The Batman Review

Batman is one of the most enduring superheroes, having a legacy of over 80 years. Robert Pattinson is the latest actor to take on the role with Matt Reeves putting his own spin on the franchise.

Bruce Wayne (Pattinson) has been Batman for two years. Gotham is still a crime-infested hellhole and plagued with social and economic issues. Batman also faces a new villain, a serial killer who calls himself The Riddler (Paul Dano). The Riddler has been killing some of Gotham’s most powerful figures. Batman not only has to stop a killer who leaves cryptic clues, he also has to investigate a conspiracy affecting the city.

Batman is arguably the most popular and influential superhero of the past 20 years. Since 2005 the Batman franchise has produced The Dark Knight Trilogy, the Joker spin-off, the Arkham games, and the TV series Gotham, just to name a few. There was a risk of oversaturation because of the high volume of Batman content. So, it is a pleasure to say The Batman was a film that was a unique Batman experience whilst also drawing on aspects of Batman’s past.

The Batman was the darkest film the franchise has ever produced and that’s quite an achievement considering some of the films that have been produced, i.e. Batman Returns, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Batman vs. Superman. Reeves drew from many sources like classic film noir, gritty ‘70s cinema, and the Christopher Nolan series, and put it all through a David Fincher filter. All of this is great stuff and Reeves knew how to use it all.

Reeves has developed a relationship for being one of the best mainstream directors currently working in Hollywood. He made Cloverfield which mixed a monster flick with a found-footage style, a solid remake of Let the Right One In, and most importantly his work on the Planet of the Apes franchise showed he can make acclaimed franchise films. But even with his credentials, Reeves still faced a Titanic task.

Batman has been interpreted in many different ways. There have been light-hearted takes like the ‘60s series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and LEGO Batman, Zack Snyder, and the Arkham Game made Batman into a badass action hero with Snyder turning Batman into a raging psychopath, and Christopher Nolan’s version was a more grounded crime thriller. Reeves went for a moody, psychological thriller. The Batman opens with a villain killing a high-ranking official like he was the Zodiac killer and leaves a cryptic message to Batman.

Reeves made The Batman like it was a David Fincher thriller with Seven and Zodiac being used as influences. He intended the film to be a dark film for adults. The opening kill involved a man getting his head smashed in with a hammer. Because of the level of violence and intensity The Batman earned a 15 rating in the UK. The grim tone made The Dark Knight Trilogy look like Batman & Robin.

The Batman’s emphasis was on detective work. He was given puzzles that he, Alfred (Andy Serkis), and James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) must solve. This was a film that focused on Batman being a detective as he looked for clues to find out who the Riddler’s next victim would be. A large part of the plot was about Batman and his allies uncovering a conspiracy involving a major case that involved a major crime bust many years ago. Reeves wanted to make a dense film that was filled with plot lines like Batman and Gordon undercover the conspiracy and deal with Gotham’s seedy underbelly. However, this storyline involving the investigation into the conspiracy pushed The Riddler out for a long stretch.

This investigation story made The Batman the most Batman-centric film for a long time. Because of Batman’s colourful rogue’s gallery Batman can be overshadowed by villains. A common complaint about films like Batman Returns and The Dark Knight Returns was there wasn’t enough Batman in them. Batman was front and centre in this film. The Riddler only appeared when he killed and through video messages. He remained masked for most of the film, and he was left to be an enigma.

However, Bruce Wayne was a mopey git. Bruce hated his obligations as the billionaire owner of Wayne Enterprises. This was a film that focused on Batman being Bruce’s true identity. Other versions of Bruce Wayne at least had a sense of fun about them, even Christian Bale’s version who acted like a billionaire playboy as a disguise. The filmmakers were going for a character arc where Bruce/Batman must learn he needs to do more than beat up the bad guys.

The Batman does rethread some territory that previous Batman films have covered. The most obvious way was using the Nolan films as a template. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight focused on Batman’s early career and aimed to be a more realistic take on the Caped Crusader. Batman Begins and The Batman were both influenced by Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One because all these stories showed Gotham to be corrupt to its core: gangsters and law enforcement were in tandem and street-level crime was rampant.

The Batman brought back memories of Batman Returns. The Batman and Batman Returns both had Catwoman and The Penguin as major characters and a mayoral election played an important role in their plots. There were even elements of Joker because The Riddler ended up being a symbol of class resistance despite the violent crimes they were committing.

Class and the wealth divide was a major theme in the film. The people The Riddler was targeting were the rich and powerful and there were many disenfranchised people roaming Gotham. Bruce Wayne lives in the ivory tower that overlooks the city and Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) points out it’s easy to have a black-and-white view when someone’s rich. Selina grew up poor and had to face the grim reality of Gotham since she had seen the seedy underbelly since she was a child.

The Batman does repackage many ideas and styles from previous Batman movies and other gritty films, yet Reeves was able to make it seem fresh and inventive. It was an entertaining detective mystery and it stood out amongst the current crop of superhero films.