‘The Batman’ gives Gotham’s Dark Knight the film he deserves
Matt Reeves’ entry into the Batman film canon is one of the best yet, paying homage to both Batman and cinematic history
Out of the gate, I will say that I am quite the Batman fan. I watched countless episodes of The Animated Series growing up. I watched the 2004 TV series The Batman, an inconvenient name in retrospect. I played Batman: Arkham City, maybe a little younger than I should have, but oh well — it’s awesome! What I’m trying to say is that I may be a little biased when I say that Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the latest entry in the live-action pantheon of the Caped Crusader, is easily the best live-action version of the character seen thus far.
Although there have been numerous good-to-great live-action Batmen (Keaton, Bale) and several less-good ones (Clooney, Affleck), I am of the opinion that none of these versions of the character really tap into the core essence of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Yes, Batman can be a terrifyingly dark force of nature, but none of these live-action films have remembered what makes him so compelling — empathy. At his core, Batman is still that kid who saw his parents gunned down in front of him in an act of violence that changed him forever. His strong emphasis on not killing stems from this. If Batman can stop one innocent person from feeling the way that he does, he will move heaven and earth to make sure he can do it. I don’t think there’s been a single live-action interpretation of Batman that we have really gotten this sanctity of life from. That is, until now.
The Batman opens on an angsty Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) in the second year of his self-imposed gig as Gotham’s Dark Knight. He’s striking an appropriate amount of fear into the criminal population of the city as they gaze anxiously into the shadows, praying that vengeance doesn’t wait in the darkness. Yet a new threat comes out of the dark: a serial killer who calls himself the Riddler (Paul Dano) who is targeting Gotham’s highly corrupt elite. In an effort to stop his spree, Batman becomes part of a sprawling tapestry designed to showcase the rot that has set over the city he vows to protect. His investigation leads him into many corners of the seedy urban underworld, wherein he is aided by Gotham’s seemingly only honest lawman Jim Gordon (Jeffery Wright) and cat burglar Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz).
My first point of praise for the film is that it is exceptionally cast. Pattinson is perfect in the role of a Batman still trying to figure it all out. He doesn’t have that public/vigilante life split healthily at all, as the persona of Bruce Wayne is a pale recluse who does little with his parents’ money. It’s easy to tell that he’s angry, and that anger transcribes into fear for Gotham’s underworld. Many of the fight scenes in the film leave crooks with broken noses or visible injuries caused by his vengeful tirade as he struggles to come to terms with what it means to be a vigilante. So when an ideological threat comes in the form of the Riddler, who also wishes to change Gotham, it makes sense that Batman would be the one to step up to the task.
The way that the narrative unfolds is more reminiscent of crime thrillers such as David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac as opposed to anything in recent comic book movie memory. Sometimes the homage is obvious: when we inevitably see Riddler’s apartment, it’s hard not to see the parallels between it and John Doe’s. Yet these moments do feel like loving homage from Reeves as opposed to thievery, filling the gaps with previous cinematic language. Another element from those films and seminal comics like The Long Halloween is Batman actually doing investigative work, another element sorely missing from many of his other live-action outings. He steps onto crime scenes, takes photos, reads dusty files from a cabinet, using his brain to figure out the mystery in a way that feels authentic. He’s known as the World’s Greatest Detective for a reason, and this film affirms such a fact with a Batman as intelligent as he is ruthless.
Many other characters also supplement the intricate web of mysteries and riddles with magnetic screen presence. Whoever decided Jeffery Wright should be cast as Jim Gordon is a goddamn hero. Wright’s rough voice suggests the man has seen it all without ever settling on being a true cynic, choosing to fight for what is right in increasingly dire circumstances. Zoë Kravitz plays an exceptional Catwoman counter to Pattinson’s Batman, effortlessly balancing sex appeal and capability that makes her the strongest live-action version of the character to date. Yes, on a technical level she is Batman’s “love interest” in the film, but their relationship is so much more complicated than that. She has her own motivations for what she does that feel separate from Batman. She isn’t just a part of his story, but the main player in her own.
Paul Dano also plays a very intimidating Riddler, breathing loudly through his leather mask and amping up the intimidation on his killing livestreams. The Fincher homage is also present in Riddler’s get-up, very reminiscent of what the killer wore in 2007’s Zodiac, but again done so in a way that doesn’t feel like stealing, but tribute. I’d be foolish not to mention Colin Farrell’s brief but show-stealing Penguin, who you might not even recognise under layers of makeup and a thick Italian-American accent. Yet his brief appearances are a bright spot of the film as Farrell gives one-hundred and fifty percent into playing the Penguin as a slimy mob underling to the people that run the show. All of these players in the story (and many more) make The Batman an engaging puzzle that stays fresh so that the audience is kept on their toes across its runtime.
