The Batman Review

 

Matt Reeves delivers a captivating, poignant, and inspirational detective thriller in the vein of classics such as Chinatown (1974), Seven (1995), and NCIS (2003-present) with the Warner Brothers major motion picture The Batman. Starring Robert Pattinson, 35 as the world’s greatest detective the film picks up nearly two years after the debut of Batman in Gotham City and on the 20th anniversary of the death of the Waynes. The plot finds Batman hunting down a dangerous serial killer named “The Riddler” as he targets a number of high-profile public figures leading to Batman uncovering the truth about a deep level of corruption that exists in Gotham as he wrestles with his own past. What separates The Batman from tragic film noirs like Chinatown and Seven though is the inspirational message of hope and redemption that director Matt Reeves expertly relays as he takes the audience on a deep psychological and emotional journey through the lens of the film’s protagonist Bruce Wayne. 

 

 

Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne/Batman: Michael Keaton Meets Christian Bale 

 

  

Multiple iterations of Batman have existed throughout his nearly 83-year history dating back to his debut in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. Batman himself was inspired by iconic characters such as Zorro & Sherlock Holmes so it is only fitting that The Batman harkens back to the character’s roots in this newest iteration of the character onscreen telling a first-rate murder mystery filled with film noir tropes. As for where this version of the character bears similarities to previous incarnations onscreen Robert Pattinson’s social recluse Bruce Wayne evokes Christian Bale’s desperate and spirited 24-year-old Bruce Wayne in the flashbacks of Batman Begins (2005) wherein Wayne returned from his studies at Princeton to Gotham to confront his parent’s killers Joe Chill and the city’s crime boss Carmine Falcone. And as Reeves told Empire the inspiration to go for this kind of Bruce Wayne came to him as he was listening to Nirvana music as he writing the first act of the film:

“That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse. So I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant's Last Days and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor.”

 

 

So the idea is that Pattinson’s Batman who is only in Year 2 of being Batman is not yet fully-formed and still learning to become Batman throughout the film. Other iterations of the character that Reeves clearly drew from include the dark and gritty detective-themed Neal Adams 70s Batman comics, the 90s-era Batman: The Animated Series, and the original Batman (1989) starring Michael Keaton with the idea of a socially awkward Bruce Wayne being transferred over to Pattinson’s Batman persona. The whole idea that this Batman lacks basic social skills is apparent in scenes such as one where Bruce attends a funeral and fails to respond to a GCPD cop who recognizes him in a fun comedic moment or scenes with Batman & Catwoman entangled in romantic and often... again awkward situations. All this firmly establishes that this Bruce Wayne is a true social outcast or alien to the society that he inhabits as he is driven by his obsessed behavior in punishing the criminals of Gotham for their wicked antics being a symbol of vengeance to them. This is all artfully depicted in the opening fight sequence of The Batman as following an opening internal soliloquy The Batman proceeds to strike fear into the hearts of Gotham’s criminals as they look up at the sky and gaze upon the Bat-Signal which as he says “it's not just a call. It's a warning.”. It's electrifying to see the scumbags of Gotham turn from the Bat-Signal to the shadows petrified in fear knowing he might be there… waiting for them. And it doesn’t hurt that Michael Giaacancho’s (Star Trek ‘09, Planet of the Apes) score perfectly orchestrated this tone with every pulse-pounding beat it hums. The Batman’s close quarters brutal and visceral fighting style is reminiscent of that of Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher and Jim Cavezil’s Mr. Reese in the Jonathan Nolan-produced crime-thriller series Person of Interest (2011-2016) in which Caviezel essentially played Batman in a suit on network TV. Pattinson himself even resembles a young Caviezel in the science-fiction murder mystery thriller Frequency (1999) and even his low-raspy Batman voice is remarkably similar to that of Cavezil’s steely but soft-spoken tone of voice. In any case, The Batman isn’t lacking in any way in its rich sources of inspiration that extend well past previous iterations of the character to classic 70s thrillers like All The President's Men (1976), The Godfather (1972), and many more. 

