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When I first heard that WB was doing an animated adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, my immediate thought was "Welp, they're going to cut out all of the Harvey Dent stuff, aren't they?"
I mean, why wouldn't they? WB's idiotic policy of their animated films being strictly 75 minutes long has meant hacking apart classic graphic novels such as Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier and Morrison/Quitely's All-Star Superman into above-average cliffs-notes versions of themselves in animated format. And even when they have a slim story like Batman: Year One which they can easily adapt within the time frame, they still decide to almost completely cut Harvey Dent out of the film for no good reason.
On top of all that, when it comes to the enduring popularity of The Dark Knight Returns, nobody seems to care about Harvey Dent's tragic storyline. Everyone remembers the Joker, the Mutant Leader fight, the giant-ass Batmobile tank, the Superman battle, Madam Catwoman, Carrie Kelly Robin, and the general Miller mood. But Harvey? He generally seems to be treated as an afterthought, serving to be little more than the catalyst which springs Bruce back into action as Batman. So when I heard about the animated TDKR, I instantly assumed that Harvey would be scrapped entirely and replaced with the Mutant threat as Bruce's catalyst.
That's when I actually read the news about the TDKR movie and learned that the adaptation would be split into two parts! I'm glad to see that they're actually going to try doing justice to this adaptation, so that the end result won't feel rushed and the storytelling will hopefully be able to breathe. And of course, Harvey's story WILL be included! In fact, the video sneak peek from Superman VS The Elite (anyone seen it yet?) is already making its way to YouTube. As with all other sneak peeks, this is mostly a lot of talking heads wanking about the greatness of the source material, you can find a bit of Harvey-related stuff from 3:09-3:59:
After watching that, my first thought was "Wow, they've ALREADY changed around the dialogue so that it screws with the original comics version?" Remember, in the original, he says, "Have your laugh, Batman--take a LOOK! ... take your look..." This then prompts Batman to say, "I see a reflection, Harvey. A reflection." Over at my analysis of this scene, I explained why this exchange is so meaningful to both Harvey and Bruce. But now in the animated version, he apparently instead says, "Look at me and have your laugh!" I'm not sure how they're going to transition to Bruce's own line that way. I know that this is a nitpick criticism, but if you'll recall, it was such tiny changes that pretty much ruined the Batman: Year One adaptation.
As for the acting, I'm not sure how to judge it based on what we've heard here so far. Harvey's being played by Wade Williams, an actor I know nothing about save for the fact that he was in Prison Break and that he played Black Mask in Batman: Under the Red Hood. I don't remember how he was as Roman, but then, almost nothing of B:UTRH has stayed with me. Henchgirl observed that it's a film which we're enjoying far more as clips in .gif form on Tumblr than we did as an actual movie.
So yeah, I'm not super-enthused about the TDKR movie, but I'm glad to see that Harvey's story will be there and I'm interested in seeing how it turns out. And hey, speaking as someone who's always hated the artwork in the original comic (Klaus Janson's inks especially, so grotesque), maybe the animated redesigns will actually work in the story's favor! Now the only question is who's going to play the Joker. Personally, my vote still goes for Brad Dourif, who could still rock that role right now if they went the live-action route.
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