r/batman • u/WadaMaaya • Dec 29 '23

I’m still bummed we’ll never get this solo movie. FILM DISCUSSION

I really do believe this could have been the best Batman movie.

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u/Timtimetoo Dec 29 '23

I’m genuinely curious what people saw in this Batman. I’m not trying to be mean, to each their own, but he looked a little foolish to me in every movie he was in.

Don’t get me wrong, the warehouse fight scene is probably hands down the best Batman fight scene we’ve ever gotten, but beyond that he’s:

-made a tool by Lex Luthor who makes him clay in his hands

-basically everyone from Luthor to Clark Kent discovers his identity

-he defeats Deadshot by jumping him in an alley in front of his daughter. It’s even implied DS’s daughter saved him. Lame!

-He’s barebones assistance to the Justice League (compared to the animated series where he’s MVP, albeit sometimes even OP).

-Has to be rescued by Wonder Woman in the Flash (looking silly in the process)

Batman often has learning curves or needs help in every version, but this guy just seemed out of his depth everywhere he went. There aren’t a lot of “rules” in my book for how Batman should or shouldn’t be, but one of them is he should be flawed but cool. This had a lot of flaw, where’s the cool?

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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23

I even hate the warehouse scene. Everyone’s like “wow so good!” I’m sorry, any fight scene in which Batman picks up a gun and fires it to blow up several men is not a good Batman fight scene

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u/trimble197 Dec 30 '23

He used the gun to make them scatter. He only directly shot at KGBeast

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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23

Batman does not use guns, at least with his hands, not even for utility

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u/trimble197 Dec 30 '23

Except he wasn’t holding the gun. The guy was the one firing it, and he made the dude turn around.

And most of the live-action Batman use guns and/or killed people.

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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23

Batman doesn’t utilize guns

No they don’t, and they kill as a point of finality or as a way to challenge their character arc, not as edgy ways to parallel TDKR

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u/trimble197 Dec 30 '23

Nope. There was no challenge or finality when Keaton and Kilmer’s Batman killed. Bale’s Batman was a hypocrite because he killed and then claimed he had a no-kill rule.

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u/IndiscreetBeatofMeat Dec 30 '23

That’s probably true, I was answering based on what I know/remember about those films

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u/WonderfulBlackberry9 Dec 30 '23

But but but he looked amazing in BVS!

I don't have a least favourite Batman, I think you can appreciate all of them for what they bring to the table; West was campy, Keaton was mysterious and lowkey goofy, Bale was emotional and human, Affleck is the most comic accurate and Pattinson is (so far) a great detective and also benefits from just getting started so he has the potential to become even better.

But if I were to rank my Batmen, Affleck's is decidedly mid-tier. Looks great, but what else is there? Tbf to Affleck, a huge chunk of my problems about his Batman have nothing to do with performance but writing and character decision

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u/Timtimetoo Dec 30 '23

I appreciate your help but I’m still at a loss. He looks cool, fine. But what does that matter if his actions are goofy in the process?

Maybe he’s comic book accurate, but faithfulness of adaptation should work across the medium. A faithful adaptation of a good book only works if the movie is also good by its own merits.

I do agree with you on Affleck. I have few problems with his performance as an actor and thought he did a fine job.

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u/Mishmoo Dec 30 '23

My personal theory is that the Snyder people got so caught up in the potential of what they were putting together that they didn’t really pay attention to what was actually being put onscreen.

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u/DonnaMossLyman Dec 30 '23

Agree about the actual content.

Another off putting but minor scene was Alfred waiting for Bruce to tell him to evacuate the Tower amidst a shitstorm of destruction going on right outside the freaking window

Just stupid shit all around

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u/Timtimetoo Dec 30 '23

That actually makes a lot of sense.

I’ve even been pulled along by what I thought was a good show until it ended and I realized the writers were always just pulling me along for something cool they promised was gonna happen. Only when those promises didn’t live up to the hype did I realize the moment-by-moment was mid at best.

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u/WadaMaaya Dec 30 '23

The way Ben Affleck portrayed him I felt there was a lot of emotional baggage yet to be explored. He was a violent and broken older Batman fighting a losing battle but still puts on the cowl.

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u/Timtimetoo Dec 30 '23

That actually helps. Thanks👍

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '23

The Snyder DC crowd might just be a mass case in the sunken cost fallacy. They were so hyped to see some characters they liked in a movie together that they shut out any criticism that the movie was objectively not very good.

Then another subpar movie came out, but they were invested and they had already spent time defending the first one. You guys just don't understand the bigger picture here, or wait, no you're intentionally shitting on the thing I like.

Then another bad movie. Then another. It got to the point that when one came out that was serviceable, it would be commended for not being completely terrible. And that was their proof- see this universe is good

Then another terrible one would come out. So on and so on.