Since 1939 the world has seen many different versions of Batman, from the campy classic television series starring Adam West to the Gothic fairy tale of Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, but while Warner Bros. has tried their best to integrate the Dark Knight in the DC Extended Universe and it has not quite panned out yet, and that brings us to the latest incarnation starring Robert Pattinson as The Batman.
In 2005 Christopher Nolan gave the world a more grounded version of the Caped Crusader, a hero existing in a distinctly grittier Gotham City than what had appeared in previous incarnations, but then along comes writer/director Matt Reeves whose own take on Batman is almost as if he looked at Batman Begins and said, “You think that is dark and gritty, well hold my beer.” But exactly how much darker and grittier is this entry? Well, this particular outing could be best compared to David Fincher’s Se7en with its grim and twisted mystery revolving around Batman trying to solve a series of graphic murders all the while trying to figure out his own identity.
Dark and gritty or just in need of a bubble bath?
Matt Reeves’ The Batman owes a lot to such Batman comics as The Long Halloween and Hush and with it being the early days of Batman’s (Robert Pattinson) career it also feels like an extended edition of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One and with an almost three-hour running time it really gets into the meat of Batman’s relationships with James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and Catwoman/Selina Kyle(Zoë Kravitz), who in this version has a very complicated relationship with mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), but not only do we get such great Batman villains as Catwoman and The Riddler we are also treated to a rather unique interpretation of The Penguin (Collin Farrell) who in this film is a lower-tier crime boss with his own agenda, and it should be noted that at no point does he commit a bird-related crime.
He doesn’t even carry a tricked-out umbrella.
While this movie doesn’t disappoint when it comes to providing truly spectacular action set-pieces, the Batmobile chase in this film is a real showstopper, this story is more about solving a larger mystery and Batman finding his true role as vigilante or hero. The movie begins two years into Batman’s mission to clean up Gotham City but his nightly punch-ups with random street thugs have to be put on hold when a series of high-profile murders grab the headlines with a mysterious figure calling himself The Riddler (Paul Dano), a deranged individual who has possibly watched too many of the Saw movies, is targeting high profile citizens of Gotham. With James Gordon at his side, who is the one police officer not wanting to lock up the masked vigilante, they dive deep into the underbelly of Gotham City only to discover that the rich and powerful are neck-deep in murdered and corruption. Lucky for Batman, his investigation causes him to repeatedly run into the mysterious Selina Kyle a woman who could either save or break this burgeoning Batman.
I hope these two crazy kids can work things out.
While the film’s criminal plotline looks like a mash-up of David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac the heart of the story is what makes Batman tick and with his identity as “Vengeance” being growled throughout the alleyways of Gotham City as he clearly hasn’t quite figured out his own identity yet, and his relationship with Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis) is also little strained and has not yet become that father/son relationship we are all familiar with. It’s in this area where the film really shines as the story never shies away from its core goal of showing Bruce Wayne as a deeply messed up individual who has yet to become “The World's Greatest Detective” and his growth throughout the course of this movie is something we haven’t really seen portrayed on film before, at least not to this degree. With this entry, Matt Reeves may have given us the darkest version of Batman to make its way to the big screen but that's not what makes this film special, it was his decision to focus on the psychological aspects of the characters over all of the Bat-Gadgets and goofy criminals found in previous versions and this is what makes this one special, basically, if this isn't the definitive Batman movie to date it's pretty damn close.
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