 

 

Seven and 24 Vibes

 

    What is phenomenal is that the rich sources of inspiration that Reeves draws from allows for and creates a very layered and thematically deep tone and atmosphere that fits the suspenseful detective thriller genre that Reeves is going for here. The 90s thriller Seven is often drenched in rain-soaked scenes and that is for sure the case here and perhaps 90 percent of the film is set at night in darkly-lit environments which creates the feeling that this is a Batman story where he is hunting after dangerous and sadistic criminals in the middle of the night as if this were an arc of 24 episodes with Batman in the role of Jack Bauer facing incredibly tension-filled and nerve-wracking obstacles with extremely high stakes against formidable adversaries when any sane person would be in bed at that hour. This scary tone was purposefully the intent of Reeves as he is quoted telling Total Film:

“This movie, I think, is probably the scariest Batman that’s been done. Because the idea of what Batman’s doing – it’s scary. Never been done in quite this way. It’s a detective story, it’s an action movie, and it’s a psychological thriller.”

 

 

The Cast & Characters 

Robert Pattinson 

Reeves’s script is a triumph of the genre but there is no doubt that the performances by the actors only enhance the material even further, bringing to life the story in such a rich and nuanced way. Pattinson’s performance is immersive, to say the least and his character’s pursuit for the truth as he wades his way through all the corruption in Gotham in a very personal POV style harkens back to Jack Nicholson’s performance as Jake Gittes in Chinatown and to Reeves and Pattinson’s desire to bring to screen a version of Batman that was slightly off-kilter and crazed and it pays off perfectly as Pattinson carries himself with such a magnetic and entrancing performance. 

 

 

Zoe Kravitz 

 

Adding to the mix is Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle who is in the early days of her evolution into the famed heroine known as Catwoman. Played with a great sense of vulnerability, capableness, and charisma Kravitz is a standout in this picture as she and Pattinson have a great unique sense of chemistry that jumps right off the screen. And beyond the fantastic romantic elements that intertwine themes of loneliness and attraction between the Bat & the Cat Selina plays a quite substantial role in the narrative aiding and sometimes conflicting with Batman’s investigation into the murders of the city’s elite. A narrative that brings together a trio rounded out by Jeffrey Wright’s Lieutenant James Gordon. 

Jeffrey Wright

 

Wright, well-known for his roles in Hunger Games, James Bond, and just in general his very distinctive voice amazingly portrays Jim Gordon as a hopeful and incorruptible force of nature in a town that seems to thrive on corruption. The dynamic between Batman & Gordon plays out very much like a partnership in the movie with Gordon serving as Batman’s Watson or as the Morgan Freeman character opposite Brad Pitt’s character in Seven. It's that energetic and dynamic. And humor plays a big part here as well as in a movie as severely dark as this Reeves manages to find a way to bring levity to the table in smaller quieter moments played excellently by the entire cast, especially between the unstoppable and unflappable crime-duo force of Batman & Gordon realized by Pattinson & Wright. The rest of the cast also does a remarkable job bringing to life their characters with each character getting a chance to shine throughout the film. 

Paul Dano

Paul Dano who plays The Riddler does a superb job of portraying a sadistic serial killer both behind the mask and unmasked with a unique sense of eccentricity that doesn’t fall into the trappings of the campy performance of Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (1995) or Jesse Eisenberg in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). 

Colin Farrell 

 

Much has been made of Colin Farrell performance as Oz/The Penguin and for good reason, as he is virtually unrecognizable in the role and plays it with such dimension bringing to us a Penguin who is essentially a big kid with a violent and tormented past that places him in the world of Gotham’s underworld. HBO Max recently announced that they have ordered The Penguin straight to series as a spinoff of The Batman and it will certainly be amusing to see where they take the character moving forward with such a transformational performance by Farrell. 

John Turturro 

 

John Turturro who you might recognize from films like Mr. Deeds (2002) and Transformers (2007) proves himself a true acting chameleon as he channels a sinister and seedy Carmine Falcone with Godfather-esque vibes to him. This is one gangster you don’t want to cross unless that is you are: The Batman. 

Peter Sarsgaard

 

Peter Sarsgaard who you may have seen turn in a villanous performance in Flight Plan (2005) and happens to be the real-life husband of Maggie Gyllenhall (Rachel in The Dark Knight) amusingly adds to the flavor of the corrupt socialite of Gotham’s ranks playing its D.A. who much to Batman's passionate anger and surprise discovers is a regular at Falcone’s mob hangout. The trajectory of his character in his scenes as they unfold makes for some nail-biting and suspenseful powerfully thematic material integral to the DNA of the storyline. 

Gil Perez-Abraham

 

Gil Perez-Abraham plays a cop who initially sees the Batman as a vigilante not to be trusted and evolves on his stance on the vigilante throughout the picture to great comedic and character-development rich results. 

