Synopsis
When the Riddler, a sadistic serial killer, begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement.
Review
Batman is a pop culture icon that needs no introduction. From comic book connoisseurs to casual fans alike, everyone is aware of who the Dark Knight is. First appearing on our screens in the 1966 television series, starring Adam West and Burt Reynolds as the caped crusader and boy wonder, Batman has since had 13 live action films, 9 of which are standalone titles. There’s also been a plethora of animated features too, featuring the voice work of greats such as Kevin Conroy, Peter Weller, and Mark Hamill.
Better, Slower, Darker
Directed by Matt Reeves, this latest film, The Batman, pays homage to the noir detective thriller genre, taking influence from films such as Se7en and Zodiac. This version of Gotham is aesthetically gothic, even more so than Tim Burton’s 1989 and 1992 adaptions. Bruce Wayne is only into his second year wearing the cape and cowl, his alter ego considered a freak of nature, and still very much a vigilante.
As for Bruce Wayne himself, he’s as much of a myth within the city as the Bat himself. Not yet the billionaire playboy we’ve come to know and love within previous iterations, this Bruce Wayne is a nocturnal animal. He wears shades during the day to retract sunlight and he’s socially awkward in his rare interactions with the public, even with his trusted butler Alfred. This Bruce Wayne is still fueled by anger and vengeance at the death of his parents, not yet a beacon of hope for a city in desperate need of it.
As Batman, he’s still not mastered his suit and we can see how heavy and clunky it is on him while he’s fighting his way through Gotham’s seedy underbelly of street gangs and crooks. He’s not yet invested the money into high tech gadgetry and even keeps a diary titled Project Gotham, in which he jots down his thoughts after a night of fighting crime.
Robert Pattinson (much like Heath Ledger) invoked an outcry of civil unrest when he was announced as Batman, as many only knew him from his Twilight and Harry Potter days. However, for those who followed his career since he returned to screen with lead performances in Good Time, High Life, and The Lighthouse, we knew this was a very different Pattinson, one who was more than capable of taking up the mantle of the Batman.
And we weren’t wrong.
Pattinson is very much emo Bruce Wayne, but he brings to the role a deep vulnerability and raw emotion we’ve not yet seen displayed onscreen. It’s at a completely different end of the spectrum compared to Affleck’s Batman, who was at the other end of that spectrum as an older Bruce Wayne who’d seen it all, within a 20-year career as the caped crusader.
Paul Dano shares the spotlight with Robert Pattinson as the Riddler, but this version of the Riddler is far removed from 1995’s Batman Forever, which saw Jim Carey in skin-tight green latex prancing about the screen.
This Riddler is a dangerous, depraved individual whose sole purpose is to expose the lies and deceit that Gotham City was founded on, which means targeting Bruce Wayne’s mother and father, Thomas and Martha Wayne, and all that they stood for. He goes about this by leaving a cipher for The Batman to figure out along with a series of intricate riddles spelt out through cards left at every crime scene, all of which are directly addressed to the Batman himself.
Matt Reeves’ Vision
As mentioned earlier, this is a much darker take on Batman, and while it’s not the first film featuring the character to be rated 15, it is the first to attract a lot of media attention for its BBFC rating, with one local cinema petitioning for and succeeding at approving a 15a rating for the feature film. Many believed 2008’s The Dark Knight should have been a higher age rating due to the iconic yet disturbing performance by Heath Ledger’s Joker, which saw the late actor winning a posthumous Oscar for best-supporting actor at that year’s Academy Awards.
The Rest of the Cast
Alongside Batman and the Riddler, we’re also introduced to several other key players within the film, including Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman). And while she may have more screen time than Anne Hathaway’s take on the character in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, in my opinion, she still doesn’t contribute much to the film overall, rather appearing to help drive the plot forward at key intervals.
Colin Farrell gives a show-stealing turn as the Penguin, who in this world is still a mid-level player under the thumb of crime boss Carmine Falcone. Jeffrey Wright is a stellar James Gordon, whose relationship with Batman is still in its early stages and at times is questioned.
One particular scene towards the end of the film is what takes this film from a 10 to a 9 for me personally. We’re greeted with Reeves’ version of the Joker (portrayed by Irish actor Barry Keoghan) and for me that’s going to the well one too many times. We’ve seen the Joker too much in the past several years for it to feel exciting and original anymore, regardless of which actor plays him.
We know an R rated Joker works thanks to Joaquin Phoenix’s origin story in 2019, and last year gave us a somewhat redemption performance for Jared Leto’s take on the character in Zack Snyder’s superb Justice League, that we don’t need him right now. There’s a lot of great villains Matt Reeves could do for a sequel that, in such a grounded story, would work perfectly. Imagine if we received Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow from 2005’s Batman Begins in an R rated film. Imagine how terrifying that could be, would be almost like a horror film.
Verdict
We won’t ever see Ben Affleck’s standalone Batman film (which is what this was meant to be before being reworked to remove the DCEU connections). However, Robert Pattinson may be my new favourite live-action Batman in Matt Reeves’ beautifully realised dark and sinister take on Gotham City. It helps that there’s stunning cinematography from Greig Fraser, coupled with a euphoric score from Michael Giacchino. This is the Batman we fans have longed for and have now been blessed with.
Written by James Oliver | BanterFlix Contributor