So this is my review exclusively for the Movieworldaction forum. I can't hide that I'm not a keen supporter of Frank Miller but it is acknowledged that his 1986 "Dark Knight Returns" did reinvigorate not only Batman but comic books in general. He took the frivolous "camp crusader" of those times and turned that innocuous character into the hero we see here. In my opinion this movie is a great translation of that novel to life on the screen.
While not revolutionary in imagination, the animation is consistently good, the dark tone set the mood very well and you feel drawn in the world of a post-retired Batman decaying Gotham. There are homages to other comic books that are sure to be noted by fans. The feature definitely isn't for small kids though as one can find blood, eyebrow raising adult humor, elements of horror and, although not extreme, the violence and gore perhaps exceeded my expectations a bit.
Peter Weller is actually an interesting choice for the older Bruce Wayne and he does effectively well so it didn't take long for me to get used to this change. Ariel Winter also did great in the role of Carrie Kelley, the appealing thirteen year old schoolgirl that is to become Robin, a character that is essential to the Bat-Mythos and the best new inclusion of this novel. The rest of the cast did an adequate job in my opinion for what they had to work with.
The story is quite dark and definitely not for small children, thankfully the source material here wasn't sacrificed for the sake of rating. Bruce's inner struggles, fears, sense of loss and final choice to return to action are exceptionally well captured and we see the more menacing, brutal, supernatural Batman here that's yet to truly meet his match in live action peers. The ending sets the pieces for part two and leaves the viewer in eager anticipation for the rest to come.
What I think could've been handled better has mostly to do with the villains and some of the mechanics of the plot. While Two-face enjoyed limited screen time to develop his own story which had relevance to the plot, the mutant army's origins and motivations may not be exactly clear to a casual viewer. Was the threat as severe for a prime American city like Gotham to depend on one person to save it from conquest by gangs? Some of Batman's decisions in the movie also made me question his discernment and for the tone of the movie and him fighting a whole army his reluctance to mortally defeat enemies in combat is debatable... although conversely in some cases it's difficult to say how he didn't! We find also some austere political questions repeatedly thrown but left in the air. So the lines between the fantastic and realistic don't always keep to boundaries. In order to be faithful to the source material and capture all important elements the decision to split the story in two parts is correct although from this "Part 1" may have suffered a bit.
Overall I definitely liked it a lot and after first viewing gave it 8/10. I recommend it especially for Bat fans as they'll unmistakably enjoy it, mainstream viewers with less knowledge of the history of the franchise and characters may still like it as it packs lots of action thrills and drama although maybe left with a feeling they didn't watch something of such incredible relevance.
As some fans have said, hopefully an adaption of Knightfall will be on the cards or even a longer jonah hex adaption.