The Batman

As you would expect, the latest version of the comic-book yarn that began with Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 is a top shelf production yet it is a very different approach to the Bruce Wayne story. Gone is Burton’s Gothic cartoon sensibility as director Matt Reeves descends further into the darker depths instigated by Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005. Indeed Reeves, best known for Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes (2014) and a 2017 sequel (neither of which I have seen) appears to be delving into the mentally disturbed world of David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) and the dystopian landscape of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). The Batman is both metaphorically and literally a very dark film. Blacks, leaden greys and smears of boggy browns predominate, the rare splashes of colour coming from occasional washes of neon in a film set almost entirely at night and often underground.

If Reeves’ work is impressive (and his film has been lauded Stateside) the problem that some may have with it is that as a franchise film it does not, as does, say, The Godfather trilogy, give us its main protagonist’s journey but instead rolls out yet another iteration of the original story. This means that we know what to expect both narratively and formally. Reeves’ Bruce Wayne is still the reclusive billionaire traumatized by witnessing the murder of his parents as a child who has dedicated his life to purging Gotham City of crime and corruption. Once again an arch villain, this time The Riddler (Paul Dano), is preparing to wreak havoc on his hometown. And in this Herculean battle the conclusion is foregone. Likewise, we know how the action is going to go down: slam, thwack punch-ups in darkened alleys, a couple of gun battles, a motorway free-for-all and Alfred (Andy Serkis) as Batman’s loyal-to-a-flaw butler.

Mercifully Reeves doesn’t try to outpace Nolan or Burton maintaining instead a restrained and quite lugubrious tone to the material. Aside from this more "realistic" approach, the primary point of difference is Robert Pattison’s Batman even though as most of the time he is in costume there is not a whole lot for him to work with. Bruce’s neuroses have always been part of the character, making Batman a unlikely super-hero. Pattison’s portrayal of the haunted scion, is the most emo interpretation yet and suits the overall glumness of the film, which is sort of interesting, but on the other hand no one is going to accept his pale undernourished frame as that of the Caped Crusader.

For the rest, co-writers Reeves and Peter Craig revive some of the characters seen in previous iterations. In a brave attempt to resuscitate Catwoman after the disastrous 2004 film of the same name, Zöe Kravitz plays her as a perky gamine but the outcome. at least on Batman is not a particularly convincing. Then again Bruce/Batman has always been portrayed with an air of sexual repression about him so perhaps that was intentional.  Colin Farrell goes completely to waste as The Penguin and a shouty Paul Dano as The Riddler is far less effective as a psychopath than he was in There Will Be Blood (2007).

But that is the problem with The Batman - it falls somewhere between comic-book hyperbole and real human drama.The former is familiar stuff and the latter a brave attempt to by Reeves to put his stamp on oft-visited material. But at the end of the day who really cares?

 

Want something different?