On July 25, 2016, there was a special one-night showing of “Batman: The Killing Joke.” A very close friend of mine and I were thrilled to hear about this news. He and I are both fans of the caped crusader (albeit he absolutely adores the property while I simply appreciate it) and decided that this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. It’s not every day that you get to watch a limited release Batman movie with the original cast from “Batman: The Animated Series” coming back. So we bought our tickets for that Monday night, drove to the theater and watched the film with high anticipation alongside a big crowd of equally excited fans. After all was said and done, did the film deliver a powerful punchline? Or did it leave the crowd wanting to throw tomatoes at the screen?

The film version of “Batman: The Killing Joke” is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s 1988 graphic novel of the same name. It follows the criminal activities of the Joker, who kidnaps the Gotham City police commissioner in order to prove a point: after “one bad day,” anyone can succumb to insanity. To prove this point, the Joker performs vile acts on the commissioner’s daughter (Batgirl) and sets a trap for Batman. However, since the graphic novel was too short to be a film, this 2016 adaptation added a prologue featuring Batgirl in order to flesh out her character and her relationship to Batman. This is where the true divisions between fans lie.

On the surface, “Batman: The Killing Joke” is a fine movie. I happened to really enjoy seeing such an important part of Batman’s history finally on the big screen. There are many parts of the movie that match up shot-for-shot with the graphic novel and the voice cast of Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Tara Strong really amplified my love for it. At the same time, however, there seems to be a great deal of things that bog this movie down from being truly outstanding.

For starters, the Batgirl prologue while intriguing was too long and too disconnected from the overall scope of the movie. It felt like a separate short in front of an extremely better movie. I understand what it tried to do in regards to making us feel more for Batgirl when tragedy finally befalls her, but it falls flat when it ends up turning Batgirl into another object for someone to save. The second problem I had with this adaptation was the animation itself. The graphic novel is very stylized and has a unique look to it and I wanted to see it transferred into a moving medium. Sure, we got scenes that were shot-for-shot, but they were only used sparingly throughout the entire film. My problem with the animation is small and the main concern that people will have with this movie is the Batgirl prologue.

Did I not enjoy “Batman: The Killing Joke?” On the contrary, I found that the Batgirl prologue added just enough insight to at least connect to the overall incredible story of Batman and the Joker’s relationship. In fact, once the actual “Killing Joke” storyline kicked in, the movie was as great as I expected it to be. Hearing Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy back at it was truly something to behold, and I found myself thinking more about the main themes of the story after seeing it. It inspired me to read it again. There’s one part in the film where the Joker says something along the lines of, "just because something’s bad, doesn’t mean it isn’t a classic." That’s what I would describe this film as: a mediocre adaptation of a great classic. I know more people who were disappointed by it, but I had the time of my life watching it.