Batman, one of the greatest myths of contemporary times. Hundreds of comics, novels, episodes of television series, fanfiction and of course nine films including this youngest directed by Matt Reeves . The task of making a new feature film on the greatest detective in the world is immense, as the expectations are high. Every little bit of promotion was scrutinized, every casting choice was discussed until exhaustion. But it's finally here this new Batman, the most anticipated film of the year. And damn it was awesome .
It must be said that the project had everything to be successful. At the realization we find Matt Reeves , a director who today serves as an exceptional figure in the Hollywood system. He has been able to make very big budget blockbusters, which are both huge commercial and critical successes. We obviously think of the last two Planet of the Apes but also of Cloverfield . And what is all the more interesting is that the scenario written by Ben Affleck (when he still intended to play the vigilante of Gotham) is thrown in the trash to allow Reeves and his co-screenwriter Peter Craig to have a more great creative freedomby writing their own film. The writing work of Matt Reeves was particularly interesting on the Planet of the Apes in particular because he made the characters oppose first before it was simply good and evil . So these movies are always more complex and not just ape = nice and human = bad. By placing his characters, with various objectives, in confrontation, Reeves had been able to create an exciting plot from which we emerged troubled and conquered. This creative freedom is also felt in the length of the film: three hours that are never boring and never simplistic .
Al Pacino in The Godfather – Part 3
Let's start right away by talking about the movie, and its most obvious aspect: Gotham has never looked so good . The Batman is a wonderful film and cinematographer Greig Fraser gives one of his best performances here . Handling the shadows with talent, he gives this urban environment an almost mythological aspect. Gotham is no longer just a corrupt city, it's becoming corruption itself. The chiaroscuros constantly remind us of the duality that tortures all the characters in the film , where the twilight of the day brings a glimmer of hope, the night, on the contrary, reminds us that Pattinson 's Batmanis not a saviour. He is danger and fear. The film knows more than that, and despite the darkness, to be very readable in these action scenes. These are the best Batman fight scenes in movies , only Arkham gamesmanaged to do better. Thanks to a superb management of the space and the framework, one always knows where the characters are during the confrontations. Batman chained the powerful blows, which are felt perfectly thanks to the very dry sound environment of the film. We hear the leather of the costume stretching, we hear the breathing of the vigilante quicken and above all we finally hear the bones of the criminals breaking. And what about this sublime chase where we always understand the stakes and the dangers. Never had the power of the Batmobile been filmed so well. For this sublime pursuit alone, the film deserves its five stars .
Bat-tuture
By merging the more gothic aspects of the city (reminiscent of the legacy of Tim Burton or Bruce Timm) and the feeling that this city of Gotham is tangible (as Christopher Nolan notably did), Matt Reeves create something extremely beautiful and sad at the same time. Gotham has never been more alive, and yet it's on the brink of death. More and more inequalities, demonstrations, murders and monsters are living on the back of the city, it is on the verge of collapse. It is at the heart of this bubbling Gotham, in which all of America's problems are confined, that the film's best asset arrives: its characters .
Robert Pattinson 's Batman is the fruit of this decadent city. Violent, dark and tortured : he embodies here all the despair to which the citizens of Gotham succumbed. He is the fruit of their nightmares and Pattinson perfectly embodies the torments of this character. One of his greatest roles, and probably the most successful interpretation of the Batman so far. His Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, lacks a bit of development. He's very interesting as the city's elite who seem to have given up hope of saving her, but he ultimately shows very little of his trauma as Bruce Wayne, it's in Batman's actions that his tormented spirit is the most visible. A young vigilante, only acting for two years, who flirts dangerously with the notions of the vigilantes. In a world where hope is dead, Batman has given in to ultra-violence and the close-ups of his mad gaze succeed in a few seconds in representing all the darkness of the film. No more jokes in series and movies straight out of a factory , Matt Reeves reminds us here that comics are a mirror of our own world. ForThe Batman all is already lost, there is no escape. Until that dazzling finale. Until these last scenes where the cinema comes to remind us that hope still exists. That all is not lost for both Gotham and the Hollywood system. Until this climax where Batman reminds us that all it takes is a candle to dispel darkness.
The best feature of the film .
To come back to the rest of the main cast: Zoé Kravitz embodies Catwoman again, after the Lego Batman moviefrom 2017. A fairly simple role, taking up several classic elements of his character's mythology. Especially on all the duality it represents, straddling the world of criminals and that of heroes. This notion of duality is constantly questioned in the film and from the very first scenes. I am thinking in particular of the confrontation in the metro where a young criminal, only half of whose face is painted, representing the fact that he is not completely lost. Batman also leaves him a chance to change his life, just as he will do everything to help Selina Kyle. Faced with his characters constantly hesitating between the path of hope and that of darkness, Batman does everything possible to save them. Rather ironic when you notice that he failed to save himself.
Matt Reeves recalls his favorite actor, Andy Serkis , for the role of Alfred. A butler who here serves mostly as a contrast to show us how unrecoverable Bruce Wayne seems. Finally, despite the three hours of the film, it is not present enough as Reeves' film focuses on those close to Batman rather than those close to Bruce Wayne. And it is precisely Lieutenant Gordon, played by Jeffrey Wright , who benefits here from a more important treatment. Like the other characters in the film James Gordon obviously seems exhausted by the darkness of Gotham, but he embodies a glimmer of hope by remaining faithful to his moral principles. One of the most present characters in the film, and that's good so muchwe are finally dealing with an honest and powerful Gordon at the same time . We feel all his will to fight against the corruption that is eating away at his city, he is always on the nerves (I am thinking of this magnificent scene at the police station) and it is his will that prevents the city from sinking. By trusting a hero from the shadows, Gordon allows Gotham to see a glimmer of hope. After this performance we can only look forward to the spin-off series on the GCPD .
