Review: The Batman

I'm going to keep this as Spoiler-free as possible, for those who are still on the fence about seeing it, but some may sneak through. You have been warned.

I'll admit, most of what I know about Batman comes from movies, the Animated Series, fanfiction, and the occasional comic. So, I'm not going to argue about this movie in relation to the creater DC Canon, or anything like that, with the exception of one of two comparison points.

A Brief Summary

"The Batman" is an Origins Movie.

Batman is just beginning his Vigilante Career, still working out the kinks in both what his Mission is, and how he should go about it. He himself questions if this is the right way to go about things, acknowledging that he can't be everywhere and wondering if this is really the best way to help. This is a Batman who has conviction that he needs to do something, but he's still figuring out the details of what that something is.

It's refreshing.

It's also a young Batman who still sees a lot of things in black and white, rather than complex shades of grey, and hasn't yet found the balance between his two personas. He's consumed by the Mission, and has yet to work out that Gotham needs Bruce Wayne as much as it needs Batman.

What use is terrifying the criminals if they don't have a non-crime alternative to turn their lives around?

In the opening scene, we see a young gang member, not yet fully initiated and clearly reluctant with bashing or mugging random civilians, but just as clearly with few other choices in life. We see drug addicts with no-where to go to get clean, a broken system filled with people just trying to survive, and not getting the help they need. This is also re-enforced throughout the movie: if you're Tough On Crime but lacking in support and rehabilitation services, then as a Society you're creating the very criminals you punish.

It's a good look at why both Batman and Bruce Wayne are necessary, something that a lot of adaptations tend to forget.

I'll start with the good.

It's nice to see the return of Bruce's Intimidating IQ

Batman's superpower isn't just his money, despite what DC's Justice League film would have you believe.

Sure, Wayne Enterprises gives him his fancy gadgets to play with, but his bat-themed gadgets aren't what make him the World's Greatest Detective. Batman's greatest strength has always been his brain. His ability to take the smallest details and put them together into a greater whole. His talent for reading people and personalities.

It's another thing that a lot of recent adaptations - Yes, I'm looking at you, Dark Knight, Batman does not need to be spoon-fed information - tend to bypass in favor of making Batman an Action Hero.

"The Batman" is more of a return to the Adam West films, where Batman spends as much time in the BatCave looking over evidence and clues as he does beating up criminals.

The ambiguous time period

Fact: the Gothic architecture in this movie is gorgeous!

What I really found interesting, however, is that aside from one or two things - a brief shot of dates on a gravestone, live broadcasting from electronic billboards, the existence of USBs - there is almost nothing that explicitly dates what time period "The Batman" takes place in.

The glasses worn by Riddler and Jim Gordon have a very 70s vibe, while Penguin and the mobster's suits hint at anything from 50's mafia to the retro trend of the 80s to late 90s. Wayne manor has a rotary phone, while other characters with reason to possess cutting edge technology have flip-phones or smartphones, and the Batmobile has a car-phone, which existed as early as 1946. The electronic billboards hint at late 90s or early 00s, but could also be earlier or later.

If not for the aforementioned 5-second shot of dates on a gravestone, "The Batman" could realistically be taking place anytime in the last 50 or so years.

That's an impressive feat for any movie set in the real world to pull off.

Thomas and Martha Wayne as more than symbols

The Waynes are remembered through the trauma and idealism of an eight-year-old boy, and elevated to near-sainthood as a result.

One thing that "The Batman" does very right is to bring them a little more down to earth. Thomas Wayne and Martha Arkham-Wayne (following the Batman: Earth One continuity rather than Martha being a Kane) are human.

Well-intentioned and desiring to give back and use their money for a good cause, absolutely. But they also had understandable flaws. They made mistakes and did their best. They loved their son and wanted to protect him and give him a good life. They left a legacy that could have done great things, but became tainted because they died and the only person able to do anything about their charities was a grieving eight year old.

Good people can still do bad things, and Bad people can be sympathetic (but still bad)

I've never been shy about admitting that I love a good sympathetic villain. An Erik Killmonger or Mr Freeze or Magneto. Someone whose motivations you can get behind, but still condemn for their explicitly wrong actions.

Riddler is more of the same. Portrayed here as an orphan with a formidable IQ and a sense of justice, he's a semi-subtle call-out to Batman's privilege in having a caring guardian and inherited fortune and company. He sees something wrong and goes to impressive lengths to expose the corruption, but his methods of doing so are not what anyone sane would call acceptable.

