Plot summary: An early career Batman struggles to keep pace with a violent breadcrumb trail left by The Riddler, hoping to expose ‘The Truth’ about Gotham.

Boy, a few elephants in this room, huh? Firstly this is primarily a DCAU review site, and while I’ve debuted ‘Elseworlds‘ for stuff that falls outside that continuity… this is a live action film. So why do it? Well, I’m due to return to Superman: The Animated Series now that I’ve wrapped Caped Crusader… but I don’t like to split projects in the same weekend, so I figured this could take up the Sunday spot and then next weekend we can go back to Metropolis.

I also feel like I can get away with it because Matt Reeves directed it and executive produced Caped Crusader. At one stage he was going to be overseeing a multitude of Batman projects, including the shelved Gotham Central and Arkham Asylum series, so I figured why not?

The Penguin (also produced by Reeves) releasing its first episode a few days before this is legitimately a happy accident. I liked that first episode but don’t plan to do individual reviews. Maybe an overall series review when it’s over? We’ll see!

Notes and Trivia

Release Date: March 4^th, 2022

Directed: Matt Reeves

Written: Matt Reeves & Peter Craig

Cinematography: Greig Fraser

Music: Michael Giacchino

This film started out life as a Ben Affleck written and directed Synderverse movie featuring Deathstroke as the main villain, as teased in Justice League. When that whole universe went to shit Affleck started to slowly pull back, first from direction (enter Matt Reeves), and then exited entirely. Reeves has said Affleck’s script was good, but he wanted to do his own thing.

Key inspirations for the film include comics Year One, The Long Halloween, Batman: Ego, Batman: Last Days and Batman: No Man’s Land and movies Se7en, The Silence of the Lambs, All the President’s Men, Taxi Driver, The French Connection, Chinatown and Klute, plus the book Mindhunter.

Speaking of The Long Halloween, author Jeph Loeb briefly taught screenwriting at USC and Reeves was one of his students.

Pattinson was not only the first choice for the role, but Reeves wrote the script with him in mind after watching his performance in Good Time and reflecting on his career as a reluctant celebrity after Twilight. Luckily, Pattinson was actively asking around about Batman before even hearing about this film.

Jonah Hill was in talks to play The Penguin but disagreed a lot with Reeves over the character. Some feel the headline “Hill/Reeves Feud Escalates” in an episode of Batman: Caped Crusader is a reference to this purported spat, but I think it’s a BTAS callback.

I’m pretty sure Matt Reeves is a gamer, as there are more than a few similarities with Batman: The Telltale Series and a little bit of the Arkham trilogy as well.

Recap

The Riddler murders Gotham’s mayor on Halloween, sparking an investigation by Batman and Jim Gordon, following a string of clues to more bodies of various Gotham officials.

Through encounters with The Penguin, Carmine Falcone and Selina Kyle, Batman eventually discovers Riddler is trying to expose major political and police corruption.

Riddler is captured after murdering Falcone, and reveals his actions were inspired by Batman and that he has cultivated a ring of followers to enact an assassination on the new mayor.

Batman and Catwoman thwart the attempt, but massive flooding wreaks havoc on Gotham. Selina deems the city beyond saving and leaves, while Batman embraces becoming a symbol of hope.

Review

On first release two years ago I absolutely raved about this film to anybody that would listen, declaring Pattinson the best (live action) Batman to date, and would find myself thinking about a half dozen moments and scenes on an almost daily basis. I couldn’t wait to watch it again. I’ve thrown on the first half hour a LOT since then just to get a feel for it, because I think it may be the strongest thirty minutes of Batman ever.

The vibe Reeves is going for makes itself clear immediately, starting off with Riddler’s skin-crawling murder of the mayor, hidden in plain sight behind his victim, light from the TV barely reflecting off his glasses, before moving into Pattinson’s narration and the phenomenal Giacchino score. Halloween fits Batman like a glove, and the striking imagery of an incognito Bruce moving among masses of costumed strangers (particularly the ‘Drophead’) worked sublimely before we get our vaunted first appearance of The Dark Knight, beating the fuck out of some muggers. Every frame of this opening is expertly crafted, with Reeves and Greig Fraser working in perfect harmony, presenting a Gotham that may mostly just be Liverpool with some extra CGI bits, but still feels visually distinct and almost otherworldly. Bruce tearing through the streets on his bike while Nirvana’s ‘Something In the Way’ plays gives me the chills, and then the final pieces of the puzzle present themselves. On a first watch I thought the quality of writing of the narration was a little wanky, but then it’s revealed to be a diary entry by this dirty little emo version of Bruce and thus it’s absolutely note-perfect. If we ever get an opener as good as this in a Batman project again I’ll be stunned.

