Alfred Pennyworth: "If this continues, it won't be long before you've nothing left."
Bruce Wayne: "I don't care what happens to me."
Overview
The darkness beckons petty criminals of Gotham City just as the darkness beckons the Batman. "We have a signal now. For when I’m needed. But when that light hits the sky... it’s not just a call. It’s a warning. To them. Fear... is a tool. They think I’m hiding in the shadows. Watching. Waiting to strike... but I am the shadows." he says in a typical noir voice over. An apathetic, cruel and hopeless vigilante whose rope has been cut short after two years of looking over Gotham. He's not in the shadows. He's above. Choosing which crime to stop. "It’s a big city. I can’t be everywhere. But they don’t know where I am." he says in that same opening monologue. He realises Gotham cannot have saviours because Gotham is irredeemable, Gotham is beyond help. Gotham is the sin and the criminal that our Dark Knight intends to rid the city of. Gotham is the corrupt, it is the evil, it is the sadist and thus harbours the worst of the worst and this is a losing trait of any civilised city... but we know just as well as Batman knows... this is not a civilised city. It is Gotham City.
Robert Pattison's Batman enters the film heartless and without emotion. He is tired of the system, tired of the procedures and tired of the rules. Each of these three established orders fail to stamp justice on the foreheads of the criminal. He's sick of his broken city that's been torn down by the sins of civilians and officials alike. Sick of the corruption, sick of the endless nights of showering rain that drench the helpless and mask the activities of the nefarious. The crazy and the wicked roam the night streets as though the law is on their side, and most of the time, it is. Because they are the law. "He moonlights as a cop." Batman clarifies to Gordon who finds out a cop that they're observing from afar moonlights for the Penguin. The Batman is desensitised to the human aspect of criminals, his patience has been defeated. He doesn't see a person behind the eyes that eagerly glare at him as he steps out of the shadows and motionlessly stares down the offenders as a promise. A promise that if they don't walk away, they will wish he had scrubbed their speck of dust of a life from the dirty curb instead of leaving them gasping for air on the ground alone with the strong winds howling at them. It's no good anyway, it always ends in a fight and the vigilante always wins, "I'm vengeance." he states to a beaten down thug that asked who the hell he's supposed to be.
The fact is that Pattison's Batman is darker, rougher and more on edge than previous portrayals. The same goes for the film as a whole. Director and co-writer Matt Reeves set out to display a unique take on the famous DC hero. Similar to Todd Phillips' 2019 masterpiece portrait JOKER; THE BATMAN takes its time to paint Batman and his relationship with Gotham City. While JOKER is an origin story and THE BATMAN is set two years into Batman's story, both are separate from the DCEU, and as a result, Warner Bros. give filmmakers more freedom to create a passion project.
Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN is a crime drama under the 15 certificate in the UK while in the US, it remains PG-13 whilst pushing that rating's limits. It follows Batman as the World's Greatest Detective investigating a series of torture-murders where high profile political figures in Gotham are the prey. Ciphers are left at the crime scenes in evelopes addressed to "The Batman". Together, Lieutenant James Gordon and Batman follow the trails of corpses and learn of each victim's secret life and why they've been sent to hell before their time. However, every scene they attend, Batman and Gordon are always a step behind the sadistic serial killer. It doesn't help that the cops and officials of Gotham cannot be trusted, leaving the two scrambling for the identity of a witness in a case from more than 10 years ago, who seems key to the killings. Time is running out; the eve of a mayoral election is upon Gotham and if we know anything about this poisonous city, then something's going to go down if Batman doesn't solve the case.
Batman's investigation leads him down the moody alleyways of Gotham's criminal underworld where he comes face to face with The Penguin, Carmine Falcone and Catwoman who's on the search for a missing friend she suspects has been silenced. Everything seems to lead back to the killings and the witness.