Jayme Lawson

 

Jayme Lawson is a Juilliard graduate that makes great use of her chops onscreen here portraying a mayoral candidate not afraid to fight for justice amidst all the corruption surrounding her even if it means putting her own life on the line. 

Andy Serkis 

 

And last but not least Andy Serkis (Black Panther, Planet of the Apes) is English-royalty perfection as Alfred Pennyworth depicting a version of Alfred that is former M16 and not someone to be underestimated both when it comes to aiding Bruce in his investigations and in being the moral compass and parental figure to Bruce Wayne despite very much not being cut from that cloth at all. The evolution of the relationship between Bruce and Alfred in this film is touching and very indicative of the deeply personal story that Reeves set out to tell here all based around Bruce’s arc in the film. 

 

 

The Theme of Hope & Batman’s Arc 

 

 

The Batman’s arc in this film is a phenomenal and outstanding one that is very much reflective of the theme of the film itself. In Nolan’s movies, we see Bruce evolve from a vigilante into a hero but here Reeves really grounds the story in deep personal emotion for Bruce as he emphasizes the trauma that this broken character is going through and how it has driven him to become a symbol of vengeance to the criminals of Gotham at the beginning of the movie. However, what Reeves and furthermore Pattinson conveys so well throughout the progression of the story is how Batman evolves and changes as a reaction to the serial killer he is hunting and by the end of the film, he realizes he needs to become more than just a symbol of vengeance but also a symbol of hope to the people of Gotham. This is so beautifully illustrated in the climax of the film when after Batman pulverizes one of the Riddler’s followers he throws Batman’s “I’m vengeance” line in his face he realizes how his one-man war of vengeance which has done a lot of good in Gotham has also inspired negative side effects he makes a decision to not let his anger consume him and become more than that creature of vengeance as he heroically sets out to save a group of citizens caught in flood debris. And later on, when Batman helps a woman into a helo she puts her arm on his shoulder denoting that she sees Batman as a symbol of hope, not fear. Matt Reeves had the following to say about the arc he was going for and the film’s thematic message:

“When I was looking at the comics and “Batman: The Animated Series,” Kevin Conroy’s speech about “I am vengeance. I am the night,” something about that really connected to me. He’s doing this to get back at what happened to him, so he’s striking out. That is a form of vengeance, but that vengeance is not enough. He has to become more, and that’s the message of the whole movie. I want him to go from somebody who is projecting vengeance to somebody who’s letting people know that somewhere in all of this darkness, there’s hope. That was his arc.”

“We have left the world in a very particular place at the end of the story. Corruption has had such a stranglehold in Gotham for so long. The events of the film would create the first glimmer of hope that the city has had in 20 years at least, but also smash the power vacuum apart. It would mean it’s also one of the scariest moments that the city has experienced in over 20 years. Where the story goes, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about that.”

 

 

What's so inspiring is the message of hope that is delivered here as Batman exposes the corruption in Gotham and provides the first true ray of light in the darkness that has existed in Gotham in the last 20 years. So even in a city as corrupt as Gotham hope is still possible no matter the obstacles and that’s a lesson that can be applied to the real world as well as divided as our society is. 

 

 

The Future of the Reeves Batman Movies / HBO Max Spinoffs 

Reeves has big plans for continuing to tell stories in this Batman world that include at least a trilogy’s worth of films and 2 HBO Max spin-offs including Colin Farell’s The Penguin and an Arkham Asylum TV series. As for where the story goes from here I’m so invested in seeing Bruce Wayne evolve as a character even more beyond this first installment. We saw Bruce as a social recluse / social outcast in this film but it would be exciting to see Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne realize he needs to put on the act of a playboy to avert suspicion by the police and citizens of Gotham to the truth of his dual identity and evolve into that dynamic. Also, Bruce’s house is very socially reclusive feeling and haunted in nature and I think it's important that if Bruce were to start putting on the act of a playboy that he make some modifications to his home to reflect that change in his character. The darkly-lit scenes in The Batman are incredibly well-done but it would be great to see a contrast between the darkness of Gotham and the grandeur of it with Bruce Wayne’s house ideally being the pinnacle of wealth where he can hold lavish parties to support his playboy alter ego facade. 

