'The Batman': This Is The One

Alright I've sat on this movie for a couple of days and finally collected my thoughts.

This really took me by surprise. I think this might be my new definitive Batman movie. If I were to try and sum this up as succinctly as possible; Imagine if one of the Arkham games was a little more grounded and made into a live action origin movie for Batman.

When I plopped myself down in the theater to watch 'The Batman', I assumed I was in for a Snyder-style, edgy Batman ride full of grim dark nonsense, where Batman is a borderline psychopath and barely resembles his comic book counterpart. What I got instead was essentially Bruce Wayne's coming of age story, an origin that takes him from a violent vigilante to an actual hero, and thank goodness.

I've been pretty exhausted the past few years by people saying that Snyder's Batman, played by Ben Affleck, is "the most comic accurate version we've seen on screen". Yes, people actually say that, I have to assume because he LOOKS like the character. I don't know about my fellow comic book fans, but a Batman that uses guns, kills people, makes rash decisions, and doesn't plan things out beyond "shoot the other guy a lot when he tries to talk to me" is not the version of Batman that I remember from the comics. I may have liked Snyder's 'Justice League', but this just wasn't my Batman.

With older versions being entertaining (in...various ways) but not aging all that well into the modern movie era, the Dark Knight trilogy is really all I've had as a massive Batman fan and a die-hard movie fan, and even then I only really like two of those movies (we don't have the time to talk about how overwhelmingly OK 'The Dark Knight Rises' is right this second but, we might get to it at a later date. 'Begins' and 'Knight' are certified classics). There have been great animated movies, a few really solid video games, and...well, 'Gotham', we don't have to talk about that, but live action Batman has been mostly defined by the Nolan trilogy. Suffice to say, I've been waiting for something that I consider a definitive Batman-universe film.

Enter Matt Reeve's 'The Batman'. A dark, gritty noir film that pits a younger, fresher Batman up against a serial killer who truly tests his wit, but even more so his resolve.

This movie starts off by letting us know that Batman has already been active for two years at this point (smartly forgoing the origin story that we've seen a dozen times), and he's concerned he's not making any real change. Bruce is a hardened, angry, reserved man who's clearly still processing the trauma of losing his parents, and those feelings manifest in his violent vigilantism, which turns out to be a double edged sword; criminals are afraid of him, yes, but so are the people of Gotham, and his violence begins to inspire people in ways he couldn't have expected, ways that clearly shake him and make him question his methods. A new killer on the scene forces Bruce to confront the way he does things, his memories of his past, and the way Gotham perceives him so that he can become a real hero.

From the opening shot of this movie, I could tell: This was going to be good. It's a hard thing to describe, but the opening scene is so carefully crafted and terrifying, I was hooked right from the get go. As a matter of fact, just about every shot of this movie looks pretty damn good. Not just the cinematography, but the visual style. Gotham looks so very...Gotham; it's seedy, it's shitty, it's crime ridden, just how I like it. I love that we almost never see the city during the day.

One of the biggest compliments I think I can give this movie is that while it is grim and gritty and grounded, it's not bleak. It's not hopeless. The movie has plenty of moments of levity, and the soundtrack soars triumphantly at times. I remember watching 'Batman V. Superman', specifically the scene where Batman engages in a car chase with some of Lex Luthor's thugs, and thinking "this feels so chaotic and angry and wrong". I never experienced that during this film. Batman is a tragic character, and his villains are as well, but Reeves seems to understand that this doesn't mean the movie has to be depressing. Batman is still a hero.

Alright that's enough general complimenting, let's get into some of the more specific stuff.

For starters, the actors are all doing an excellent job. Pattinson is, without a doubt in my mind, my favorite on-screen Batman. The subtle nuances that he brings to Bruce are something that I was sorely missing in previous films. When he puts on the cowl, he doesn't just start talking differently, he's a completely different person; in his normal life he's quiet and reserved, he barely speaks, but once he's donned the armor, he comes to life. He's more emotive, he speaks more plainly, he even allows a bit of humor to slip through. Batman movies before have explored the idea of Batman being Bruce's true self, but this movie realizes that dichotomy better than any others before it.