Good Cop and Bat Cop
But as always in works dealing with Gotham, the most captivating characters are the antagonists. And here in three hours, Reeves takes the time to carefully portray these monsters , created by American society. John Turturo plays a fantastic Carmine Falcone, an arrogant and powerful underworld godfather thanks to the sincerity of his acting. The main antagonist of the film, a more realistic and violent version of the mystery man is played by Paul Dano . Alternating different ranges of games between sadistic and mysterious killer from Zodiac , or brutal and grandiloquent terrorist from Saw , Paul Dano isone of the best adaptations of comic book villains . We just regret his tendency to sometimes do too much, not at the level of a Jim Carrey either but all the same a bit too much. Once again, the main interest of this character is to put the Batman myth into perspective. What's so different about them? The very first scene in the film sees the Riddler using his binoculars before entering through the canopy. A few scenes later Batman will also use binoculars before blowing up the canopy during the climax. There are many parallels between the two characters throughout the film. Both are just monsters created by Gotham. They have the same goal to achieve: to shed light on the darkest secrets of this city on the edge of the abyss.
The one whose performance is the most refreshing is Colin Farrell who embodies The Penguin. He flies over the scenes in which he is present, and despite his very heavy prostheses, he manages to give extremely funny facial expressions to his character, without making him a ridiculous gang leader. It has been pointed out to me that he sometimes looks like a bad De Niro lookalike and despite everything, I love this penguin. This winged rat.
What is most interesting in these characters is the way Reeves places them in resonance with each other. In this fog that is Gotham the lines separating the villains from the heroes no longer exist. Batman, Catwoman, the Riddler and the Penguin are all prisoners of their past. The traumas of their respective childhoods forced them to become Freaks . They all manage, at the end of the film, to look to a more ambitious future. Their commonalities accumulate again and again. Reeves takes his work on Planet of the Apes and improves it even more: there are no longer any limits between the different camps.Bruce Wayne is a self-destructive addict to violence. Above all, The Batman tells the story of a broken man who, by rebuilding himself, will become a true hero. The quest of the film is simply Bruce Wayne who must find his way, what limits does he want to set himself?
An original emo period
The Batman is a dark movie. This is partly due to his many influences. A compendium of tortured, desperate, almost nihilistic cinema. First of all, one of Reeves ' most obvious references is, of course, the American thriller of the 2000s, mainly ruled by David Fincher. The Riddler's clothing style is reminiscent of Zodiac, but it's mostly the Batman and Gordon investigations that come to reference Seven . For the first time in cinema, Batman is finally portrayed for what he is: the greatest detective in the world. The Batman finally comes to justify the name of Detective Comics .The investigation can sometimes seem a bit long , especially since the Riddler likes Batman to come back to the same puzzles over and over. A murderous cycle that nothing seems to be able to stop. This whole affair has been repeated year after year, and the two who want to put an end to it are the Riddler and Batman. This little boy who sees his father die in the opening inevitably recalls the young Bruce Wayne who saw his parents being killed. The film opens with the Ave Maria and ends with the Riddler still humming this music, an endless loop of violence. Their final confrontation also takes place in a circular place, Batman literally explodes the cycle of corruption that poisons Gotham.
Reeves ' inspirations go even further than American thrillers, notably by taking up certain codes from noir and neo-noir films . We think of the extremely gloomy atmosphere of the film, almost depressing, but also of more traditional codes like this voice-over of a Bruce Wayne who guides us through the darkness. Batman is the quintessential hero of a film noir: he roams the streets, never seeming to belong . This can also be seen in the way he constantly sacrifices himself for his city, killing himself to the task until the ultimate sacrifice. " You'll end up leaving your skin there ," Catwoman told him. He knows it, and he will do it anyway.
Leather capes and boots
With The Batman , Matt Reeves reminds us that superheroes are not a genre in cinema, it's a theme. Directors have the power to do with it what they want. It is in particular for this reason that Reeves decides to make his work, a very great horror film . Monsters aren't always what you think and the American director is determined to prove it, especially by filming the bat like a slasher killer . This idea is noticeable when Batman appears in the frame, still stepping out of the shadows, the sound of his heavy footsteps indicating his approach, like a screamer .Some scenes of the film are masterpieces of horror, especially the introductory scene which uses many codes. From the first seconds Matt Reeves imposes his mark, an indelible mark. As a warning to all studios in the world.
With The Batman , Matt Reeves has succeeded in the completely crazy bet of making the best of films on the bat. He paid tribute to him, in particular by updating his investigative side. Above all, the film allows us to see how Batman is a modern and eternal myth. His story still seems as topical when we observe the various social movements around the world. By making a whole intrigue on the anger of a people, on the warnings that the latter address to their elected officials, The Batmanmakes it possible to make his words resonate with a bubbling topicality. Gotham is you and me. Gotham is us. And as the film reminds us: we still have the choice to choose hope over darkness and anger. The subject of the Batman and his mask is eternal: identity does not matter, everyone can be a hero. Including you .
The Batman in theaters March 2, 2022.
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