Blu Ray Review: The Dark Knight Returns Part I (2012) delivers a solid, engaging adaptation of its iconic source material.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns part I

2012
76 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I don't know if an animated adaptation of Frank Miller's groundbreaking satire was entirely necessary.  There is little ground in this 1986 graphic novel that hasn't been covered in other mediums or other comic book stories in some form or another, be it The Dark Knight Rises or the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Legends of the Dark Knight".  At heart, this project seems predicated merely on the idea of 'well, we might as well adapt it because we've adapted Batman: Year One.  But this new film, which covers the first two chapters of the four part story, is a genuine improvement over the prior Frank Miller adaptation.  It is less beholden to the source material and willing to make small changes for the sake of the film as a stand-alone entertainment.  The script is 90% faithful to the original, and the changes have an unusual effect of making the story feel less like an Elseworld (which it of course was) and more like a somewhat plausible 'What If?' final Batman story.

Actual Dark Knight Rises news! I think I get the title now...

Just as it did four years ago, Warner Bros has debuted the first official look of the primary Batman villain on the cover of Empire.  I won't comment too much on the images, and I couldn't give too craps about what that thing Batman is holding happens to be (we'll know when we know).  But the article does contain one huge plot reveal, from Mr. Nolan himself ironically.

"It's really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne's story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state."