The Batman
Batman returns in an endless, humourless, one-note outing which is anything but fun.
Creatures of the night: Zoë Kravitz and Robert Pattinson
The Dark Knight has just got darker. In fact, this film noir reimagining of the Caped Crusader is so dark that daylight is rarely given a look-in. Not one to watch on your phone, then. Even on the big screen it is hard to make out what is going on, as obscured figures slip in and out of the narrative. An ominous voice-over, in true world-weary, Chandleresque tones, declares, “I am the shadows.” Batman himself is hidden behind a mask and it’s not until after about a full hour that Robert Pattinson reveals his full face as Bruce Wayne. But even then that most enigmatic of actors remains inscrutable. Maybe that’s why the director Matt Reeves cast him in the role, once Ben Affleck had jumped ship.
Just as the human face of James Bond and Hercule Poirot have recently come to light, so Bruce Wayne has been pushed back into the manorial gloom of his private lair. And it’s hard to care for a shadow. Matt Reeves, who previously brought a profound new sensibility to the Planet of the Apes franchise (with Dawn of and War for), now jettisons the cartoon histrionics of the earlier DC Comics’ Bat pack. And so both Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and the Riddler have been roughly humanised, while the Penguin is only recognisable by his prominent nose and dapper attire (with Colin Farrell buried in prosthetics, gleefully outdoing Jared Leto).
The premise, for what it’s worth, is all about the masks that people wear, while an unseen killer targets the corrupt bigwigs of Gotham City, leaving a trail of perplexing cryptograms in his wake. In this Universe, a deliberate departure from the previous chapters of the DC Extended Universe, the metropolis is a grimy, rain-sodden place that feels partly set in the past and yet is technologically superior to our own. Batman himself wears a pair of nifty contact lenses that records what he sees, while his loyal manservant Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis) knows his way around a computer. But this Batman is a more vulnerable figure, more human perhaps, who displays little of the swagger and super heroics of earlier incarnations.
In keeping with Justice League (2017), Batman’s last appearance, the new film has a 15 certificate in the UK, which reflects the general tone of sustained menace, although scenes of ‘injury detail’ are fleeting. In the US, the film got by with a PG-13, which is perhaps in keeping with the country’s more relaxed views towards violence. While unremittingly ‘dark’, Matt Reeves’ The Batman is far from frightening – or thrilling – and with everything shot at night and in shadow, the lack of chromatic variation creates a visual monotony conducive to ennui, not to mention forty winks. It is a handsome, noble reboot, but at 176 minutes it is a real slog.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Barry Keoghan, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Jayme Lawson, Gil Perez-Abraham, Peter McDonald, Con O'Neill, Alex Ferns, Rupert Penry-Jones, Charlie Carver, Max Carver, Todd Boyce, Barry Keoghan.
Dir Matt Reeves, Pro Dylan Clark and Matt Reeves, Screenplay Matt Reeves and Peter Craig, Ph Greig Fraser, Pro Des James Chinlund, Ed William Hoy and Tyler Nelso, Music Michael Giacchino, Costumes Jacqueline Durran, Sound Chris Terhune, Lee Gilmore and Craig Henighan, Dialect coaches Jill McCullough and the late Andrew Jack (to whom the film is dedicated).
DC Films/6th & Idaho/Dylan Clark Productions-Warner Bros.
176 mins. USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 4 March 2022. Cert. 15.
