Written by Tyrone BruinsmaY'know when someone feels like paying me, I'll go through the entire production history of every made and never made Batman movie. For today I'll leave it at the briefest levels of explaining how this film came to be.
After Ben Affleck was hired to play Batman in Zack Snyder's Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and beyond, he was also hired to write and direct his own Batman movie (at the time even called The Batman). This made sense as at the time: Affleck had directed Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo; the later of which won Warner Brothers an Oscar for Best Picture. However after Batman V Superman and the then in production Justice League failed to meet Warner Brothers' standards: Ben stepped down from the director's chair. Matt Reeves of Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes was hired to direct and re-write with the script with Affleck still playing Batman. However, after Justice League's release, Ben dropped from the project and had no interest in playing the character. After a while, WB and Matt Reeves agreed to hire a new actor for the film and have it be unrelated to the shaky DC Extended Universe. A similar project in Todd Philips' The Joker in 2019 was extremely successful and boded well for the project as they hired Robert Pattinson for the caped crusader. While the uncritical morons of the internet cried about Twilight, they showed their failings to be real film experts as Pattinson has been great in films like Cosmopolis, The Rover, The Lost City of Z, Good Time, High Life, The Lighthouse and Tenet. The project was aimed to be a grittier, more realistic take on the character focusing more on detective skills. Filming went well before being undercut by Covid-19 and the project being delayed a year in its release. And it's awesome. I've been a Batman fan ever since I saw Tim Burton's first incarnation of the character on VHS and continue to do so. I love Tim Burton's Batman, I love Batman The Animated Series, I love The Dark Knight Trilogy, I love the first two Arkham video games and I do love Ben Affleck's portrayal of Batman. While Reeves and Warner Brother have sold us The Dark Knight, but influenced by The Long Halloween, The Godfather, and both David Fincher's Se7en and Zodiac; what we've received is something more devious. The reason I love the gritty realistic take on Batman and the Gotham world in general is that darkness has a purpose. In much the same way Christopher Nolan used a more realistic take on Batman to make a reaffirmation of the Batman story, Matt Reeves has used a more intense realism to completely deconstruct the premise of The Batman. Over the course of the film, it takes many moments to show that Batman and Bruce Wayne himself have toxic traits that have always been problematic to the character. Aspects like masochist violence, sadism, voyeurism, privilege blindness, anger issues and others get addressed before the final complete take down of what's inherently wrong with the character. It's very ambitious for Matt Reeves to have gotten Warner Brother to sign off on a $200 Million project and 3 hour runtime that essentially points out every flaw with Batman. It feels very similar to say how Paul Verhoeven made a Starship Troopers film that was a middle finger to its source material or Disney signing off on Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi. But considering how well the film handles it deconstruction and still fulfills a lot of what people expect in a Batman film, I'm not surprised Reeves got away with it and will continue to do so with a sequel. The premise of the film is that during Batman's second year of running around Gotham fighting criminals, a strange and disturbing string of murders tied to political powers comes about. The culprit is a dark portrayal of the classic Riddler character, whose twisted Zodiac clue game leads Batman to investigate political entities, the Gotham underworld and eventually his own heritage. The cast is perfect, with Robert Pattinson playing my favorite performed version of Bruce/Batman. He expertly plays his as the edgy, angry kid who you would believe could dress up as a abt to take beatings. Paul Dano as The Riddler is very terrifying from a visual and audible standpoint, with his character being very integral to Batman's character. Zhoe Kravitz is now my favorite Catwoman: being a sexy independent bad-ass who has chemistry with Batman, but doesn't just obey him. Andy Serkis as Alfred is underutilized, but performed very well. Colin Farrell is riot as The Penguin, while Jeffry Wright carries the most weight in the film as the voice of reason. The biggest surprise is John Turturro who was left out of marketing as DC criminal Carmine Falcone, he oozes unleashed rage in a way that terrifies you for when it might happen. Seriously, every cast member no matter how small has nailed their craft and never feel out of place. The film looks stunning, Australian cinematographer Greg Fraser who won Best Cinematographer for Denis Villeneuve's Dune at the Oscars continues to show his skill as a visual master with this film. Capturing the use of darkness, colors like red and orange with particular shine and using the camera in often simple but dynamic shots-makes this a Batman film on par visually with how Zack Snyder shot the character. It also has an amazing score and original Batman theme thanks to Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Jurassic World, Spider-Man: No Way Home). Its action scenes are also amazing, with the highlights being the opening train platform brawl, a simple car chase with The Penguin and the final showdown. But I cannot stress how good the screenplay is at accomplishing its narrative ambition. Taking one of the most beloved superhero characters and making a 3 hour big budget teardown of everything wrong with the Batman and why Bruce isn't the "World's Greatest Detective" is a risky move. But achieving that with flying colors and making it my new favorite solo Batman film is mission accomplished. I love this film, I can't wait to re-watch it for years and years to come. I look forward to whatever sequels come our way. I think Scarecrow and Killer Croc teaming up would be a perfect addition to this world. 10/10
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