Throughout the film, Bruce Wayne learns more about his parents, his father's legacy and himself as he's bound to unearth truths about his family to crack the case of the killings and discover who might be next. He may not like what he finds out, but it is the cost of being a hero - a saviour - it's the cost of being The Batman. He must endure and sacrifice in order to protect Gotham. He realises what it means to be The Batman, he learns how to empathise again with the people of the city he loves. He understands who he is, what he must be and what his impact has put Gotham through. His evolution comes at just the right time as he is the only person that can save citizens of Gotham from the crushing and certain doom the sadistic serial killer, The Riddler, has put into motion on election night.
Bruce Wayne comes to understand how to be what he has to be. He's no longer vengeance instilling fear into criminals; he is now a guide. A guide for the people who need one. They may not want it to be him but they will be grateful that it was him. He's no longer a vigilante burdened by the weight on his shoulders; he is now The Batman.
"The city is angry, scarred... like me."
"Vengence won't change the past. Mine or anyone else's. People need hope."
Matt Reeves creates a Fincher-esque detective noir akin to Zodiac and Se7en. For a Batman film, it's just as dark as the Caped Crusader and the villains he encounters, are supposed to be. Grounded in reality, grounded in realism, grounded by the logic that there's a universe out there where everything is as it is in ours, but in that one - Batman exists. Matt Reeves achieves the look for of the film by running the final digital image through film stock then scanning it back into digital. This softens the overall picture and finesses the film grain and this accomplishes a look of an emulsion film. Interpositive film was used in the process as well. To finalise the master's work, a bleach bypass is expertly applied. This bleach bypass effect is also effectively accomplished in Se7en. The final cut of The Batman shows off a 70s noir atmosphere thanks to these techniques used by Matt Reeves and Director of Photography, Greg Fraser.
As good as the film is, there's a negative my mind keeps thinking about and that is the fact The Batman is made to push the limits of PG-13 in order to keep it PG-13. However, for reasons of the BBFC (that you can read here), it is rated 15. Yet, it doesn't feel like a full-on 15. It is held back by the intention of keeping it PG-13 in the US. Whilst watching the film in IMAX, I kept lamenting that it could've done with a gear more. It's like a switch where they can simply flip it and The Batman owns the 15 certification instead of the certification owning it. It isn't a big negative, nor is it an issue most people would think about or care about, maybe most may not even notice it. For me, personally, it subtracts from the film as I see a potential that has been left unreached on purpose.
Music
Michael Giacchino leads the audience with another grand score. His title score touches on Bruce Wayne's state of mind flawlessly. Combining a haunting thump with an air of freedom, telling the tale of Bruce from start to finish - he is vengeance haunting the criminals of Gotham City and over the course of the 2 hour 55 minute picture (including credits and one short post-credit clip), Bruce Wayne is freed from the dread of existing in Gotham, he is reborn as the saviour he wanted and intended to be. He is free from the burden that not even Batman can help the city. The full soundtrack is available on YouTube. Giacchino has composed for a lot of great films, including all three MCU Spider-Mans but I feel that his work on The Batman is by far the more impactful and memorable. We'll see what he brings to Thor: Love and Thunder.
Actors
Zoë Kravitz plays Selina Kyle/Catwoman in a different way than I've seen before keeping a little familiarity there for the audience to connect with. It might be an unpopular opinion, and that's fine because I don't base my opinions on what the trend or popular thing to say or think is but I digress. I've never liked Selina Kyle as a character, I don't really care for her. However, my opinion is based on film and TV depictions - I have no experience of her from comic books. Though we should be having two opinions - one from the source material and one from what we get from adaptations. I don't like the adaptations but I may like the comic book version.
Colin Farrell is unrecogniseable as the Penguin - a phrase uttered by possibly every publication out there. It has become sort of a buzz phrase. I disagree with this being a remarkable thing. An actor's job is to become a different person. To become a character. Turning this into a marketable asset proves actors have an ego they need fed; needing to be recognised and seen all the time.Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin invents an entirely realistic human being that does not exist, without any form of CGI. Isn't this their job? I'm sure Colin thinks of it that way. They are paid a lot of money to be somebody they are not, to look like the character they are playing. Go ahead, invent a person for a role. Film is the business for imagination already, so imagine. That being said, the buzz phrase should be: "Colin Farrell plays a crime boss as opposed to an over-the-top weirdo." Penguin, I'm sure, is a weirdo in the comics. I haven't read any of his stories. However, in a grounded take of Gotham City and the stories within it, a realistic crime boss is what he needed to be and that is what he is. Colin played a big part in that. It's too bad Warner Bros didn't allow Colin to complete the look of Oswald with a cigar, even an unlit one, no matter how hard he fought for it.