Of course, none of the Gotham Rogues were ever really playing with a full deck to begin with, but...

Another thing I love is a Good Guy who isn't a saint.

As Alfred explains on-screen, a Crime-Lord was trying to smear the Waynes by exposing Martha's personal and family history of mental health struggles. After legal means failed to stop an aspiring journalist from running the story, Thomas Wayne turned to less-legal ones, but failed to account for him and Falcone having very different definitions of "killing" an unfavorable news story.

Gotham Civil leadership is shown to be obviously corrupt, from the District Attorney's office down to the majority of GCPD. Even Jim Gordon, usually the epitome of the Good Cop and Moral Lawkeeping, isn't completely clean, and his partnership with Batman is shown as the extra-judicial side-step that it technically is, even if it does get the job done and bypass corrupt superiors.

Likewise, Catwoman is at her Anti-hero best, working toward justice in her own way, but unconcerned with legalities or Morality as long as it accomplishes her goal. She's also the more centrist mouthpiece of the fact that the systems that are supposed to protect the vulnerable often fall down on the job if they don't have an incentive to succeed, and sometimes the only way for the vulnerable to get justice is to take it. She's contrasted with Batman and Riddler's more extreme positions on the matter; Batman's admittedly biased conviction that while he is a vigilante, he still trusts the legal system to do it's job, and Riddler's "burn it down and salt the earth" approach.

The Ending

Just as the movie starts with a voiceover emphasized by subtle music and silent imaging, it ends with the same. It wraps up the movie while still leaving it open for sequels, not an easy thing to do well.

Batman has realized the flaws in his approach of focusing on the Mission to the point of neglecting his Civilian side, and resolves to do better. His focus is on protecting the innocent as much as punishing the guilty, and it's a glimmer of hope going forward.

The subplots are also wrapped up well, yet open-ended. Catwoman leaves, her goals accomplished, but might be drawn back in the future. The new Mayor is committed to justice and social progress (and no, it's not a coincidence that a grassroots, young black woman candidate replaced an older, white male deeply entrenched in the System of connections, favors and ends justifying the means...) The Penguin is poised to move into the Underworld Power Gap, but it wouldn't be the first time his arrogance at his perceived neutral untouchability got the better of him...

It's on par with Twilight, where the ending was unironically one of the best parts of the movie. (Yes, I know...)

The Batsuit and Robert Pattinson's jawline

I couldn't wrap up the good without mentioning both of these.

Unlike it's Comic counterparts and even previous movie versions, this Batsuit is practical, designed for stealth as much as combat. The classic design is there, likely re-enforced with some kind of body armor, but take off the mask and throw on a jacket and Batman can pass for any other citizen with a taste for black. The weapons aren't just in his utility belt, either. There are small blades on the gauntlets and strapped to the thigh, designed for a quick draw. Even the batsymbol is detachable, with sharpened edges capable of cutting through steel cables.

Some masks have verged on silly or comical in appearance (not naming names, but you have to admit...) but not this one. It looks damn intimidating, and the costuming department definitely took the actor's profile into account when making it. That jawline was already a work of art, but the mask subtly emphasizes it into a masterpiece.

But no movie, not even Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, is perfect, so without further ado... The Bad:

Can We Impose Runtime Limits?

The Batman is a long movie, even when compared to other Big Studio Action films, clocking in at about three hours, not including credits. Normally, I'd see that as good value for money, given the price of tickets these days, but there is such a thing as a movie being too long, especially when it can be streamlined.

Which leads to the second point...

Shakespeare-Level Monologues

There are a lot of monologues in this film, long enough to verge on a Soliloquy from Hamlet or Othello. And it's not just the Voiceover Prologue/Epilogue, either; everyone gets an extensive monologue here. Batman, Alfred, Riddler, Falcone, Penguin, Catwoman, Officer Kinzie... the list goes on.

They're good monologues, and move the plot forward, unlike certain other movies (Again, those movies know who they are) but they could easily be streamlined quite a bit.

Grimdark Ending

This is more of a personal preference, but the ending is a bit too grim for my taste. Part of this is because of how real the climax was; we notice the damage and potential body count more than the implied death toll from exploding buildings or Joker/Scarecrow gas attacks in other movies. I liked the ending and thought it was good from a cinematic and screenwriting standpoint, but I could have done with extending it to show more recovery and less grit.

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