 

Reeves also directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) in which he excellently took one fantastical element that being the super-intelligent apes in those movies and made everything else around them grounded in an extremely realistic reality that had a real emotional depth to it as well. He did the same here with The Batman as he took one fantastical element that being Batman and made everything else around him in his world flow with such an effortless sense of realism. However, he still found a way to make this Batman exist in the “real world” and yet still be Batman with the fancy gadgets and the action-packed stunts that go with the theatrics of that character. And in keeping with the early-days formation aspect of the character in this first outing, Batman is still learning how to navigate in those fantastical and high-stakes situations such as when he had to escape from GCPD tower by gliding/parachuting and found himself taken aback by his fear of heights and later his failure to properly land said parachute. In any case, there are those fans who want to see this Batman stay in the real world that Reeves established for him here and there are those fans who want to see this Batman go up against enemies like Mr. Freeze and Clayface who operate on the more fantastical side of the spectrum. For Reeves’s part he has expressed his interest in finding the more realistic approach to these more fantastical characters in his storytelling:

"In my view, I just feel drawn to finding the grounded version of everything. So to me it would be a challenge in an interesting way to try and figure out how that could happen, even the idea of something like Mr. Freeze, that such a great story, right? I think there's actually a grounded version of that story, which could be really powerful and could be really great. So, I love the fantastical side of Batman, but this iteration, obviously, while being, to me, I think it is very comics faithful, but I don't think that this one is necessarily, it doesn't lean as hard into the fantastical, I guess. But I think to me what would be interesting would be to try and unwind the fantastical and see, well, how could that make sense here? And so that's kind of my view, how I see it."

 

 

Intermixing the Fantastical With the Realistic 

 

 

In my opinion, I think it would be great to see at least 3 movies by Matt Reeves set in this ultra-realistic tone but then I think it would be fascinating to break away from it and to slowly establish some more fantastical elements but still in a very grounded style like Batman: The Animated Series was able to which was a series that often saw the world’s greatest detective facing off against the mob one week and then fighting a metahuman like Killer Croc or Poison Ivy the following week. A mix of the hyper-realistic and the fantastical could really work in such a phenomenal way that would differentiate it from Nolan’s trilogy which itself was very much set in the “real world” and also from DCEU films which tend to operate on the very fantastical side of the spectrum with some notable exceptions like Man of Steel (2013) which found the grounded Batman Begins-esque take on the Superman character. And it's not like Reeves is totally against the idea of mixing the realistic with the fantastical though as he spoke to the possibility about a character like Superman showing up in his Batman universe potentially one day saying:

 

"You mean if it could? Is that what you're saying? I mean, if something like that did happen, because I was very careful about ... To me, what I try to do is take ... I did this in the Apes films too, and even Cloverfield, this idea of taking the one fantastical element and then have everything around it, so it'll be as grounded as possible, so that it could feel ... I want it to feel emotionally real and to make everything feel very believable. In this movie, even further I think than what I did in those films, I tried to find the practical, believable version. If suddenly in the Batman world, you discovered that there was an alien that was Superman, there'd be a lot of shock. I mean, people would have to say, oh my God, and maybe that would be the one fantastical element.

But to be honest with you, that is not the intention at this point, to figure out how to make that come. Look, we should be so lucky that this is a world that people embrace and that they say, oh my God, we want to see what would happen when those things collide. I think if that challenge ever presents itself, it would be an exciting one to explore, but I'd have to try and do it through this lens. You know what I mean? And that is absolutely right, that at the moment, to me, this world is the place that I want to focus.”

 

 

And further to that point Tom Welling who played Clark Kent in Smallville (2001-2011) spoke to the possibility of reprising his role as the man of steel in an interview as he noted about how it would be cool to play Superman opposite Robert Pattinson’s Batman since he is a friend of his saying:

"Yeah, I think that would be cool," Welling said. "My buddy Rob Pattinson, he is going to be the new Batman. I would love it. It would be fun to be the Superman that shows up in his movie, just because he is a friend of mine. Yeah, who knows?"

 

 

Concluding Thoughts 

 

In conclusion, The Batman is a riveting and sensational addition to the comic-book genre and cinematic landscape overall. Gotham City truly feels like a criminal hotspot in this epic more so than in any Batman movie before it and the cinematography here truly captures both the darkness and beauty of Gotham’s landscape establishing it as one of the truly great iconic American landmarks. Every performance was full of dimension and felt well fleshed out as Reeves excellently establishes the groundwork for a whole universe of stories to be set in Gotham moving forward. The potential for this series of Robert Pattinson-led Batman movies is very high and if Reeves’s track record thus far is any indication then we are in for a brilliant, ambitious, and well-thought saga of Batman movies to come.