Another Batman movie draws the phrase from many, ‘Not another Batman movie’. Not for me though. I can’t get enough of the Dark Knight. If you’re a fan, I’m sure you’ve felt some apprehension, we all have our favourite Batman actors and certainly have our favourite villains.
Since first seeing Batman (1989), Michael Keaton has remained my favourite actor to portray the Caped Crusader and it follows that my preferred Joker was Jack Nicholson. That was until Heath Ledger blew us all away with his role in The Dark Knight (2008).
It’s important to remember that Batman (1989) came under a lot of fire from die-hard graphic novel fans, for its appointment of, what was essentially, a comedy actor in its title role. Much in the way Robert Pattinson has drawn an unfavourable sigh from many.
You may have seen over the internet; some have declared Pattinson ‘The Worst Vampire Ever’ as he has taken 11 years to turn in to a bat. A good joke, but let’s not forget what Pattinson has been up to since his departure from playing Edward in the Twilight series.
He hasn’t taken many straight roles in many straight-forward films; it seems he has chosen parts in which you’d never know he had played a teen-heart-throb vampire. Most notably and critically acclaimed was The Lighthouse (2019) Set in the late 1800s, he’s a sailor stuck on an island with what is essentially, a crazy man. This was a black and white shot film in a 4:3 aspect ratio with limited dialogue. Not the sort of project you’d expect an actor who has had mainstream success to take on.
The Batman’s director Matt Reeves (Television producer ‘come director) has directed a string of mildly successful but often criticised titles including Cloverfield (2008), Let Me In (2010) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He’s a big-budget, action-on-a-large-scale director and this really does throw some expectations on this project.
The Batman owes a lot of its charm, for me, to the detective Noir themes that it borrows from the Noir films of the mid-1900s and from what was originally in the comics and graphic novels. The city is dark, the voice over is dreary and full of self-doubt, we have a femme-fatal who isn’t all she seems and Gotham, even now, still feels like it could be a city from the 1940s (if you ignore the gigantic screens reminiscent of Times Square).
There were very little wide-angle shots throughout, everything felt slightly claustrophobic, helped by the darkness and the persistent rain. The screen constantly shines a light in our eyes out of the darkness, be it from a motorcycle headlight or a police torch shone directly into the camera. This made me wince on every occasion, but each time just reinforced how dark the film is when our eyes try to adjust and can only focus on very little.
I saw The Batman in my local cineplex a week after its release and the showing, which was on the largest screen, was full. We had expected No Time to Die (2021) to save the cinema then Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) actually did, and now we have a Batman movie to ensure bums on seats.
The film begins with the murder of Mayor Don Mitchell (Rupert Penry-Jones) by what could be our main villain. During these scenes ‘Ave Maria’ is playing, which the gamer in me couldn’t help but think of the Hitman series.
Following this we have our voiceover from Bruce Wayne, explaining how he fits in to Gotham City, how, crime is on the rise and how he can’t stop it all, but how the criminals never know where he is going to be. Every dark corner of the city, any part of a street unlit could house Batman in waiting. He uses this fear to his advantage.
After a classic Batman beating up a gang scene, we’re introduced to Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and his relationship with Batman. He’s using him, much to the disapproval of the rest of the police department, to help him with a case. A card has been left on the body of the mayor addressed to the Batman which also contains a hidden message for them to work out. Finally, we are getting the more detective Batman that some of us will know from the graphic novels, and this is seen throughout the film. Here we can also work out this this villain is The Riddler (Paul Dano).
While Bruce is working back at his mansion, we see he has left on his eye make up which he wears under the suit, this is a rare occasion in a Batman film as most of the time when they take off their mask, there’s no make up at all. This does lend to what Pattinson has been described as; the ‘Emo Batman’ and honestly, yes, he’s sad, yes, he speaks in a low whisper and probably has photophobia, but these troupes lend themselves to a creation of a very interesting Bruce Wayne/Batman combo. At his mansion we also meet Bruce’s butler Alfred (Andy Serkis) who, as usual, is trying to keep Bruce grounded and keep his senses.
Batman’s investigations lead him to a club owned by Oz (Colin Farrell) who some of us will know as Penguin. If you didn’t know Colin Farrell was playing Oz there is no way you’d know it’s him, absolutely no way. The prosthetics and make up, coupled with a thick New York ‘gangster’ accent really do hide Farrell but does allow some remarkable character acting to come through. It’s well documented that during the production, Farrell took a trip to Starbucks in full make-up, and nobody had a clue it was him.
While at the club Batman brushes shoulders with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) who quickly becomes a person of interest. Again, for those of us familiar with the Batman universe, Selina Kyle also goes by the alias Catwoman. Their first meeting, both in costume, both snooping around a crime scene, is less than friendly but it would seem they are on the same team.
The Riddler strikes again, this time releasing a video of his victim to the press, a video reminiscent of the Joker’s videos in The Dark Knight. Shaky had cam footage shows the police commissioner in a head cage much like the ones you’d expect to see in the Saw series or Orwell’s 1984. Batman finds the commissioner, now dead, and again, this body contains another card and another riddle. Eventually Batman’s investigations bring him to Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) a big-time mob boss and is trying to work out how he’s linked to the police who have died and what he has to do with Selina Kyle.
Can Batman stop the Riddler? Can he work with Selina Kyle to do this? What does Oz have to do with everything? How does Carmine Falcone fit in? This remains a spoiler free zone so I will leave you with one more thing, there is a chase scene to look out for which lasts around 5 minutes which is one of the best I have seen, on screen, in recent years.
To look at the main cast consisting of Pattinson, Kravitz, Dano, Wright, Turturro, Farrell and Serkis I was certainly interested in this new Batman outing. I always look to the main villain to see how I think they’d play off whoever plays Batman and Dano never seems to play a ‘normal’ character. Just think of There Will be Blood (2007), Prisoners (2013) or 12 Years a Slave (2013). This man can play crazy and to a degree does well in The Batman, but I would liked to have seen more of him.
I feel introducing Batman, Catwoman, Penguin and The Riddler all in one film was always going to be difficult, especially in giving them enough screen time. Certainly, we see more of Batman than we do of Bruce Wayne, we see a fair amount of Catwoman and Penguin but just not enough of Dano’s Riddler for me.
That said, this was an extortionary Batman film and one I will see again on the big screen. It’s nearly 3-hour run-time flew by, I felt the pacing was great, the sub-character casting was, as a fan of British Comedy, inspired, notably Alex Ferns and Con O’Neil. Batman was finally seen doing a lot of detective work as he did in the graphic novels. I didn’t feel at any time that Zoë Kravitz’ Catwoman needed saving or played the damsel in distress, she was a strong character on her own merits. Overall, I was impressed, it was the brooding Batman we wanted, and Pattinson did very, very well.
We should see Pattinson reprise his role as Batman, as there have been a further 2 films scheduled in this series along with 2 television series, one for Penguin and one for Arkham Asylum.
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