From there we move directly into the film’s default setting: a detective story. There have been some excellent Batman movies over the years, but they all chose to make theatrical mean bombastic action, and if you’ve learned anything about my tastes from this site it’s that I love me some sleuthing. Reeves allows the film to plod methodically, with our hero often standing sentinel, mutely observing crime scenes, creeping out everybody except Jim Gordon. Their relationship sings in this movie, with Jeffrey Wright’s affectation for constantly calling him “man” injecting some much needed levity. Their staged fight in GCPD to allow Bats to escape rules, including the somewhat controversial wingsuit scene where he totally eats shit after barely escaping the legion of cops. Personally I enjoy there being a smidge of clumsiness, and this is certainly a Batman that’s a little rough around the edges, smashing inelegantly through a window near the end for example. I also prefer when his fight scenes feel desperate, brawling his way through scores of thugs but never feeling like he’s totally mopping the floor with them, ending each sequence grunting and fighting for breath, as he is when he storms the Iceberg Lounge to meet Penguin and Catwoman.

I’ll talk a lot more about both in the villains section (Selina isn’t a villain here, but whatever), but their scenes continue to let the movie’s strengths shine through. Namely how much story is told silently; Bruce notices Selina’s eyes linger on a particular photograph and the audience is trusted to notice that too, moving us on to him lightly stalking her when she returns home in a scene that eerily mirrors Riddler in the opener, and then Bat/Cat’s first dance. This dynamic never misses, so they’re hardly inventing anything here, but I do think the actors’ immense chemistry surpasses any previous pairing outside the comics. Selina acting as Bruce’s eyes and ears as she scopes out 44 Below (extremely cute that the Iceberg Lounge has hidden depths below the surface) is really juicy, as she uses her wiles to navigate the corrupt patrons and gather intel, all the while providing smart commentary. Obviously the sewer goblin brigade don’t like her talking about how creepy men are when they stare, and later talking shit about white CEO trust fund types and that Batman obviously grew up rich due to his beliefs, but whatever. Grow up.

All of this only really encompasses the first hour of the film, and while I’m not going to say things take a nosedive from there, I do have to acknowledge that it’s an unnecessarily long movie, clocking in just shy of 3 hours. I don’t really know what I’d lose as the whole thing slots together intricately, marrying the Riddler murders with the Selina/Falcone/Penguin stuff and even bringing in Bruce’s history and his relationship with Alfred, all while giving Batman a journey from a violent spirit of vengeance to a shining symbol of hope. But yeah, pack a lunch, I guess.

I think the big reveal of the Gotham Relief Fund being pilfered by Falcone and the corrupt city officials was a really interesting direction to go in, and could prove to be instrumental to future stories. Firstly to my knowledge we’ve barely had any suggestions the Waynes were anything but saints, while this film is unafraid to briefly suggest Thomas had a reporter murdered to suppress a story about Martha. The Alfred hospital scene has been described as unearned by some, but I think you just have to come aboard a Batman story with the idea of Bruce & Alfred’s closeness in mind, and go with it when they do a death fakeout. On that note, I personally enjoyed that Bruce’s indifference to the Wayne side of his life proved to be key to the plot, turning another criticism – that there’s no Playboy Bruce persona – to their advantage. Like, that’s the whole point; This film demonstrates to Bruce why that side is needed. If he had taken meetings with his accountants and not left paperwork about the Gotham Relief Fund to gather dust in old filing cabinets he may have stumbled across the same evidence as Riddler before anybody got murdered. His lack of worldliness partially causes him to overlook the incorrect Spanish in one of Riddler’s clues too. I’m less jazzed about the possible teases of Hush, but hey, maybe he can finally be written well for once! I do understand this part of the film is maybe less interesting to some fans as it concerns a lot of original characters, but I actually like the choices Reeves made, and they do some really strong world-building through news broadcasts and papers.

Some people really don’t like the final set-piece at ‘Gotham Square Garden’, objecting to Bruce struggling to take down a handful of identically dressed Riddler followers, but this comes back to my above thoughts about struggle. To me it’s intensely boring if Batman is an unimpeachable fighter, the master of every known martial art, able to steamroll anybody short of Lady Shiva. These men are all packing rifles, they’re in the rafters of a giant arena, and time is very much of the essence, so I think the scene works great. If you have a problem with Selina saving his life or him shooting adrenaline to power him over the finish line, I really don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you’d be one of Riddler’s 500 forum followers.

