Batman: The Killing Joke

"The madness begins."

2016 1h 17m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 1,988

AnimationCrimeDramaActionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.

“The madness begins.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Kevin Conroy
Batman (voice)
Mark Hamill
The Joker (voice)
Tara Strong
Barbara Gordon / Batgirl (voice)
Ray Wise
Commissioner Gordon (voice)
John DiMaggio
Francesco (voice)
Robin Atkin Downes
Detective Bullock (voice)
Brian George
Alfred (voice)
JP Karliak
Reese (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Liu
Writers: Brian Azzarello
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michael McCuistion. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christopher D. Lozinski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill and Tara Strong carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The madness begins.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt4853102 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Liu directs. Michael McCuistion scores. Christopher D. Lozinski cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 77-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Released 10 years ago.
4Original score by Michael McCuistion. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Christopher D. Lozinski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill and Tara Strong carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The madness begins.".
8IMDB entry: tt4853102 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 17 themes, including "psychopath", "superhero", "cartoon", "carnival".

The technical file

Original score: Michael McCuistion
Editing: Christopher D. Lozinski
Sound: Robert Hargreaves
Runtime: 77 min · 1h 17m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Box office: $3,775,000
Return: 108% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

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Sam Liu

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Austin Singleton2016-08-10
Not even the voice acting could save this movie. Check out my full review here. http://www.hweird1reviews.com/allreviews/the-killing-joke-movie-review
Gimly2016-09-02
★ 5/10
Shares the few weaknesses of the short comic it is based on, but adds a bunch of its own new weaknesses to try and get it up to a theatrical runtime and justify its cinema release. I think part of the reason the reception for The Killing Joke has been so overwhelmingly negative is that the expectations were so high going in. But that wasn't without cause. It sees the long awaited return of both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to their famed DC roles, and the comic it's based on is widely regarded as one of the better stories ever published by the company. And of these lofty expectations, The Killing Joke falls short. Hamill is great, and Kevin Conroy usually is as well. There are a couple of occasions that the latter slipped though. I don't know if he's rusty or just didn't care, but his voice performance is not 100%. The story essentially meets that of its source material, but rather than expand the existing story, they chose to awkwardly force an entirely different one in beforehand, to the point that this is essentially two episodes of two different shows, rather than a single cohesive movie. The Killing Joke is a little gross and is not the return to form for DC Animation that we all had hoped it would be, but the final sequence is fantastic and I don't know that the movie overall deserves quite as much vitriol as it has had. Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.
Peter89Spencer2020-08-07
★ 4/10
The first 30 minutes was wasted with Barbara being so annoying! I just didn't see why that whole bit was thrown in when the movie itself is meant to center on the Joker. Even with Mark Hamill's final bow out as the iconic villain couldn't save the film. Still, at least that joke at the end was a little amusing! Other than that, they could've done better with the story.