Paul Dano as The Riddler was a creepy and refreshing piece of work. I love how natural it seemed. He plays The Riddler in a way I haven't seen before - again, I have not read any comics of him. I haven't read many DC comics to begin with. It was just a nice, charasmatic experience like The Riddler should be. He is usally likeable and charming. But in THE BATMAN... he's the exact opposite. He's not likeable or charming, but he retains the energy. He's strange and it's not clear what he's thinking or planning. It's good to not have predictability especially when you're portraying The Riddler - this applies to the writers too. It's a good job they all did. It could've been easy to take that character the wrong way but luckily, the individuals responsible are smart.
John Turturro's Carmine Falcone is more simple than the others on this list so far, I don't have much of an opinion. That's generally a good thing. He feels normal, he feels perfectly human. Someone you can relate with and understand.
Jeffrey Wright is a James Gordon I would love to see more of in any form. I love Wright as an actor. Anything of his that I watch, I find his characters to be highly engaging and interesting. Very approachable and friendly, regardless of character's intentions. He brings depth and a likeability to anybody he portrays. His James Gordon may be my favourite Gordon. His connection with Batman is richer than any previous portrayals. It feels like they are trusted friends, Batman isn't a "Do the dirty work" relationship. It's a "What do you think?" relationship. As though they were partners at GCPD.
Andy Serkis as Alfred doesn't have a lot of screen time but the screen time he does get is used wisely. He does an excellent job. It's quality over quantity.
Robert Pattison as Batman and Bruce Wayne is different to any other. Pattison isn't trying to draw inspiration from previous portrayals. He's simply putting on the suit and cowl, then going out and playing Batman. Once he was given the job, he descended into heavy research with Batman comics.
"I’m glad I’ve had quite a lot of time [ahead of filming],” he said. “I didn’t realize there were so many Batman comics. Hundreds and thousands. But I’ve been reading a lot of those, and not really just the kind of classics. I just like reading the sort of individual periodicals. It’s nice to kind of see the absolutely contemporary ones"
Conclusion
To conclude this review, I will touch on an important negative: the film was made to kickstart a series. It is dictated to by the fact that sequels are coming. In fact, it was said by a producer before the official release date that there will be a sequel. I'm not okay with this sort of mentality. I'm not celebrating a "let's make a sequel for everything because it's so popular". Did Se7en get a sequel? Did L.A. Confidential get a sequel? Did Fight Club get a sequel? Did Memento get a sequel? Did Pulp Fiction get a sequel? Did The Hateful Eight get a sequel? No. So why is it a trend to make a film knowing there's going to be sequels? Money. If you want to make a great film, then let it be great by putting everything into it and releasing your foot entirely after it's out. If you go into making a film to set up a sequel, then it is 100% going to take away a lot. It's going to limit you. It's going to hold you back. I felt this was held back and I thought the prison scene with Riddler and the Unseen Arkham Prisoner was unnecessary and to be honest, I thought it was stupid. I can't wait for this trend to end - not specifically making sequels, but certainly the trend of going into a film with a job of setting up a sequel and potentially more sequels. I understand why it's important for the MCU and DCEU, but The Batman is separate to the DCEU and it could've been its own single film. The Joker is the same but I never felt that film suffered the same way as The Batman. We all know that Warner Brothers are a problem, and I'm not going to stop calling them out. Hollywood in general are a problem. Marvel Studios are lucky Disney haven't stepped on their neck, it's a shame people now just accept Warner Bros. stomping on DC's neck until it's dead.
I've preordered the 4K blu-ray. It became available the same day of release.
Batman: "Our scars can destroy us, even after the physical wounds have healed. But if we survive them, they can transform us. They can give us the power to endure, and the strength to fight."
Rating
8/10Dark Mosa