My only real negative (aside from the runtime) is that the gritty tone ends up being a bit of a double-edged sword. For instance, Riddler’s attacks and the audio recording of Selina’s ‘friend’ being strangled to death drift into being uncomfortably realistic. Art should of course challenge audiences so that’s not a criticism in itself, but depending on your tolerance for this kind of stuff your mileage may vary. More so than that, I am a little worried about the future direction of Reeves’ Batman, especially with how bad his version of Joker comes across. There’s been a lot of speculation about which villains will appear in sequels, with rumours around Mr. Freeze (given it will take place around Christmas) and Clayface, only for Reeves to talk about certain characters not fitting their tone. I do get that a shapeshifting mud man would feel intensely out of place in this movie, but one of my criticisms of the Nolan trilogy was how slavish it was to realism at the expense of fully embracing the Batman of it all… so for Reeves to go way more in that direction gives me mixed feelings. I think it works really well for this first entry, essentially asking what if David Fincher directed a Batman film, but the notion of a trilogy that shies away from the campier aspects of the character doesn’t sound great to me. Changing Penguin’s last name to ‘Cobb’ for his series hasn’t helped any of this, though I guess the silver lining is we will end up with two concurrent visions for Batman when the shared-universe version debuts.

No matter how you feel about certain plot points though, it’s never anything short of gorgeous to look at and listen to. Whether it be the rooftop scenes, the demonic car chase, Riddler standing on the balcony at the funeral, or the triumphant rescue sequence, there’s no shortage of beautiful shots. If you’d told me Reeves would surpass Nolan’s efforts from a technical filmmaking perspective I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are. Perhaps Nolan is still ahead on the bonkers sense of scale, but this film is a far more intimate one, and the ending could hint at going larger next time.

Batman lighting a flare, acting as a literal beacon to trapped Gothamites, leading them to safety and working side by side with EMTs to pull people from the rubble is potentially the single most powerful calling card the film has going for it. Pattinson crushes the moment, looking genuinely confused and vulnerable when a woman reaches out to him in undying gratitude, before embracing his new status as a hero. No other Batman film has done anything like this, and I’m excited to see where it leads.

For me this is as good as live-action Batman has ever been.

Best Performance

It will never not be funny to me how much a lot of people freaked out when Robert Pattinson was cast as Batman, only familiar with him from Twilight. I had faith immediately, so imagine my sense of vindication when it turned out he’s excellent in the role, committing hard to being masked far more often than not. The choice to expose so much of his jawline certainly helped that, and I think this may be my favourite batsuit put to film to date. It’s sleek and allows a full range of movement, which goes hand in hand with his ability to give a performance driven by body language and his eyes. Obviously the part that’s missing is the playboy Bruce Wayne facade, but that’s 100% coming next time and there’s no way Pattinson doesn’t crush that. But he’s bringing it so hard as Batman here that I really don’t see how people can complain. I think he found a pretty perfect voice for the role too, not over the top gruff, allowing him to deliver a range of material without sounding ridiculous (sorry, Christian Bale.) Essentially he ticks every box the script demands of him. Emphatically.

The film is absolutely stuffed with great performances, particularly from Paul Dano, Colin Farrell and Jeffrey Wright, and to an only slightly lesser extent Zoe Kravitz, Andy Serkis and John Turturro, but this is a total one-horse race in my eyes.

Rogues Roundup

The Riddler (Paul Dano)

Pulling perhaps a little too heavily from The Zodiac Killer, I do ultimately enjoy their message board incel domestic terrorist angle… but it just warps the character a smidge too far from his whimsical base for me. It’s a great character for this movie, but not a wonderful Riddler if that makes sense?

Obviously he’s still leaving riddles – some of which lead to Batman delivering many of the funniest lines in the movie (“thumb… drive…” slays me every time I think about it) but the visceral, shrieking nature of his murders just doesn’t sit as right with me. I do think once he’s unmasked he rings far more true, with Dano shining in the Arkham scene, teasing that he may know Bruce’s secret, while also being a juicy hypocrite as he reveals he largely just wants attention and fame.

My favourite part of his characterisation is his misguided belief he and Batman are partners working together to exposure the truth. That is 100% a valid reading given how the narrative plays out, and many of their methods are similar. I already talked about the way they both get a scene where they creepily watch somebody from across the street, but they also both keep diaries full of rambling, and Riddler and his followers even end up parroting Bruce’s vengeance rhetoric, which makes our hero visibly uncomfortable. Batman having to come to terms with the fact he literally marched Falcone into position for Riddler to kill is great stuff. Finally there’s the whole deal where Riddler is disappointed to learn Bruce hadn’t solved the full puzzle and thus wasn’t as smart as he hoped… all the while unaware how close he was to solving Batman’s secret identity but whiffing on it. Good shit!

