DC Universe Animated Original Movies are continually great. Each one seems to tackle a well known saga but not many are as well known, or as highly lauded as Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.





Batman is finished. Many moons ago he hung up his cape and cowl and decided to let the city that he loved look after itself for a while, well that was the plan. Bats quickly learns that Gotham can't help but destroy itself from within.





"In the bleak and ominous future of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, it’s been a decade since Bruce Wayne hung up his cape, following most of the other superheroes who had been forced into retirement. Facing the downside of middle age, a restless Bruce Wayne pacifies his frustration with race cars and liquor – but the Bat still beckons as he watches his city fall prey to gangs of barbaric criminals known as The Mutants."











Released in 1986, the printed incarnation of The Dark Knight Returns was a reflection of its time. A much more cynical viewpoint swept the world where banks crumbled, terrorism was rife and Chernobyl showed that the future of humanity was going to be ugly. As with all pop culture, Frank Miller captured the sentiment of the every man and encapsulated it in a story that proved that perhaps there is hope, even after we've long since retired. The great Frank Miller is an incredibly cinematic artist, a fact which is blindingly obvious by how faithful the film adaptations of his best known work, Sin City and 300, have managed to be. TDKR is no different. Many scenes are recreated panel for panel with director Jay Oliva (Young Justice, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights) showing off his skills, and obvious love, for the comic book and animated mediums. As an artist on the screen adaptations of Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Year One he seems to have honed his skills in delivering a punchy film which captures the essence of Miller's grit and grime covered Gotham.