Nasty Little Thing Productions

Movies: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (Uncut Version)

Today afternoon I watched another animated Batman feature, this one called Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.  Batman Beyond (known to us in India as Batman of the Future) is a spinoff series from the animated Batman, and is set several years in the future, with Bruce Wayne an old man.  The new Batman is Terry McGinnis — a teenager with a troubled past, taken in by Wayne as an assistant — who fights crime in a high-tech Batsuit, monitored and guided by Wayne from the Batcave.  I got to see only a few episodes of this series on Cartoon Network, but I liked them.  Content-wise, the series is apparently aimed at an older audience than the other Batman animated series, as it has harder violence and more mature themes.  The music score (a harsh techno-rock combo) by Kristopher Carter went a long way in adding to the "edge" of the series, and suited it very well.

In this movie, a number of crimes are being committed by the Jokerz Gang.  They are stealing high-tech equipment, and both McGinnis and Bruce Wayne are wondering what the Gang would do with such equipment.  Meanwhile, Wayne decides to become the CEO of Wayne Industries, to the dismay of Jordan Price, who was next in line.  At a social gathering to celebrate Wayne's return to the company, the Jokerz Gang attacks again, but everyone is shocked to see the Joker with them.

McGinnis learns that the Joker died several years ago.  Even if the Joker was alive, he should be more than eighty years old.  So who is this Joker?  The answers may lie with Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon (who was once Batgirl, and currently Gotham City Police Commissioner) and Tim Drake (who was once Robin).

I liked this movie even more than Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.  The futuristic setting, the action, the music, all come through very well in this mystery-thriller.  The voice acting is very good, particularly Mark Hamill as the Joker.  The screenplay is by Paul Dini, from a story by Dini, Glen Murakami and Bruce Timm.  The movie is directed by Curt Geda.

I watched the uncut version of the film, which is rated PG-13 in the U.S.  It is quite violent and a flashback sequence (showing what happened to the Joker all those years ago) is quite disturbing.  I haven't seen the censored version.

posted by Karthik Abhiram @ 5:19 AM