While Pattinson's subtleties and body language carry a lot of the performance, the other actors certainly aren't phoning it in. I'm not sure Zoe Kravits' Selina Kyle has replaced Michelle Pfeifer in my heart, but it's a pretty damn close call, she's excellent in the role. Paul Dano is terrifying, I mean just plain unsettling as the Riddler, Jeffery Wright is hands down the best on-screen Jim Gordon (sorry Gary Oldman, you're still great), and Collin Farrell is a riot as the Penguin (seriously, I cannot wait to see more of this character).

One problem that previous Batman films shared was their action sequences. Older movies are slower, slightly plodding affairs as actors struggled to look like they could fight while wearing the giant rubber suit, and the Nolan trilogy clearly had competent fight coordinators but Nolan himself has never really excelled at filming fight scenes, so a lot of the time the action in his trilogy is a bit of a blur. This movie finally solves this problem by allowing the camera to shoot wide and stay relatively still long enough for us to get the full picture, with the result being that this Batman actually feels like he can fight. Not just fight, but really take people down. Batman does not go easy on criminals who pick fights with him in this movie.

A thing that's always bugged me in action films is when people have guns but they aren't using them, they just run at our main characters with their guns up so the character can do some cool Kung-Fu on them without getting shot. Reeves forgoes this silly cliché by making the Batsuit hilariously bullet proof (this is a comic book movie after all). Batman takes a lot of hits, and the movie makes sure to let us know that even though the bullet didn't penetrate the suit, he's not exactly brushing them off. The action shows us a much younger, less refined, angrier Batman, who gets hit hard and then hits back harder, to the point where he can barely stand, and I really dig it. Pattinson brings a lot of ferocity to the physical aspects of the character.

A lot of credit also has to go to the artists who designed the looks for all of Batman's new tech. Everything he has looks like it was handmade, it's very utilitarian, every piece of his costume or car serves a purpose. I love that the Batmobile is back to a leaner car, but still feels like a tank when it moves. I love that the Batsuit is covered in gadgets, and that the cape reverses into a wingsuit instead of simply using the cape to fly (and I love that Bruce has a moment of hesitation before jumping off of a tall building). The gadgets that he uses in his detective work are a nice touch as well, with some very neat tech allowing him to examine crime scenes. All of this clearly homemade stuff screams wealthy vigilante and it's just really neat, I can't wait to see how this develops over time.

Without getting into any serious spoilers, I really love the way this movie handles the Riddler, and how he feels about Batman. Other stories have toyed with the Riddler seeing Batman as his intellectual equal, but this movie takes it a step further; Riddler see's Batman as a shining example of someone willing to do whatever it takes to make change, and that he too can make change through "fear and directed violence". It's an excellent commentary on the relationship between Batman and his villains. The Riddler isn't just played as a random psychopath who likes riddles, he's someone who's clearly in need of help that he never received, and now we're seeing him go off the deep end. He emulates Batman for the wrong reasons, something that shocks Bruce to his core. It's a very clever way to get Batman to second-guess his approach to fighting crime.

If I had to knock this movie for anything I suppose it would be the runtime, as it clocks in just under three hours, but honestly the pacing was so incredibly well done that I never even noticed. It doesn't feel like a three hour movie. Aside from that there really isn't a lot to criticize here. Are there things I'd like to see more of in subsequent films? Things I'd like to see done a little differently? For sure. I want to see Bruce evolve outside of just being Batman, I want to see even more villains and learn about what effects the ending of this movie will have on Gotham as a whole. But, knowing this is going to evolve into at least two other films, I suppose I'll have to wait and see how things play out before I judge.

This review has gone on a bit longer than I expected at this point. I'm a bit surprised myself just how much I'm gushing about this film, but it's just a very, very good Batman movie, and with all the Batman-related content of the past 5-6 years just not doing it for me, this was very refreshing. I think it might be my favorite Batman movie. Excellent acting, thrilling action, gripping detective stuff, and phenomenal world-building make this the most exciting Batman related anything I've seen since 'The Dark Knight' (sorry, I just didn't like 'Joker' all that much). The potential for this series, right now, is insane, and I cannot wait to see how it evolves.

4.5/5, really great stuff.