There is a rot throughout the streets of Gotham City. That rot runs deep, and it seeps through into every shot of Matt Reeves’ moody, sprawling nighttime noir of corruption, murder, greed, sex, lies and legacies. Oh, and Batman is there too.
The Batman is the latest in a long line of interpretations and reimaginings of everyone’s favorite caped crusader, which now (along with many other franchises) feel like they come out with less and less downtime in between. The last time we saw the previous version of the character (played by a very buff and gruff Ben Affleck) was as recently as last year in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and this new film was originally meant to be released as early as last June.
With so much Dark Knight and other superhero content flooding media libraries, it can be easy to dismiss yet another Batman movie as something we’ve seen plenty of times before. The whole vigilante crime fighter bit can often feel monotonous at this point. But Reeves work in the blockbuster space (which includes Cloverfield, Let Me In and the last two Planet of the Apes films) has proven to be rich not merely in spectacle but smart, emotionally-driven story and characters as well. The Batman, his first foray into the multi-billion dollar comic book superhero machine, is no exception. If anything, it’s all the more impressive that the film often manages to break through the crowded and oversaturated superhero field in more ways than one.
What immediately sets Reeves' film apart from the pack is its tremendously thorough look and tone throughout. Alongside production designer James Chinlud (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes, The Avengers) and cinematographer Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Rogue One, Dune), Reeves makes the world of The Batman the most fully realized and stylized since Tim Burton’s run. For the first time in a while, Gotham feels like a character in and of itself, and the film’s dark and grainy aesthetic gives the rundown and trashed streets a proper grimy look. Perpetual rain engulfs the city, with street lights shimmering off puddles like glowing embers. Wayne Manor comes across as a straight up gothic castle.
And that’s just it; The Batman is the definition of darkness, from its look to its content to its haunted characters. What little light that does appear always has clear purpose behind it, with the biggest and most obvious - The Bat Signal, shining high up in the misty night sky - functioning in an appropriately symbolic way more than ever before. As is the usual, Gotham is in dire straits, with the worst of the worst having overtaken almost every filthy corner of the city. Change is desperately needed but hope has to come first. Enter the Batman.
In this film, Bruce Wayne (a quietly phenomenal Robert Pattinson) is still in his early days of taking on the roving criminal gangs of Gotham. The wounds of his childhood losses are still raw, and while the young vigilante certainly understands the shadows more than most, he’s still naive to the truths of just how deep the rot of his city goes. When he’s not out beating unlucky muggers, Bruce stays hidden away at Wayne Manor, going over his nightly escapades, journaling, and listening to moody grunge music. The billionaire playboy side of the character is nonexistent here; on the increasingly rare occasion that Bruce does go out to attend events in his family / company’s name, he hardly attempts to put on any other kind of persona besides his reclusive and glum self.
Pattinson is easily the angstiest version of the iconic character, from the streaked black makeup that covers his sunken face to the icy hostility he gives everyone around him. His only company at home is his butler and mentor Alfred (Andy Serkis), who he pushes away at every turn. At work, Batman has an obviously strained relationship with the Gotham Police Department. His only real ally is James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), the one good cop in a sea of dirty ones, and even then, Gordon is lucky to get more than a couple words out of the masked enigma.
Bruce’s youth in The Batman is one of the film’s biggest advantages. There’s a vulnerability to the character that’s never been there quite as strongly before. The way the camera focuses on his eyes, even when beneath the cowl and caked with heavy makeup, gives Pattinson the ability to deliver tons of subtle emotion without needing to say much at all. In an early scene where he investigates a murder that’s left a little boy without his father, the lingering look he gives the grief-stricken kid says a thousand things at once. Sure, this version of the character may forever be labeled as “Emo Batman”, but it’s undoubtedly one of the more engaging takes we’ve seen. For the first time, it doesn’t seem too far-stretched to believe this damaged young man would dress up in a batsuit on a quest for vengeance.
The film kicks off on an eventful Halloween night that includes the brutal slaying of Gotham’s mayor at the hands of a mysterious killer that calls himself the Riddler (master of creeps Paul Dano). As Batman and Gordon investigate, they’re led down a rabbit hole of corruption that’s seemingly infected the city’s structure from top to bottom. That corruption appears to be exactly what the Riddler wishes to expose, and as he continues wiping out Gotham’s wealthy elite, he begins livestreaming his crimes for his fringe following while continuing to leave cryptic riddles and cyphers for Batman to crack. Along the way, fellow nighttime vigilante Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) joins the Bat in taking on the city’s underground crime world for her own reasons.
The true appeal of The Batman is the way it functions as a true detective story much more so than a superhero one. Bruce and company spend more time searching for clues and going over evidence than punching bad guys and blowing stuff up, and the film’s morbidly chilling tone (as well the nature of Riddler’s crimes) takes inspiration from David Fincher work like Se7en and Zodiac much more so than anything starring an Avenger. The action is placed sparingly throughout the film and is all the more impactful for it - by the time we get to a midway car chase with Batman in pursuit of Gotham crime boss the Penguin (Colin Farrell), the screen practically erupts with intensity thanks to the quiet groundwork laid before it.
Clocking in at nearly three full hours, The Batman does begin to suffer from pacing issues in its middle section. The central mystery / investigation becomes a bit bloated and convoluted to the point where it almost feels unimportant by the end, especially once Riddler’s crimes become bigger and more public. And even with the lengthy runtime, characters like Alfred and Gordon feel underutilized, with the former disappearing by the third act and the latter never getting the chance to show how he actually feels about the scale of malfeasance from his bosses and his own department. Selina’s personal motivations end up undercooked as well, but her partnership and tentative romance with Batman thankfully carries the bulk of the film’s emotional weight. Their relationship is a soft but steamy outlier in the mostly neutered field of superhero romance.
While Reeves’ film overcomes and stands out from the superhero genre more often than it doesn’t, the inherent fantastical silliness of it all still regrettably manages to sneak into the seriousness of it. Much like the Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier dabbling in conspiracy thrillers or James Mangold’s Logan taking root in Westerns, The Batman is steeped in crime noirs, but the occasional reminders that this all still takes place in comic book franchise entertainment world pulls you out of the preferred immersion. A tease of a future villain for already-announced sequels feels especially out of place considering the established mood and comes across more embarrassingly obligatory than enticing. Bruce’s vulnerability also never extends to his physical self - another byproduct of the invulnerability of far too many superheroes like him. This may be a comparatively scrawny version of the hero, but he still never struggles much when it comes to brawls and shrugs off close-range gunshots and explosions with hardly more than a grimace. Must be some really good armor he’s got on.
Despite its flaws and somewhat muddled politics (especially when it comes to the police), The Batman is still easily one of the best big screen adaptations of the longtime icon. Its first act is downright extraordinary and its surprisingly large scale and bittersweet finale brings its many themes and ideas to a largely satisfying conclusion. Run to see this one. Even with multiple sequels and spin-offs planned, there likely won’t be another superhero movie that looks and feels like this for quite some time. And that Michael Giacchino score? *chef’s kiss*
‘The Batman’ is now playing in theaters.
