Batman: The Killing Joke was disappointingly mediocre...
The new opening was interesting, telling a nice story fleshing out Batgirl and her relationship (both figurative and literal) with Batman. I didn't even mind the implied sex between the two. However, the overt sexualization of Barbara left a bit to be desired...
Some of my main issues with the movie:
1. Who's story is this? Batman is the third most important character behind both Batgirl and The Joker, with no character receiving a proper arc/throughline, so the story feels disconnected. As they had decided to mess with source material by adding a new prologue, I would have loved if they embraced it more to modify the structure overall and taken some more risks (e.g. start with the Batman confronting Joker scene at the beginning, then flesh out relationships and characters more). While some may complain that Batgirl lacks agency (both in this and the source material, which is a topic for discussion), if anything, Gordon is the afterthought plot device in this film
2. The tone - Something about the story wasn't connecting with me/sucking me in, trying so hard to be dark that it took away from the story. I'd argue the film never really has a chance to breathe and live on its own once it starts adhering to the source material. The choice in tone even impacts the voice acting, which also felt disconnected, like it was missing something or just wrong. As legendary as both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are, their voices felt out of place.
3. The visuals - Brian Bolland has such an iconic take on the Joker, yet the movie wasn't able to properly emulate it. The art styles change throughout the movie in a way that's unfortunately distracting. Sure, there is changing art direction in the source material, but it didn't translate very well.
On a side note, I was very curious how the film would handle the recently "controversial" ending, in which some believe Batman finally kills the Joker. Had the film been adjusted to center more on Batman's experience and how the Joker was actually pushing and testing Batman, or that the events impacted him more than Joker's target of Gordon, especially the new additions with Batman's relationship to Batgirl, it would have been so wonderfully bold if DC had Batman finally break and kill the Joker.
Overall, the new Batgirl prologue is interesting and could be a fun-yet-dark supporting episode for Batman Beyond, but after that you're probably better off reading the source material. I'd rank this on the lower end of the DC animated movies, particularly for Batman stories. For reference, two of the ones I really enjoyed were Under the Red Hood and Dark Knight Returns; I did not like Year One.
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