The Batman (2022)

Directed by: Matt Reeves | 176 minutes | action, crime | Actors: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Barry Keoghan, Paul Dano, Amber Sienna, Colin Farrell, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright, Elena Saurel, John Turturro, Iana Saliuk, Rupert Penry-Jones, Todd Boyce, Max Carver, Charlie carver

As Spider-Man undergoes his third Hollywood reincarnation in twenty years with ‘No Way Home’ (Jon Watts, 2021), one of the most famous DC/Warner Bros superheroes, if you count from Michael Keaton’s ‘Batman’ (Tim Burton, 1989), now with his sixth. On this perhaps trivial point, the bat man beats the spider man, but does ‘The Batman’ also do that on the big screen? Under the inspired leadership of Matt Reeves, former ‘Twilight’ star Robert Pattinson has a solid shot at the superhero blockbuster battleground as the new Batman. However, the masked detective from Gotham can also just go on his nose, because this Batman obsessively harks back to the grubby sleuth roots of this hero.

Reeves’ directing experience with two films of the ‘The Planet of The Apes’ trilogy (2011 – 2017), also a reinterpretation of a successful franchise, served him well on this monster job. After all, it is not difficult to write the lousy ‘Batman & Robin’ (Joel Schumacher, 1997), which has become a decent cult film by now, but ‘The Batman’ can also be done with ‘The Dark Knight’ – trilogy (2005 – 2012) from beloved director Christopher Nolan? That’s quite a bit, because the second part ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008) in this trilogy, which features Heath Ledger’s famous performance as the Joker, is in fourth place in the top 250 of IMDB. On this famous internet ranking, Nolan’s vision of the wealthy Bruce Wayne with the alter ego Batman sits closely behind two ‘Godfather’ films (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 1974). However this Batman will fare at the box office, at least you can’t fault Reeves and Pattinson for a lack of ambition.

The big movie universe plan for Zack Snyder’s DC superheroes wasn’t exactly kid-friendly, but Reeves takes it up a notch after ‘Joker’ (Todd Phillips, 2019). ‘The Batman’ lives by the grace of a bleak atmosphere, immersing the viewer in the raw edges of the fictional megacity of Gotham, where shadow and rain reign, and crime seems the rule rather than the exception. The renewed theme song echoes the ghostly sounds of silent films such as ‘Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens’ (WF Murnau, 1926). In the background you can hear the troubled and withdrawn playboy Bruce musing in his diary about the nightly expeditions against the scum on the street. The words are filled with unease and disgust at the corruption, violence and poverty in his hometown. Reeves’ admiration for 1960s and 1970s American cinema, clouded with paranoia and imbued with the dark side of the American dream, such as ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ (John Frankheimer, 1962), ‘Taxi Driver’ (Martin Scorsese) and ‘Klute’ (Alan J. Pakula, 1972), drips off the screen. For example, the relationship between Catwoman, portrayed very convincingly by Zoë Kravitz, and Batman is a cleverly played variation on the ambiguous relationship between prostitute Bree Daniels and private detective John from ‘Klute’.

For this film version, director Reeves, who co-wrote the script with Peter Craig, and lead actor Pattinson also returned to comic book sources, including “Batman: Year one” (Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli, 1989). This comic series chronicles Bruce Wayne’s early years as the nighttime revenger, struggles with childhood trauma and close friendship with Police Inspector James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). Yet Reeves doesn’t take over the plot of ‘Year one’ so much, but rather takes over the psychological undertones and realistic approach in the basic extravagant characters and situations. Everything is more grounded and grayer. While Reeves is not without a hitch on the action front, he is a bit more reserved with James Bond-esque mega stunt antics, such as the spectacular scene of the plane broken in half in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. Plus, the director endows well-known villains, this time The Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farell) and The Riddler (a horribly grimaceous Paul Dano), with more human faces and thoughtful origin stories. One of Batman’s most formidable opponents here is a mafia boss (John Turturro on turbo) and would not have looked out of place in a clone of ‘The Godfather’.
For the riddles that the sinister Riddler leaves on prominent victims of Gotham, the impetus for a macabre puzzle, Batman must use his best sleuthing skills. The viewer closely follows Batman in his duel with the Riddler, who is laced with a toxic, correspondingly sadistic, motif known from serial killer films like ‘Seven’ (David Fincher, 1995). The title song ‘Something in the Way’ by Nirvana fits like a glove, Reeves steals the paranoid freak show from the best thriller makers in Hollywood. In Nolan’s Gotham there was still light coming through the cloud cover, in Reeves’s almost none.

Riddler’s riddles, with an extremely loaded finale, especially for America, are cleverly designed and ‘The Batman’ often stays one step ahead of the viewer. Gotham’s fear of possible domestic terrorism, from which the Batman myth itself is not spared, after all, it is a person who takes the law into their own hands, is by no means implicit in this film adaptation, but rather a disruptive fear that must be dealt with. The danger to order is often closer to home than you see.

Although Pattinson is a good Bruce for the pathos, ‘The Batman’, like its protagonist, contains hardly any humor, let alone of the relativistic Marvel kind. This again seems like a very conscious choice, but does not increase the accessibility of the already melancholy material. And while the calm build-up and thoughtful pace fit in well with the detective genre, a bit like the recent Batman video games, you won’t win everyone over with it. In addition, the dark cinematography does not benefit the combat scenes. And although the makers try to drown out the visual obscurity with sometimes excessive walls of sound, this can sometimes be more disturbing than enlightening.

Except for the two mistakes of Joel Schumacher, Reeves wants to reunite all predecessors with ‘The Batman’. This nearly three-hour production floats on Snyder’s pathos, but less macho and muscular, the social critique of ‘The Dark Knight’, without the British humor, and the gothic atmosphere of ‘Batman Returns’ (Tim Burton, 1992). Nevertheless, Reeves has sharpened something that Nolan already liked to dig into with ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy: the traumatized loner who sees himself as the savior of the people. Handsome under the pressure of a franchise. Even before ‘The Batman’ lands in cinemas, the director has already signed for two sequels.