*Contains spoilers for the source material, and if you don't want your expectations of the first 25 minutes spoiled, do not read.

I was personally excited for Batman: The Killing Joke for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it is an adaptation of one of the most popular Batman graphical novels of all time. Secondly, it reunites Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, the most iconic voices in the respective roles each of them play, thirdly because it's the first animated DC movie to warrant, and earn, an MA15 rating, and fourthly because of it's limited theatre release, which meant, fifthly, that I had a reason to go to the cinemas with my friend for the third time this year.

Oh, and lastly because the last two movies I attended to see in the cinemas left a bad taste in my mouth. You can read my two reviews of them.

Before the movie begun, we got about a solid 10+ minutes of Mark Hamill on-screen talking about the history of playing Joker and finding (no pun intended) his own voice as the character and coming into form. I enjoyed that. If only they didn't display footage from the movie I was about to watch, goddamn it!

The movie itself was a ball of fan service. There is no way of getting around it and there is no saying that we're all paying to watch Mark Hamill deliver the timeless dialogues written by Alan Moore. In that respect, the movie delivered. Mark Hamill is utterly convincing as the character and I wouldn't have anyone else have the honour of delivering this soliloquy. What more can be said about Kevin Conroy as The Caped Crusader. The iconic voice of Batman in all of media. And deservedly.

So many segments of this film had my giddy and eutrophic: Barbara being paralysed, the emotional and sympathetic flashback segments, and the final, immortal few panels of the comic which, thanks to director Sam Liu, and the voices Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill lent to their characters, could not have been delivered any better. Trust me when I say that these moments make Batman: The Killing Joke worth the price of admission. In addition to some Joker scenes which outclassed the intensity of Heath Ledger's The Joker. Because Mark Hamill is THAT good.

This film has been scrutinised for ages for it's lower than usual budget for a DCAU film. Which, taking the MA15+ (or R, you filthy Americans!) is understandable. In all fairness, the animation in this film is solid. Not to say it's as good as The Dark Knight Returns - which, as a matter of fact, impressed me more than this from a visual and directorial standpoint - just that the aesthetic was satisfying, and didn't detract a lot from the quality of the film. Which I think was carried by it's source material and voice work.

Surprisingly, a lot of what DIDN'T work can be faulted on the voice acting. Two scenes in specific, the first being when Barbara Gordon first wakes up in hospital after being paralysed couldn't been a LOT more convincing. She sounded like she existed to broadcast information instead of being assuredly traumatised. In another defining moment, Jack Napier shrugs off his wife's death by barely reacting.

The first 25 or so minutes of the film were utterly original, creatively existing to provide context for the events in Frank Miller's portion of the book. Although I found myself thoroughly entertained, it felt like a drag in that, cynically, it existed to extend the film enough for it to be considered, y'know, a feature length film and not a TV episode. I thoroughly enjoyed some of the characters in this segment. In particular, a fun villain, and a comic relief character I won't spoil here.

All in all, Batman: The Killing Joke ISN'T the all encompassing film I'd hoped for it to be. Regardless of some of it's flaws, such as some underperformed moments and an overly long prologue, it is still a fun film and satisfying fan service that I don't regret seeing. I can't say it's good enough for me to recommend to an average movie goer. But for a fan of the comic, I like to think I got my money's worth.