The Batman: A Breath of Fresh Air

The famed director Martin Scorsese once said that he doesn't deem Marvel movies to be cinema. He stated that quote, "Tension is gone, and there are some in the business with absolute indifference to the very question of art and an attitude toward the history of cinema that is both dismissive and proprietary - a lethal combination." And I can't say I disagree with him. In fact, I don't think I could state my feelings toward modern franchise films in a more articulate manner, even if I tried to. Movies today, most notably films that are a part of the MCU or the DCU, don't feel as interested in storytelling as they are in making money, so why would they be concerned with trying to be artistically sound, unique, or original? Marvel and DC are both equally guilty of creating movie-flavored products, which is a little phrase I use to describe movies that narratively act like movies but lack the craftsmanship of a film more interested in being a complete experience. These movie-flavored products appeal to the masses, and to be frank, I don't see any issue with that. However, I'm not a part of "the masses." I fall into that small category of people who see film as an art form, what it has been in the past and should learn to be again. And so, imagine my surprise when I found out that a competent director had created a competent superhero film with a beyond-competent visual style. Vengeance had arrived with a vengeance in the form of "The Batman."

Now, "The Batman" is by no means a perfect film. It struggles with some narrative issues in the first half of its third act and doesn't fully flesh out some of the ideas it's built on, but for all its flaws, the film's strengths outshine them ten-fold. From the moment the first trailer for the film dropped online, I knew that this movie would be different from anything I'd ever seen before, and I wasn't disappointed. Instead of a bland product littered with some rushed visual effects that took me out of the experience the movie cared so much about giving me, I was greeted with an atmospheric, majestic, dark, and grand yet intimate story told by people who obviously care about and understand who exactly Batman is as a character. You see, prior to this film, Batman had always felt like a side character in his own films, and that had been a pet peeve of mine. But gone was that pesky issue upon the arrival of "The Batman." You could even say that "The Batman" is the first live-action Batman film that is actually about Batman, about what he cares about, about what he fears, and about how he views the world. Even though it isn't perfect, this film does some things really well, and I want to discuss them in detail.

Just to get the brief synopsis out of the way, Batman, a vigilante who has been terrifying the criminals of crime-ridden Gotham City for two years, investigates a murder case where none other than the mayor of the city has been slain by a serial killer known as "The Riddler." As Batman descends into Gotham's underbelly of crime and depravity in pursuit of the killer, he discovers that the corruption plaguing Gotham and its leadership is more complex and connected to him than he had ever dared to imagine.

Given that "The Batman" was directed by Matt Reeves, the director of the "Planet of the Apes" reboot trilogy, as well as a lesser-known but excellent vampire flick called "Let Me In," who is also a man who tends to prioritize characters and character development, I had a feeling that the strongest aspect of this film was going to be its characterization. And I guessed correctly. Robert Pattinson gives arguably the strongest and, by far, the most subtle and nuanced performance of anyone who has ever donned Batman's cowl. Zoe Kravitz was marvelous as Catwoman, giving a performance and more than holding her own as Batman's complicated companion, even when compared to the legendary performance of Michelle Pfeiffer. Paul Dano's performance as the Riddler was unnerving and excellent, and this wasn't really a surprise for me. I imagine the same for anyone else who remembers his drop-dead fantastic performance in "There Will Be Blood." And, even though he doesn't have as much screen time as some of the rest of the cast, Colin Farrell acted the heck out of Penguin, managing to feel ruthless, grounded, and sometimes funny all at the same time. But even though the film has a myriad of characters surrounding Batman, the focus is never taken off of the caped crusader himself.

As for the city the Bat and crew inhabit, Reeves's take on Gotham has an honest shot at being the most detailed, immersive, and creative world ever put to screen. Ever. The only film I can think of that might rival it in terms of sheer atmosphere is Blade Runner 2049. In "The Batman," Gotham is a beautiful mix of gothic architecture and modern, crumbling city landscapes with immaculate attention to detail that feels so real and visceral and yet so mythic at the same time. I guess you could say it's the Gotham that falls right in-between the mythic and campy Gotham that Burton crafted back in the '80s and '90s and the ultra-realistic Gotham Nolan wanted to capture in his "Dark Knight" trilogy. Unfinished skyscrapers litter the skyline of Gotham, almost like a representation of a promise left unfulfilled. It's also always raining in this Gotham. By day, the skies are gray and overcast, and by night, everything is lit in this strangely alien orange glow by the streetlamps, almost like the city is on fire. Trash litters the roads of a city that is on the downswing, and even though Bruce has been fighting his war against crime for two years now, it's clear that his methods aren't doing much to bring about change. However, he doesn't really know what else to do. His methods fulfill an emotional need, not a practical one. "The Batman" is by far the most atmospheric superhero film ever made, and I'm excited to see what Reeves has planned for us in the next installment.

I wouldn't usually notice something like this in a movie, but it was hard not to. "The Batman" has the best soundscape I've ever heard in a film. The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is incredibly good, at times poundingly tremendous and intimidating, and at others soft and intimate. And let's not forget the atmosphere that the club music at the Iceberg Lounge brought to the film. However, the film's sound design goes deeper than just an excellent but still surface-level soundtrack. The sounds in this film are all motivated by perspective. What I mean by that is this: not everything in the movie sounds like it would in real life. Instead, some things in the film sound like what you would expect them to sound like. For instance, in one scene in the film, Bruce spots a woman getting out of a car with a pair of mob heads named Oz and Carmine Falcone at the mayor's funeral (spoiler alert). Anyways, Bruce thinks that this woman is Selina, a burglar he's, surprisingly enough, become attracted to. All the sound fades out of the background as Bruce's undivided attention is given to the woman, and all we hear is the clip....clop of her boots. Bruce follows the woman and the sound of her boots up the marble stairs of the city hall, and suddenly, the ambience of the natural world floods back in as Falcone's bodyguards, thinking Bruce is after the mob boss, stop him. As it turns out, the woman wasn't Selina. Just someone who looked like her. It's a remarkable sequence and my favorite instance of motivated sound design in this movie.

The plot of "The Batman" is largely solid, but it has some annoying issues here and there. Namely, a few logical leaps in terms of clues blasted out by The Riddler, a strangely disconnected and out-of-place climax, and some frustratingly on-the-nose and out-of-nowhere political signaling. So, "The Batman" is not perfect. Still, it will always hold a special place in my heart as an unapologetically character-centric film in a world where empty spectacle takes centerstage too often. I'll also always respect it as the film that brought Batman back with a vengeance after a slow decade or so following the end of Nolan's trilogy. And I'll always love it as one of the few superhero films that cared enough about its characters to give them the attention they deserve.

The Batman - 8/10

Romans 12:19