This is definitely cinema.
I love that this movie exists. I love that it’s a noir that is nonetheless pretty much a spot on adaption of the character with modern twists. It’s weirdly faithful, without adapting any one storyline from any source.
I wonder how many people understand that this movie is simultaneously embracing Batman and poking fun at him and subverting the concept itself. Everyone around Batman who isn’t being beat to a pulp or watching him do so pretty much finds him silly, annoying, counterproductive, etc.
And God bless them for putting so many puns into this movie the way they did.
The film has a lot of glaring flaws…because it’s a full on noir take. The characters, setting and concepts are recognizeable enough, but this is both visually and conceptually a noir (the superfluous collar is a nod to the visual image created by the collar of a trenchcoat, even the cape hangs and moves like a trenchcoat, and he’s just walking into/through crime scenes, not moving like a creature of the night).
While this movie is about him as a detective, he’s not anything close to the World’s Greatest Detective here. He may never be. He’s the World’s Greatest Gumshoe, in true noir fashion. He has a rudimentarty knowledge of crime scenes, forensics, etc. This is a very human, fallible Batman. He’s solving crimes through trial and error, which is how real detective work...works.
In the end, in true noir fashion, he’s more than a step behind the bad guys due to his blind spots (blind as a…), and he almost bumbles his way into saving the day, like a classic gumshoe does. The mystery he DOES solve is the impetus behind his own motivations, ambitiously and emotionally. I love that there are dual mysteries running through the movie. One for Bruce and one for Batman, and that they dovetail. That's one of the unique structural things about this movie.
I’ve seen some complaints about story VS character,a relative lack of character development or exploration. And that’s true. But a lot of the issues people have are because Reeves did in fact go almost full noir. Going back to the same settings three, four times before it matters? Noir. Femme fatale introducing story elements? Noir. Cop friend greasing the wheels for the detective? Noir.
And as a noir, as is tradition, because of the focus on story and already formed characters, the exploration of character concepts remains a little surface. Which holds the film back when it tries to explore some of its more ambitious ideas. For instance, Catwoman isn’t given a lot of depth, but she’s so well situated as both the femme fatale/damsel iconography within the noir genre that it’s hard to say they still didn’t nail it with the character,both in the noir sense, and as an adaption of Selina Kyle. Especially the story points, going from trying to find her loved one to us slowly discovering secrets about her life to true CATharsis related to both.
In general, the movie feels like “A week in the life of Batman”, which is exactly what the detective's story should be in a noir take. It’s an important week, to be sure, and a formative one, but still just a week in the life of Batman.
I thought Pattinson was good…for this very specific version of the character. Visually, he’s well cast. His Batvoice was just okay, although it was consistent, which was nice. I saw a review that said he seemed almost ambivalent about his fate as Batman. He doesn’t seem exactly menacing in this movie, which is borne out when people make fun of and try to sidetrack him (another noir trope). I would say he seems more in a meditative state as the character. Being Batman is, rather paradoxically, the only time he seems to find peace and purpose. When he’s not Batman, he’s pretty much strung out and miserable and chasing the high. It’s portrayed an obsession bordering on an addiction, and he pushes it further and further.
This movie is about Bruce rediscovering his humanity, which was always there below his mask. It's there from the beginning. He’s presenting as this uber violent vengeance driven character, but that’s not actually what he is. There are clues to this throughout the film, from his first fight to his compassionate outreach. despite how much he broods or how obsessed and violent he seems. And that’s what he slowly realizes, scene by scene, and then we see the compassion go into overdrive, and it’s brief and not all that brilliant, but still very satisfying. It’s like he realizes how simple what he needs to do is, and he just starts doing it.
The wry humor is great. “Thumb…drive.” The noir/crime lingo usually lands on at least one level.
I got a chuckle that even this is grounded, he still has the ridiculous rapidly winching grapple gun that can nab the feet of falling people. Liked some of the other gadgets, the computer tech, the lenses, the wingsuit, the rappelling line. He treats them as tools of the trade, their origins aren’t dwelled on. I would have loved to have seen them homage the ”swinging on a rope” thing at some point, but what’s in the movie works very well as is.
Ironically, the noir approach, and the subversion of cliches, is what keeps this one in the very good category vs being a truly great film and adaption of the character. We’ve seen a lot of this before, including elements of the suit. As such, It’s…comfortable. A bit like coming home. But despite being comfortable, it also gives us things we haven’t seen on film (A truly compassionate Batman who won’t kill and doesn’t generally use violence when he doesn’t have to).
Some of the moments in the film seem to function as outright homages to other Batman films, including the Schumacher ones. And quite a few of the themes, the concepts have been done…just not quite like this.
Some of the cinematic homages are obvious; Chinatown, The French Connection(flying Batmobile), Klute, Se7en. But as a whole, it’s very close to being a masterpiece on its own merits. Reeves never dwells on those influences, nor is this movie a hodpodge of them; he makes this his own. And he directed the heck out of this. There is some really good visual storytelling. What character’s don’t say informs the moments unfolding. The flood is the compassionate imagery compared to the violence of fire. In the graveyard, Batman is choosing life VS dwelling on the past. Stuff like that will give this film lasting value beyond entertainment.
Storywise, This is a good crime/mystery film in the same way that The Dark Knight was kind of a silly, heightened one. But in a way, this franchise and Nolan’s, as more grounded pieces of the mythology, actually complement each other very well. This film probably wouldn’t work as well if previous Batman comics, series and films didn’t exist, hadn’t set certain foundations. We take his origin story, his armor, his gadgets, the car, his allies, the villains, the locales, as a matter of course. Because they are familiar. So the film doesn’t really get points for including some of them, and skipping thematic development in certain areas. But the noir take is compelling. It has a noirish deft touch when it comes to character development. You have to connect the dots about why Bruce does what he does, how he feels about his family’s legacy, and why he went in this direction instead of doing what his parents did and what other elements of Gotham seem to want him to do.
The cast is excellent. No one is truly brilliant, but as an ensemble, they complement each other really well.
THE BATMAN will hold up and have rewatchability, even just visually. The cinematography is absolutely incredible. The use of light, shadow, different tones, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character slightly turning or tilting their head look so damn striking.
Giacchino’s score is lush and romantic and classic, with a few modern twists and nods to other composers' work on the character.
This one will grow on me. Definitely hungry for more. You can see where this is going, with vacant Commissioner and DA jobs, a new Mayor, Joker/Riddler, Zero Year/No Man’s Land elements. A Penguin/mob spinoff. Arkham spinoff. A possible Catwoman spinoff. Good times ahead.
And for the actual sequel, given the characters introduced…could be any one of them featured. But which one?
Which...ones?
The four of them…their forces combined…
When all is said and done, this may end up being the definitive modern portrayal of Batman. Ranking the versions and films right now seems kind of pointless, though, as there's too much to chew on about this one. We have several really good Batman movies. Reeves said it himself. It’s about bringing something new to it. And he did. And we get more Batman THIS YEAR. It’s a great time to be a Batman fan.
