Warner Bros. Pictures
It’s been a long time coming what with a global pandemic and the production itself delayed by viral infections among cast and crew, but The Batman is finally here. Was it worth the wait and how does this fit in with whatever Warner Bros. is calling the DC Extended Universe? To answer the last part of that question first — it doesn’t. It’s not set anywhere near the ‘Snyderverse’ or the ‘Joker-verse’, and in fact this film is setting up its own ‘Gotham-verse’ with a spin-off HBO Max series set on Gotham City (sadly not a revival of Gotham) and a second series featuring Colin Farrell’s ‘Oz’ (aka Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin), which actually does impact the character in the film a bit. More on that in a moment.
The Batman does not give us a Batman origin story, thankfully (we never see the Wayne parents murdered), and instead begins two years after Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) has taken to the streets as the masked vigilante who, when asked by a criminal who he is, he replies ‘Vengeance.’ But his presence has become so feared among the criminal underbelly of the city that just the switching on of the Bat Signal is enough to make them all wonder if he’s lurking in the darkness ready to take them out. Unfortunately, he can’t be everywhere so crimes are still committed. When one of Gotham’s elite is brutally murdered in his own swanky apartment, his family in the next room, Batman begins to get an inkling that corruption is running rampant within the police department and the city government with names like Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) in the mix. Batman feels that Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) is the only honest person in the city he can trust outside of his ‘butler’ Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis).
This murder opens a whole can of worms, especially when there is an envelope at the scene of the crime for The Batman. The murder also brings a young woman named Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) into the story because her friend and roommate was involved with the victim. As bodies pile up and more envelopes with riddles inside are left for The Batman, it becomes clear that Falcone and his henchman Oz are somehow tied into The Riddler’s (Paul Dano) scheme to bring down Gotham’s elite, including Bruce Wayne. The bigger question, though, is who is The Riddler and why is he doing this?
The Batman ain’t called The Batman for nothing because this movie is 95% Batman. Robert Pattinson is barely seen as Bruce Wayne, and when he is we are very clearly told (by Alfred) that Master Bruce has pretty much shirked his responsibilities to Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne family legacy. Bruce is consumed with being The Bat which, let’s face it, is a pretty unhealthy obsession. But it give Pattinson the chance to bring out the character of Batman, to really get into the psyche of the character once Bruce dons the cape and cowl. And the film also remains quite oblique on how and where Batman’s tech was created. No mention at all of a Lucius Fox here. But when all is said and done, Pattinson makes a really good Batman, really portraying the character’s smoldering anger simply with his eyes, mouth and body language. The movie just handles the character really well, especially in his interactions with Gordon (not yet Commissioner), who parades Batman around crime scenes quite publicly which cause the other officers to vocally question Gordon on his decision to bring this vigilante along. The two do make a good team. Pattinson also has great chemistry with Kravitz, and it’s hard to think these two could ever be at odds (and Ms. Kyle has a very interesting plot twist that really complicates things). Serkis doesn’t have a lot to do as Alfred, but he does manage to make the part his own. Turturro is great as Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard puts in a brief but pivotal appearance as DA Gil Colson.
If you didn’t know Colin Farrell was playing Oswald Cobblepot going into the film, you’d never guess it was him under the astonishing prosthetics that completely obscure his very well-known face. And he gives a really good performance (and gets a heart-stopping car chase with The Batman on a busy, rain-slicked highway) … when he’s on screen. Oz is not the film’s main villain, and he’s not even really Penguin yet so there are some ‘origin story’ elements at play here. Farrell’s full descent into the character will surely come in the HBO Max spin-off series built around him, but in the film he just feels a bit under-utilized. The real star of piece, aside from Pattinson, is Paul Dano as The Riddler, a character who now has the luxury of social media at his fingertips to communicate with the police, The Batman and his followers (and the whole thing with his followers is a different spin on the story in which it’s the Joker who usually commands an army of minions to do his bidding). But Dano, masked himself for a large portion of the film, gives a ferocious and occasionally terrifying performance, channeling so much rage into the character. His videos where he devolves into a masked, screaming maniac are truly disturbing. But, when he is unmasked his demeanor completely changes as we see Edward Nashton (nope, not Nygma) with the face of a choirboy. It really is a jarring juxtaposition to who he is with the mask on, a parallel to the quiet but calculating Bruce Wayne and the angry, violent Batman. The one scene where the two finally come face-to-face is quite something, especially as Edward gets down to the nitty-gritty of why he’s doing what he’s doing. Dano does give a stunning performance right up there with Heath Ledger’s and Joachin Phoenix’s Jokers. Speaking of the Joker, with three of the classic core four ‘villains’ (is Selina Kyle really a villain?) in the film, is Joker present? You’ll have to see for yourself … but don’t believe all the character names you might see on IMDb right now.
Director Matt Reeves has really managed to create his own version of Gotham City, a more modern take on the classic Gothic Deco look we’ve seen since Tim Burton first brought the Caped Crusader to the big screen. It’s crowded, it’s dirty, it’s run down, almost more Detroit than New York City. It’s a place where corruption has led to corruption and it’s just eating away at the city’s foundations. Reeves manages to keep the nearly three hour film constantly moving and never boring, tossing in a couple of big action set-pieces like the car chase and a real ‘disaster movie’ moment that was pretty spectacular. The story may be a little too busy at times as he tries to juggle all of these classic characters (bringing Falcone into the mix just made me think back to the Gotham TV series), but it’s always interesting. I also really liked the new design of the Batman cowl. This one is more like a helmet covered with leather, the nose guard stitched into place (I really liked that detail) instead of just a molded piece of rubber. And the cape is detachable! I also liked the homemade feel of Selina’s costume, particularly her mask which is just a knit cap with a piece cut out for her eyes. Production design, costume design, sound design and the mesmerizing score by Michael Giacchino are all on point.
After all the drama surrounding the new Batman movie after the fallout from everyone’s experience working on Justice League with Joss Whedon and Ben Affleck pulling out of his solo Batman flick, I wasn’t confident that Reeves would be able to pull this off, and I was even less confident in the choice of Pattinson to fill the role. But I should have just remembered his work on the second and third Planet of the Apes films as well as Cloverfield to know he had The Batman completely under control. It’s got great performances, an engaging — if busy — story, great set-pieces, and it’s never boring. This makes me more interested now to see where he’s going to go with the TV series spin-offs and how he will continue to build this Gotham universe.
The Batman has a run time of 2 hours 55 minutes and is rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.
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