Second part of the animated adaptation of Frank Miller's classic comic book miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns. This part deals with the return of the Joker, Batman continuing his war on crime with a new Robin by his side, and Superman being sent by the President to stop Bats. As with the first part, it's pretty faithful to the comics. It does draw out some scenes longer. I can't help but feel like that wouldn't have been necessary had they just combined parts 1 and 2 into a single film. Also, as with the first part, I have problems with the animation not being stylized enough and the voices of Batman and others not being handled by Kevin Conroy and company. I said with my review on the first part that it's hard to really capture what made the comic work so well with a cartoon made nearly 30 years later after countless imitations and knockoffs. I do think some of the reviews giving this 10's are mainly fans of the comic rating it super high because they love the books. This is a good cartoon but it's nowhere near the boundary-pushing work of art fans are making it out to be. Again, that was the comic but this is the cartoon and the two are just not the same. It's still a fun movie, particularly for fans. I enjoyed it even more than part one and it's especially interesting to watch now after having seen this year's Batman v Superman, which borrowed heavily from this story. Whatever problems I have with this animated film, I do think it's far better than that disjointed glum mess. Best viewed with part one as a whole.

The Dark Knight Returns, Parts I and II, as a whole is easily one of the best films in the past ten years. It may sound like hyperbole, but this film could've been nominated for an academy award. TDKR is a revenge story about a retired, 55 year Bruce Wayne, who resumes his role as Batman, as an older man. The movie, a nearly frame by frame adaptation of Frank Miller's definitive work, explores politics, aging, the human condition and morality in way Hollywood at large could never muster.This is a human/crime drama that masquerades as a comic book movie, the film industry at large could learn from this. Very rarely will you catch a film that captures the sense of torment, angst, terror and defiance as you will with this movie. This is a love letter to comic fans, but also a must see for film buffs in general. It really doesn't get much better than this.

It's not very often that I'm stunned to silence, but it happened here. If you liked "Part 1", you will adore "Part 2". More action, more brutality, more respect for the title character, more everything. How did they get this to 75 minutes? It felt like watching a 3 hour movie! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! From Joker going on a psychotic killing spree, to Bruce having the ultimate showdown with "The Government's Errand Boy", this movie is Grade A awesome. If you are even a molecule of a Batman fan, you owe it to yourself to see this. This could easily be a replacement for almost any AAA superhero action movie today, in fact, I think I'd prefer this to movies like "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Batman vs Superman".

In preparation for the upcoming Batman V Superman film, I've decided to revisit a few of each of the heroes' feature films, especially those where they come in direct conflict with one another.With the first part of The Dark Knight Returns being as good as it is, it almost seems unfathomable to think it could be topped by part 2, but for the most part, it is. Part 2 is even more packed than part 1 with more prominent roles given to Joker, Commissioner Yindel, Oliver Queen, and of course, Superman. It's a fast paced and brutally graphic take on the Dark Knight's last stand in a Gotham City that is just about at the brink of decimation.Batman and Robin's plan to turn the mutant followers into "sons of Batman" was working quite well and Batman seemed to have the upper- hand on the city, that is until Joker came out of a little retirement of his own. Michael Emerson's voice performance as the incredibly creepy Joker works very well alongside Peter Weller's Batman, especially in the tunnel of love sequence. Joker's killing of over 200 people at the talk show was terrifying, but there's something about the entirety of the tunnel of love scene that really stood out even more to me. Murdering people after murdering people and forcing Batman into a no win situation seemed to be the best possible way to conclude these two guys arcs after so many years tearing each other apart.Same goes for the way they handle the Superman and Batman material. Yes, Superman does seem a lot like a boy scout for the president, but the reasons given seemed to make sense. I bought into the fact that that's what Superman would do after global tragedies and during a nuclear crisis. Which brings up the one complaint I have about this film, the nuclear crisis and inclusion of the Corto Maltese side arc. An hour and 15 minutes for each of these two parts is fitting, but I hardly believe the inclusion of a global crisis was needed for a Batman story. Everything else in this Frank Miller story, is absolutely brilliant.Seeing Batman result to beating the crap out of cops and Superman virtually killing for the government in war was an interesting and ground breaking way to tell the story. It opened the door for comic books to become something more than just guilty pleasure readings and into something that can appeal and apply to people of all ages. Christopher Drake's incredible score once again kicks in at the right moments including the legendary Batman/Superman fight. The whole film is fast paced, but the last 30 minutes is some of the best direction I have ever seen in an animated film to date. The first time I saw the film I didn't know what to expect in the end and every left turn made was just as shockingly amazing as the last. The Dark Knight Returns Part 2 is quite simply one of the greatest superhero films of all time.+Epic scope+Batman/Superman fight & dynamic+Score+Last 30 minutes+Oliver Queen's inclusion+Brutally graphic-Corto Maltese side arc with nuclear crisis wasn't entirely necessary10/10