I don't read many comics, and my only familiarity with this story going in was the wiki summary, but the good things I've heard made me look forward to the movie. My takeaway is that while the source material may have played a pivotal role in shaping the character of Batman we know today, I don't see why this movie needed to exist, other than to provide fan service to old school comic readers (an endeavor it also fails at in my opinion). All of the ideas brought up here have been explored to death in other works and other media with both Batman and other superheroes. If I have to hear one more fucking supervillain accuse Batman of being as unhinged as the criminals he fights against, I'm going to go as cuckoo as an Arkham inmate. And somehow despite this 76 minute movie being padded as hell, this movie opted to not explore these ideas with any added philosophical depth.

But all that would have merely left us with a redundant, mediocre story. The real offender is the prologue that was added to pad out the run time. While it's a good idea to give Batgirl a more active role in the story rather than having her victimized and carted off for the remainder, I'm not sure what they came up with could have been more banal.

SpoilerThe sticking point for most has been Batman and Batgirl having sex on a rooftop. Others have brought up many reasons why this is gross, such as their mentor/protege relationship, Barbara being the daughter of Batman's friend and colleague, Barbara's romantic involvement with Dick Grayson in the comics etc. I would add that the sex scene comes immediately after Batman takes Batgirl off a case due to her emotional involvement, causing her to lose her temper and attack him, which leads to a brawl with them rolling around, kissing, getting naked, and so on. Yeah, it's a fist fight that leads to hanky panky, real creative there guys. With this context, Batgirl looks incredibly emotionally immature and/or unstable, and Batman looks like an opportunistic douche who thinks with his bat-dong.

But it gets worse towards the end of the prologue. Batman at one point warns Batgirl of the “edge” or “abyss” that comes in fighting crime, that tempts you to stop caring about what's right. Later Batgirl apprehends Paris Franz, an utterly unremarkable criminal but the only antagonist the prologue has to offer, who has been continuously making flirtatious remarks towards her. Batgirl beats him to near death and then retires from crime fighting, telling Batman that she's seen the Abyss he spoke of. So what drove her over the edge and caused her to beat a man to within an inch of his life? HE MADE A DUMB JOKE ABOUT HER BEING ON HER PERIOD! It astonishes me that the writers have stated they believe they've retained Batgirl's strength as a character. No one would suggest Batman was a strong character if he flew into a violent rage at someone insinuating he has a small penis.

Oh, and this prologue adds nothing to the rest of the story, which I suppose makes things easier for anyone wanting to improve the film with a fan-edit.

If nothing else, the voice cast is in top form, and I found the dialogue quite sharp, particularly for the Joker, even if I didn't like the story it was driving.