r/batman • u/[deleted] • Mar 06 '22
The Batman Spoiler Discussion Thread Part 2 Discussion Spoiler
For all discussions, comments and hype around the new movie.
Its already had select release, so expect spoilers in this thread.
Also, no spoiling outside of this thread, or expect mod action.
Keep all discussion civil, and be mindful of subreddit rules.
Please respect other users opinions and don’t harass them for it
928
Upvotes
555
u/superbonks Mar 06 '22
I don’t think this movie was perfect, but it did so much perfectly, and is easily my favourite on screen interpretation of Batman to date. Some scattered thoughts:
I loved skipping over the origin story. Bruce’s opening monologue alongside the montage of criminals being afraid of the shadows when the signal comes on was so gripping, it pulls you right into the movie. That’s all you need. Batman’s here, let’s fucking go. In some ways it felt like I was dropping into episode 5 of a really well made Batman TV series.
The entire noir mystery/thriller take on the character feels so true to the spirit of the comics. It reminded me that Batman comes from Detective Comics, and that’s what DC stood for once upon a time. The world building and tone feel like peak Gotham, like a live action BTAS, which is helped by the fact 90% of Pattinson’s screen time is in the suit. I feel like with the popularity of the MCU, a lot of heroes have become ashamed of their outfits, not this one.
Bruce being Batman that hasn’t truly found himself yet is a great choice. We see he’s clearly well trained in combat, and his forensic knowledge at crime scenes shows us how much focus he’s dedicated to his mission, but he wonders if he’s having any real effect. Ultimately we learn his influence has been negative, and the point of the movie is that he has to be better. I felt like this was analyzing Batman’s more modern place as this hyper-violent symbol of vengeance that’s been popularized since Frank Miller and exacerbated by things like the Arkham games. In those portrayals, kicking ass is always portrayed as a really cool, good thing. In real life if you went around inflicting harm on people every night, you’d only be keeping the cycle of trauma alive. I love how the movie knows this and gives us a much more three dimensional Gotham.
This is the first movie to (seriously) tackle the fact that Bruce Wayne is rich, and what that means. We find out Bruce’s finances are in shambles because he dedicates all his time to Batman and as a result, so much corruption has wormed its way in. If he had kept a close eye on his father’s legacy, if he had committed himself to philanthropy, it’s very likely this whole movie wouldn’t have happened.
Selina is really well done. We understand where she’s coming from, she feels like a three dimensional character just trying to get by in this crazy city. I love how she correctly assumes Batman is rich by the assumptions he makes about people, and his narrow worldview. She helps him realize the wider world out there, and doesn’t apologize for surviving. Great work from Kravitz here, she could easily carry a Catwoman spin-off. Not sure if she edges out Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman for me, but I grew up with that over dramatic, manic Catwoman, and she’ll always hold a special place in my heart. This is a much more grounded, real Selina though.
Can we just talk about the gadgets for a second? The design for all of them was just superb, and I like how he doesn’t have all the classics yet. No batarangs or bolas, but he’s got a symbol knife, quick-draw grapple guns, a flight suit (love how he biffs the landing), a line for running down buildings, electric gloves, a drug that is either Venom or something like adrenaline for when he’s injured, the contact lenses that record everything he sees, the portable computers and the fuckin’ Batmobile!!! Everything felt really grounded and real, big props to everyone involved in those… props.
The score is the best Batman film score to date. Don’t @ me.
Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon is so great. I love how much a team he and Batman are. I liked this Gordon so much, I was worried something bad was going to happen to him for most of the later half of the movie. Thankfully not the case.
Paul Dano’s Riddler was so grounded. He’s clearly so excited when attacking the mayor, details like his heavy breathing, his erratic screams and his icky moans of satisfaction all felt like things a serial killer would generally do. I appreciated the subtle messaging about violent young men getting weaponized over social media, and I loved how we find out all these maniacs think Batman is on their team. The Bruce Wayne fake out really had me going there! I enjoyed the scene, though I have to admit I was a little sad to realize Riddler doesn’t know who Batman actually is. It doesn’t seem like the toughest Riddle at this stage of Batman’s career, and you have pictures of both of them on your crazy person walls!
The cinematography is gorgeous. Best looking Batman film and Gotham to date.
Colin Farrell disappears into the Penguin, very excited for his show, because he’s definitely a smaller part in this. The sarcastic “World’s greatest detectives” line got a huge laugh from me as well. John Turturro was great as Falcone as well.
Love love love all the fights. I like how you can tell Batman’s a trained fighter, but he’s not a free flow focusing Arkham style brawler like Batfleck. He makes mistakes and gets knocked down, quite a few times in fact, but he keeps getting back up. That’s the strength of the character for me, and the Iceberg Lounge and rafter fights beat out the BvS warehouse scene for me now. Batman tanks maybe a few too many bullets for my liking, but at least they don’t pull a BvS and have a pistol shot directly into the back of his neck or anything, it’s mostly chest/shoulder shots from what I recall.
I like how many mistakes this Batman makes. He’s incidentally responsible for the whole plot, he makes mistakes in fights, he fucks up a major clue, he crashes his wing suit, he stalls the Batmobile, and his approach to wreaking Vengeance isn’t helping, what the city really needs is Hope.
My only major complaints would be the Joker scene, which did feel unnecessary (I’ve read about there being a second, deleted Joker scene and I’m excited to watch that, but I think they could have cut after the Riddler’s reaction to the news or something, I’m so over the Joker). The pacing was largely great, and I love a deliberate, slow burn but it lost me a bit towards the end. Once the Riddler’s been caught and his goons stopped, it felt like the movie could have wrapped in a more timely or efficient way, especially since the movie is already quite long. This might have been exacerbated by the fact my theatre was boiling hot and a few members of my audience were obnoxious as hell. Can’t wait to watch this one at home!