“I am vengeance”, he says again and again.
Batman is a vigilante. Batman is a thug. Batman is violent, Batman is hardened, Batman is disturbed. Batman fights criminals, the corrupt, he lurks in the shadows and inspires fear. But Gotham doesn’t change. It stays a “cesspool” as somebody calls it, a haven for crime, unchecked corruption, and unconscionable figures to move as they please. Is each a reflection of the other? What’s gotta give?
These assertions and these questions sit at the heart of The Batman, the latest relaunch of that most popular superhero, here played by Robert Pattinson under the direction of Matt Reeves, J.J. Abrams’ more talented friend, most recently known for injecting life and pathos into the Planet of the Apes franchise. His Batman, having co-written the film with Peter Craig, is completely disassociated from DC’s failed cinematic universe, or really any particular iteration that came before. It recasts Gotham, and reinvigorates the world of the Caped Crusader, who would never dare be identified as that by this very dark and grounded film in which a man going around dressed as a bat and beating people up, is an anomaly -if only for his theatricality. This Gotham is in the clutches of gangsters more than the criminally insane, as the signature criminally insane figure would like you to know.
It is that seedy world of the film noir, of the crime thriller, and Reeves makes no efforts to hide that -here a composition that references Chinatown, there a scene that would fit in David Fincher’s Seven. Evocations of Taxi Driver line the grimy streets and in an amusing nod, a creep in a vegetable mask robs a convenience store called Good Time -after the Pattinson-led Safdie Brothers thriller that remains one of his most acclaimed films. But from all these reference points there emerges something new: a Gotham that is neither the realist mirror of the Nolan movies nor the art-deco metropolis of Burton, but rather a gloriously dank and dismal underworld, the dystopia of a city and a system that has failed its’ people. It is often bathed in reds and grays, the natural light has no place there, kept out by foreboding skyscrapers, downcast clouds that keep the city in a perpetual paleness when not night itself. And it is against this world that the Batman has been shaped.
Pattinson’s Batman has been two years into his crime-fighting vendetta when the story begins. He has established himself as a symbol of darkness and fear -in one of the great early scenes a robber sees the Bat-signal in the sky and looks down a pitch black alleyway in horror that the Bat will arrive to punish him. He has good reason to be scared, the Batman is ruthless and violent, capable of taking on a small army of assailants and dispatching with them viscerally. It is how he sees fit to enact justice, which is quite revealing. In narration, he ponders whether he is making a difference, wondering why he even attempts to when things seem to just get worse. But it is all he knows. This Batman is explicitly troubled and disturbed, his alter ego Bruce Wayne, whom this film understands is the real mask concealing his true character, is a recluse -living alone in his gothic mansion, still known to the public as the tragic survivor of his parents’ murder, which has damaged him and his ability to connect with people. Even Alfred (Andy Serkis) is somewhat estranged to him. He needs guidance and purpose beyond his vengeful pursuits -he knows it’s only deteriorating his mental state further.
Most of this is communicated with captivating subtlety by Pattinson, the best actor to don the cowl since Michael Keaton. He and Reeves are emphatically interested in Batman’s psyche. They hone in on how his trauma has eaten away at him, how it motivates his crime-fighting agenda. And though this casts him as a figurehead possibly doing more harm than good, his rock solid principles remain intact, his empathy for human life, and perhaps most notably his intelligence. Batman has on occasion been named the ‘worlds’ greatest detective’ and much of this movie follows him in just that role. There is a mystery to solve and Batman is on the case, considering clues, deconstructing codes –it’s incredibly refreshing to see. Reservations aside, Pattinson also plays Batman too as the most comfortable part of Bruce Wayne’s identity –he builds relationships in it, a grudging comradery with Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and a rapport of sexual tension with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), each of whom act as his partners, representing respectively the cop and the robber, justice and vengeance, order and violence with him in the middle. As exciting as these characters are though, Batman remains the movies’ most compelling figure.
That’s famously not always the case when it comes to Batman movies. When Batman Forever came out, Val Kilmer’s Dark Knight was consistently overshadowed by Jim Carrey’s flamboyant Riddler –to the point Carrey had top billing. The Riddler returns as the chief antagonist here, played by Paul Dano, and modeled fairly specifically on the Zodiac Killer. He never upstages the Bat but is quite an engaging presence nonetheless, a serial killer/terrorist targeting the most corrupt of Gotham’s elite. That cabal includes an unrecognizable Colin Farrell as the Penguin –here a mob enforcer, and his boss, kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Turturro, in the best use of Turturro in a long time). In the enterprise of finding the Riddler, Batman is forced to investigate these cretins as well, uncovering the uncomfortable depths of the system of criminal power that runs Gotham, and further how it’s been allowed to perpetuate. His own complicity and that of his family is called into question, the privilege of a man of his wealth and stature in a city of rampant poverty, debilitated social welfare and failing infrastructure. Batman is challenged on an ethical level and as the movie goes on, the weight of his actions and inactions and their ripple effect comes back to him… with a vengeance.
Reeves includes many more themes and allusions that serve to confront the status quo in ways resonant and timely. The police force being inherently corrupt, the sexual politics that determine Selina’s life choices, the mobilization power of internet hate groups. And the imagery of the climax has some very specific connotations to it we should all recognize. But even with cogent metaphors and topicality, the film retains some distance, Reeves’ atmosphere is decidedly stylized, palpably comic book in a pulp sense. Further, the purpose served is to the betterment of the Batman character and the films’ core identity and thesis. That stuff needs to be there for Batman to come into his own in perhaps the most satisfying way we’ve yet seen.
It’s ultimately beautiful, and is simply the culmination of a Batman movie so gratifyingly cinematic. There are a lot of amazing visuals, fantastic compositions, and stunning cinematography from Dune’s Greig Fraser. He and Reeves give the film an epic look to fit its’ run-time, and the music by Michael Giacchino provides the epic sound, a bravura operatic effort that may be one of the best scores for a superhero film this century. It especially heightens the tension around moments where the film adopts a horror aesthetic or engages in an action beat, of which there are a few notable standouts –and a pretty wild, exciting car chase too. The movie does the fun Batman things, and does them exceedingly well, but its’ ability to take its’ time, to stew in a moment or a feeling is what sets it apart in tremendous ways.
The cast is uniformly terrific. Kravitz like Pattinson dispels all doubts, and though her arc may not be quite as substantive, it is played with severe gravity. Her ownership of Catwoman is powerful, her chemistry with Pattinson undeniable, their sexiness together tantalizing. Dano is daunting, Turturro deplorable, Wright delivers the best Gordon of any movie, and Serkis for his small part reinvents Alfred fantastically. And far from being humourless as its’ detractors have claimed, this movie does manage to be funny, sometimes in a twisted way, whenever appropriate. It embodies more peripheries of Batman than it gets credit for, the mid-90s animated series being an especially close relative.
But The Batman is conclusively its’ own enigma, and a welcome one at that, for a genre as risk-averse and staid as the superhero film. And though it falls into none of the familiar staples, it does pull off a kind of origin story for this figure of the night who must become something more than “Vengeance” for the sake of his city and himself. It’s a dazzling journey there and this was the right team and the right time to shepherd it. A considerable achievement!
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