DARKNESS. NO PARENTS!
Brooding, dark, compelling, dense, atmospheric. Everything a Batman film should be.
I want to discuss the three things I wanted from this film and the four that we got.
1) I wanted a detective story.
There are elements of Batman’s detective roots throughout his filmography, but never a fully focused tale set in one. Mixing The Long Halloween, Year One (some Year Two), and Earth One tales in here allowed genius. Realizing Riddler has a serial killer akin to the Zodiac in real life allowed the story to focus, as this villain is a good foil for Batman’s will and mind. I’ve always read a good Batman villain should challenge two of three (the third being his body) and really all are tested here. The story has misdirected, red herrings, nice twists but plenty of breadcrumbs for those paying attention. While Batman shows his smarts and has helped, I appreciate that. Gordon was a great partner for him, and I hope they explore that in further sequels. Which we know there will be.
2) I wanted full-on martial art, Arkham-style Batman
With a stronger sense of choreography, precision, and visual style to go along with it. I enjoy the TDK trilogies’ action scenes, but some are edited to death, and others are more of Batman’s defensive fighting style. It’s cool, but I was ready for something different. The Batman mostly delivered, with wide shots edited perfectly to allow us to see the action and stunts shine. I could’ve gone for a bit more, especially in the third act. I still feel that the entire conflict was a bit brief, yet I appreciate how it focused on a character through combat. The martial arts are still a lot of boxing and krav maga, but the use of weaponry and the general brutal nature of it gave me Arkham game vibes. I hope in the future we see even more of his kung fu nature come out. While the fights are good, and ultimately what I wanted, it’s still BvS gave that us the ultimate Bat-fight sequence. With the exception of one thing, and that brings me to….
3) I wanted a FIRM, no-kill rule.
The 90’s bat films are very ok with a no-kill rule, making him essentially the punisher. Bale’s films take the stance, but are consistently hypocritical (Bruce blowing up a village of ninjas to save a murderer and Gotham, letting Ra’s die, sort of letting Bane die) or force him into situations where he has to (Harvey Dent, the other batmobile henchmen in TDKR). And while I really appreciate BvS making it a part of his arc by suggesting, and even stating he has become unrecognizable and cruel to the point of not just self-defense killings (that he seemingly was always ok with when it was necessary, we don’t know for sure ) or manslaughter, but premeditated murder. And even when Batfleck changes in the end, he still kills a bunch of goons to save Martha Kent, mostly out of desperation and self-defense. That Batman does what he has to when he has to and doesn’t tout any kind of hypocrisy. Battinson never tries to kill anyone save the last guy when he’s stopped out of a drug-induced rage but is still unfortunately privy to some civilian casualties in the highway chase with Penguin (not Bat’s fault though). He keeps Selina from murdering, telling the oh-so-famous “you’ll become just like them” but then it goes deeper. “He has to pay,” someone says, holding a gun to someone else’s head. and Batman replies “you don’t have to pay with him, you’ve paid enough.” Adding layers to his ethos. Incredible, and it says so much about Reeves honoring the most mainstream view of Batman, even when we know it’s not ever been consistent in any medium. There are always exceptions.
4) I didn’t even specify it, but deep down I wanted strong themes, but in music and story.
Giacchino delivers musical epics in spades, from soft and scary, to dark and brooding, to triumphant and hopeful, all the while being easy to hum. Beneath all of the darkness, Batman’s realization that vengeance has changed, but not what he intended, is disturbing. The epiphany to become the symbol of hope for Gotham, to become its “Dark Knight” is on display with conviction, poignancy, and warmth. Themes of escalation, revenge, pain, family, unity, fear, corruption, and redemption are treated with respect, not beaten over your head. I ate it up.
Hats off to you, Mr. Reeves. Just give us more Andy Serkis Alfred next time.
DUNNNNN. DUN DUN, DUN. DUNNN.
5 out of 5 stars
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