I've been meaning to post here about The Batman for awhile now, since I'm a huge fan of the character myself and I'd been waiting for this film for
years. Ever since Matt Reeves was announced to direct it in Spring 2017, actually.
All in all, The Batman is probably my new favorite entry in the franchise. It's a tough call for me, as I also really, really love Batman Returns and The Dark Knight too. Ultimately all three films excel in certain things over one another. For instance, as far as traditional blockbuster action films go, The Dark Knight is a masterclass in that genre. Batman Returns is weirder and definitely the most "flawed" of the lot, but it
shines as a mood-piece. It's more of a quirky arthouse Christmas thriller that happens to feature wildly unique interpretations of Batman characters.
And The Batman... just feels like
BATMAN. More than Nolan, more than Burton, Schumacher or Snyder. Matt Reeves' interpretation with the character for writing and visual aesthetic is eerily aligned with my personal interpretation of the character that I've had in my head of almost two decades' worth of reading Batman comics, and watching the films, the Animated Series for even longer.
Previously I felt that Nolan generally got a lot of the core mythology right, albeit with a Gotham City that looked increasingly less like "Gotham City" with each passing film and Bruce's psychology often feeling like it was being "Told, not Shown," which led to my perception of Bale's Bruce being a bit too much of an "Everyman" for my liking. Hardly the end of the world and it generally worked for the story that Nolan was telling. I also appreciated Nolan's willingness to take a step out of tradition and show audiences what could happen if Bruce was ever able to break out of his trauma and death wishes and find proper happiness for himself. I know Samsara and I have debated on the interpretation of TDKR's ending ever since it came out a decade ago (
), but still, I think it's a safe bet that Bale's Bruce never comes out of retirement after the end of TDKR.
The Batman isn't a perfect film, there's some rough patches here and there that I think could have been tightened up and fixed, but so much of what's going on in the film comes from a place of earnestness, collective passion from everyone involved and by extension, the film is a mountain of incredible talent all working together on a unified vision.
Topic: The Batman (non-spoiler review) - edited after second viewing on 3/6 (Read 5401 times)