Superman Homepage

2013 Movie News Archives

March 5, 2013: "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2" Review

I should note upfront that at the time of writing this review I haven't actually seen "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1". But having watched Part 2, I can honestly say that the movie stands up on its own, and you can quite easily follow along if (like me) your main interest in watching this movie is because Superman is in it. I also have never read the graphic novel this is based on, so I can't compare it to the original material. But you could say that I'm coming at this from a fresh perspective, with no preconceived ideas on what it should be or what it should look like.

When I wrote my review for "Superman vs. The Elite" animated movie I wrote that it was "probably the most adult of all the Superman-related DC Universe Animated Original Movies" I'd seen to date. Scratch that... This movie has much more violence... bloody, in-your-face, gruesome violence that pulls no punches.

My review is based on having seen the movie twice now. Firstly in the comfort of my home, watching the film on DVD. My second viewing took place at the Australian premiere of the film which took place at the Dendy Opera Quays cinema in Sydney on Monday, March 4.

I'm not sure whether the cinema showing was the Blu-ray edition or the DVD edition, but according to the press release material, the Blu-ray version runs approximately 3 minutes longer (76 minutes compared to 73 minutes). What that extra 3 minutes includes I'm not sure. Sadly the cinema screening had some positional issues, with maybe a fifth of the picture cut off on the right hand side. They did apologize about it, but it didn't spoil the viewing experience too much.

Read the complete "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2" review right here at the Superman Homepage.