There are some pretty serious subjects being talked about and portrayed here. Hard topics that I enjoy seeing in comics, especially Batman. Ellis is a great writer regardless of how people feel about him personally, all of which in terms of criticism is valid but he tackled the issues well. Or at least well enough in a two part story in an off the beaten path Batman title. You would have really had to dig for this someone told you about it even back in the day.
The big downfall of the story is that it isn't a fully fleshed out story and takedown of how terrible the government is, or at least the weaponization of the masses through various means. It's poignant and something to really dig into for the medium but it was relegated to 40 pages. more