Yet the narrative and characterisation would not solely make The Batman the great film that it is. Another important element is Reeves’ filmmaking that gives the city of Gotham its own identity, and makes the actions that take place in it meaningful. Despite being shot across a variety of locations in the UK, Chicago, and soundstages of city blocks, Reeves and co. are able to create a Gotham with a distinct identity. Although the architecture itself is equal parts urban and gothic, it still kind of looks awful to live in, which is precisely what I want out of Gotham City aesthetically! This identity is further carved out by incredible cinematography from the recently Oscar-nominated Greg Fraiser and an amazing soundtrack from Michael Giacchino (with some help from Nirvana). The world of The Batman is always underset by a certain darkness that never interferes with astounding clarity. Only a handful of sequences in the film take place in the day, and despite that Reeves and Fraiser manage to make the film not only look terrific but always visually communicable.
The direction in the film is even stronger when it comes to the action scenes in The Batman. In scenes where our protagonist fights hand-to-hand, the combat is impossibly comprehensible in its execution as the camera maintains a clear view of the action. One of the best action scenes is a brief sequence in which all the lights shut down and Batman takes on about 5 or 6 guys in a hallway, all with rifles. Rather than shine a torch on the room, Reeves and his team make a much more creative choice: have Batman’s actions illuminated only by the gunfire of the rifles in real-time. What results is a zoetrope-like scene where we only see Batman moving through the space every other frame or so as he absolutely tears through the room on the way to his goal.
Although the hand-to-hand scenes are phenomenal, the best action scene comes in the film’s sole Batmobile sequence chasing the Penguin. It would’ve been very easy to have many scenes with the iconic car, but its brief appearance packs an incredible punch thanks to that sparsity. The engine kicks in, itself sounding almost like a screeching bat as the nitro at the back flares. Both the cars take off onto the freeway and a scene that was surely impossible to film takes place. It’s dark, rainy and most of the cameras are mounted either in or on the outside of the cars as part of the chase. There are shots of both the Batmobile and the vehicle it’s in pursuit of from the outside, but it’s a relatively intimate car chase in the sense that you feel the intensity in both Penguin and Batman while the chase is going on. Such vehicular frenzy in popular film hasn’t been felt since 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, the two cars weaving in and out of trucks and cars in an exhilarating sequence.
And then, in maybe the coolest moment in the film, the Batmobile is born from an exploding cloud, speeding up to crash the Penguin’s car. What’s so good about this scene is that a good chunk of it is done practically (including the Batmobile flying through the explosion!), and the emphasis on the tangibility of the action adds to the film’s emphasis on realism and location. CGI is used as a sparing supplement to real sets and action, a genuinely cleansing feeling compared to much of the computer-generated visual noise that comic-book action scenes have been in the last decade.
The gripes I have with the film are relatively sparse, but most are in regards to how the film wrapped up. Riddler’s plan does become a little bit unclear in what he really hopes to achieve, especially when he seems to voluntarily let himself be taken in by the police as shown in the trailer. There’s a very clear trajectory to his plan that I feel is somewhat undercut by the final actions he takes as part of said plan. Andy Serkis’ Alfred, whom I really enjoyed seeing, was not really in the film a whole lot sadly. A bit more depth to the dynamic between Alfred and Bruce would not have been uncalled for, but given that the film was already three hours I understand the necessity to not elaborate on it so much. And perhaps the film’s biggest flaw is that a scene in its last ten minutes reminds you that The Batman intends to start a franchise. It feels like a post-credit scene that they were too scared to make post-credits, and it feels incredibly hackneyed into a film that is otherwise terrifically self-contained. It sets up so obviously for future sequels somewhat cynically in a film that otherwise is a breath of much-needed fresh air for comic book films.
Yet what really elevates The Batman past these flaws for me is just how fundamentally it understands its titular character. I’ve harped a bit on some of the previous iterations of Batman for their lacking qualities in this review, even when their films have been good or great otherwise. But I have to say, Pattinson’s Batman is thus far the definitive live-action version of the character with very little contest. The character was treated with a refreshing amount of subtlety, with Pattinson able to communicate without speaking in many of the film’s best moments.
It was of course incredibly cathartic for me to see a live-action Dark Knight who actively went out of the way to preserve life even when it seems irrational, and to see a Caped Crusader who actively despises guns and tries to impart his feelings of morality onto others. But most importantly this is a Batman who, by the end of the film, learns that he must become more than vengeance and provide hope to those in need, making this maybe the only live-action Batman film where the titular character actually gets an arc. That is what I love about the character — his ability to genuinely grow with each new experience. In that sense, it’s hard for me to deny I got pretty much exactly what I wanted out of The Batman.
Rating this is a bit tricky for me. I’m not even 100% sure if I agree with my rating, and I think maybe my feeling could wane (Wayne? I’ll see myself out) a bit over time. But I’m simply unable to deny the euphoria I’m feeling from seeing not only the best live-action Batman film but one of the best comic-book movies of recent memory. It feels disrespectful to even call it a ‘comic-book film’! So even though it is obviously based on an existing property, I hope that The Batman proves that we can expect more out of our popular cinema.
And so in my state of euphoric (and hopefully well-placed) optimism, I ought to give The Batman…
9/10
The Batman is in theatres now.
