pure, compressed awesome as Batman makes a comeback in Gotham City with a vengeance. And while he is older, Batman has lost none of his skills and determination, settling old scores one by one.Aside from strong action sequences, the movie also has some powerful themes running through it, particularly how it satirizes our media and way of life. Batman's activities and those of his enemies are commented on by a 24/7 news circus, led by a variety of talking heads that are all too often very opinionated but completely clueless. Far from dated, that commentary seems more relevant than ever. Today we live in a 24/7 news cycle, bombarded with information, but most of it's useless at best, misleading at worst.Another theme is authority figures abdicating said authority by failing to act when it's needed. Only Batman is willing to make the hard choices that will keep other people safe and restore order, but unfortunately this, more than anything else, makes him public enemy #1. Is it appropriate to resort to vigilantism when our leaders fail us, or is it better to stand by them for the sake of public order? Batman seems to prefer the former, and it's hard to argue with the results.The characters in the movie are all very interesting, with striking visual designs. The Mutants are a bunch of savages that babble slang from behind the multitudinous neon red glow of their visors, and led by a monstrous leader that probably is, in fact, a mutant. The Joker, in contrast to his usual lanky, disheveled appearance, looks nearly unphased by age and seems stronger than ever. There's Carrie, the girl Robin, who adds a desperately needed splash of bright color to Gotham's grim world, and her enthusiasm is infectious. And of course, there's the Batman, whose strong jaw and muscular bulk mark him as a force to be reckoned with. The voice-overs are all top-notch, too. The Joker's lines are delivered with an unnerving, almost feminine tone as he gleefully rampages about. Peter Weller's Batman is great, too. I know some people would want Kevin Conroy but Weller is just fine, here. This Batman needed to be someone who could come off as both a thinker and a leader, and Weller's strong voice pulled that off, though I have to admit that, when he said, "I am the law!" I couldn't help but get Robocop flashbacks.It's not entirely perfect, though. While the animation is good, some of the special effects, especially fog or smoke, look cheap and out of place beside the animated characters. I also felt the movie was way too hard on "President," who's obviously supposed to be Reagan--and the irony is that, while it was cool to poke fun at Reagan back then, these days, well after the publication of the original graphic novel, politicians from both parties are quick to try and compare themselves to him. So much for that bit of satire. And you may find this movie portrays some classic characters in ways you might be unused to, to say the least. Some scenes, especially with Superman and the Joker, are very disturbing, and I would even go so far as to say Heath Ledger's Joker was restrained compared to the one we have here.The movie caps off with a few hours of documentaries, but while some of them are fairly interesting, they can be safely skipped, because otherwise you're looking at a five hour movie--geeze!Hey, DC! How about a sequel, huh? Because The Dark Knight Strikes Again was... uh... well... hm. You know what, let's leave this saga at this satisfying conclusion. Frank Miller probably should have.

I probably don't need to explain to anyone reading this the importance of the graphic novel this film is based upon within the comic world. The animation does a near perfect job of capturing the mood and tone closely with the perfect decision to cast Peter Weller. His gruff and imposing tones sit well for an aging more brutal Batman and the everything unfolds as it should.The extras are also a sight to behold with the kind of stuff often omitted for the UK release including an 80 minute doc where Frank Miller & Grant Morrison are interviewed about the original book. Miller looks like he has lived a little too hard since the 80s (he sounds slightly slurry to me at times) but still gives a great interview and clearly still has time for the book that put him in Bat history - alongside Year One of course.My only issue was that the US vendor I used provided minimal packaging which meant that the card sleeve was travel damaged upon arrival which sat very badly for this collector after paying nearly triple what I normally would for a UK bluray. A few pence worth of bubblewrap wouldn't have broken the bank in my opinion.Anyway nevermind the material itself more than makes up for it!

Although this may be some form of the deluxe edition pictured - the product recieved looked FAR different - front back and spine covers were completely in japanese (including the price!?? Strange thing to have perminant on the front cover) if sat spine on would be difficult to tell which movie this was (if you had other similarly packaged films)Have'nt watched the actual film disc yet to assertain if this indeed the Deluxe version or not because im currently requesting to return it based on the false picture provided. If it is then this movie is a must by for any batman fan - but for collectors this particular version would be a sore-thumb on your blu-ray shelf collection

This movie does the comic justice. The Deluxe edition is fabulous entertainment. I'd recommend this to any Batman fan. Enjoy.

Brilliant

The item was perfect but I had to pay customs duties despite ordering from amazon.uk.