He’s a presence that looms large despite not having a tonne of screen time. I think he’s good! He’s just not necessarily overly Riddler-y in the traditional sense… which is fine in a bubble, but I fear what it could mean for future Rogues Gallery members.

Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz)

Not here because she’s even remotely a villain in this movie, but rather because across the 85 year history of the character she has generally been grouped with the Rogues Gallery, and I absolutely had to talk about her for a bit.

I love that she’s been established as an essential element of the mythos straight away. It’s perhaps not quite as explicit as Tom King’s assertion that she’s almost Batman’s equal, but they’re very much partners here. In Selina, Bruce has found somebody to relate to for the first time, as well as someone that excites him and makes it difficult to maintain his broody facade. Alfred catches him rewatching footage of her from their surveillance mission, and he instantly recognises the sound of her damn motorcycle!

Crucially though she’s not just an object for our hero to lust after, and its the closest I’ve seen a Catwoman adaptation come to tapping into her role as a protector of Gotham’s sex workers, homeless and vulnerable. It’s not fully realised and is more tied to somebody she personally knows, but given this element is missing entirely from everything short of the animated version of Year One, I will absolutely take it. Selina has her own motivations and journey independent of Batman, though unfortunately it does all lead back to a different man in Carmine Falcone. I do understand the criticism that she didn’t need this button to her arc, but it is hers at least. It also means you get Batman going to great lengths to talk her out of doing a revenge murder, and that’s a lane we haven’t gotten to see him play in much either. It gives Batman a preview of what would happen if he found his parents’ killer and lets him functionally talk himself back from that edge. Plus in the end they take turns saving each other, so she’s by no means a damsel.

I’m really curious to see how her character is handled in future instalments.

The Penguin (Colin Farrell)

Obviously they should have cast an actor closer to the appearance they’re going for rather than hiring an extremely conventionally attractive man and putting a fat suit and so many prosthetics on him that he’s borderline unrecognisable. So much so he was able to go to Starbucks in costume and nobody knew who he was.

But he’s really good, is the thing! He’s able to pull off some truly bizarre facial expressions through all the prosthetics and he seemed to be having the time of his life. My favourite scene for him is the botched interrogation where he hams it up, mocks Batman and Gordon, and is just really funny. There’s an aloof and comedic energy to the performance that allows much needed levity when things get upsettingly grim. More movies need key henchmen/generals!

Carmine Falcone (John Turturro)

Many feel the Falcone corner of this script is unnecessary, particularly adapting Dark Victory‘s reveal that Selina Kyle is his illegitimate daughter. However much like Farrell, I’m afraid Turturro is just far too good for me to be mad. He’s obviously got the mobster lingo down pat, but he’s also got a creepy swagger to him that comes from being completely untouchable. Having the dirty cop claim Falcone has functionally been the mayor for twenty years is a great line, and his actions towards Selina are truly repulsive.

From ostensibly hitting on her (unaware of their relationship) to trying to strangle her to death even after learning the truth, this is a true scumbag, but more than that, he’s a scumbag who ties the entire narrative together. He was involved with Bruce’s parents, he’s Selina’s father and killed her mother, he was perhaps the biggest player in the secret conspiracy, he runs the drug ring that is reported on throughout the film (and is playing a continuing role in The Penguin!) and is the Riddler’s final (direct) victim, facilitating his capture.

The Joker (Barry Keoghan)

Urgh. I’m really disappointed they put Joker in this film. While my hopes they’d resist going to the character at all across the trilogy were probably unrealistic, he absolutely did not need to be in this first film, especially as the end is so good and this just detracts from it. Reeves swears it’s not meant to directly set up the sequel, but rather to say ‘Hey, he’s already in play’ but it feels inevitable.

I’m legitimately concerned about the future of the series based on their take on him. Keoghan is a really good actor, and in theory I’d be excited for him to play the role… but what’s on screen is alarming. His proper appearance in the film is relatively short and mostly just whatever, but Warner Bros. released a deleted scene where Batman interrogates him in Arkham to try and help catch Riddler and it’s extremely rough stuff. Like an AI-generated mash-up of Heath Ledger and Cameron Monaghan.

I’m just a little sick of this more physically repulsive ‘wow what a dark, twisted psycho’ version of the character and want a little more showmanship to return. People may read that and think I mean high-camp (nothing wrong with that!) but I do think there’s a balance to be struck, rather than barrelling headlong into an edge-lord competition against an immortal performance. It’s been done. Go another way.