Hundevad Productions

Spoilers, obvi.

 

Batman was fantastic. It was the only film I have ever gone to go see twice in a theatre. Definitely a film noir, and definitely one of the best Batman movies, and takes ever. It was a homage to old detective films and shattered expectations and standards of what a superhero movie is, and what the worlds greatest detective should be, a detective…

We all enjoyed Marvels Universe of the Avengers, but their quality has dropped significantly I believe, in writing, and in storytelling. They are printing out shows and it’s starting to not have the same quality or influence as it used to. (I was tired of the formula by Civil War, which bored me, I barely held on during Infinity War, and I only watched Endgame because I watched Ant-Man 2 and I had to find out what happens to Paul Rudd, you know.) The previous Batman’s with Affleck were trash. And when Nolan and Bale’s Batman came out, at that time it was monumental and changed the Batman universe, they were great for that time. Pattinson’s Batman however, comparatively, makes Nolan and Bale’s also trash. Pattinson’s Batman will be a pivotal movie that will change the aspect of how superhero movies will play out from now on, and finally executed a fantastic detective style live action to the Batman universe. 

Nolan’s ‘Batman’s’ were ground-breaking at the time, reaffirming and reimagining the ‘realness’ of Batman. Nolan’s trilogy also changed the game of superhero movies, and supported the theme that this could be someone in existence. Wayne doesn’t have super powers per-say, but the money he has buys, and in Nolan’s case, creates anything he needs. For example, the Batmobile was superfluous in retrospect and over the top. Playing it in the video games was amazing, but that’s a different standard again entirely. Pattinson’s Batman had a new realness in it, that Batman is someone that could be in our world. Pattinson’s Batmobile was just a jet-engine charged to a muscle car and the motorcycle was just a motorcycle.It wasn’t a tank, it wasn’t an overpowered military grade arsenal. It was a freaking jet engine so that’s the only thing where I was like where’d he get that? But also, it’s America and he’s Bruce Wayne he probably salvaged it at an auction. The fact we saw him putting the engine together and assembling it into the car during the film and finally see him drive it is what makes it so amazing. Bale’s Batman just hired Fox to have engineers buy and make his Batmobile, it was something a la Fast and Furious, which to me, seemed more realistic than Nolan’s military grade Batmobile, therefore more relatable, suspended the disbelief more, and created a new Batman character that didn’t have to relay on over powered technology to save the day, just a man and his tools. It took away from the relationship Batman has with his tools, his goals, and his environment as Batman, something Pattinson did incredibly well. This attaches us to his Batman a little more than the previous ones I think, and creates a much more credible character, and better film. 

The cape is another example of this. Another thing that Bale’s Wayne could just buy to become the Batman we wanted to see. In Nolan’s, the cape could be electrically charged to allow him to glide and could be cut in any shape, and Wayne responds, “how about a bat?” Whereas Pattinson’s cape was a literal wing suit. A thing that actually exists today and we know people use it, so it was refreshing to see the ‘Bat-suit’ at work. Pattinson’s Wayne literally having to dress change in order to activate the wing suit and utilize it was stunning and made the character much more believable and the stakes much more higher because we knew he didn’t have overpowered tech to save the day. The Batarang’s, too, in Nolan’s, were overpowered. It seems like they are in abundance and used to intimidate or as a call sign, whereas Pattinson’s Batman had one Batarang, the symbolon his chest. It was protection in the suit and a tool to use practically, rather than just a prop they had to show.

So the tools, the Batmobile, and the character of Pattinson’s Batman were much more believable, suspended the disbelief more, and created a more relatable and realistic Batman. The style, tone, and pacing of the movie as well, elevated the genre of superhero to ‘rich with godlike powers with a cause,’  to a broken vigilante with a certain willpower, which again, strikes a different cord with people, and I think it worked. 

The Riddler was great. This came back to the Film Noir aspect, and I loved how we followed Batman throughout the solving of the crimes and the step by step clues we get, like a true film noir, following the detective every step of the way discovering the facts along with them. We are solving the case with them, as he gets the clues, without any other omniscient knowledge like a traditional audience. This again attaches us closer to Batman. Especially the scene in the prison with Riddler and Batman, how he discloses how he thinks they were working together and had just missed one last person…Wayne. Pattinson’s eyes as Batman were so enthralling. That scene was the most intense in terms of plot devices and raising stakes. This is what makes this Batman better – the fact that he didn’t have all the answers right away and wasn’t a cliché catchphrase saying crime stopper. Pattinson had a few one liners that knocked it out of the park, but by no means distracted or disguised the characters goals as hero traits. The thumb drive line wasn’t a joke Pattinson’s Batman was making, it was Batman getting the joke the Riddler set up. 

In this world, he is Batman. There is no Bruce/Batman duo anymore, like in Nolan’s trilogy. In fact, I don’t think we saw a single scene where we saw Pattinson speak as Bruce Wayne. We saw Alfred and Wayne at a table about to begin a meeting with exec’s and Pattinson is eating “fresh berries” but even there, still, they are discussing Riddler’s cipher, an object only in Batman’s reality. Nolan’s Batman allowed Bale to play the billionaire playboy and the beat-em-all up superhero, while Pattinson took Batman to the depths, brooding, full of spite, and hateful of what the world has become. Batman has become his last resort, not his final form. With this depressive expansion, Pattinson’s Batman takes a dark twist of comic book superhero, something Batman was meant to be all along. Just like Phoenix’s Joker, they took a good cut into the realism of their characters, justifications, and developments.

Pattinson’s physique was a strong choice that I think played well to the universe we are entering. Bale’s Batman was big, muscular, and proved it by doing push ups immediately after getting up and drinking a green smoothie. Pattinson proved his worth by fighting and moving a table. His body is undernourished from the strain he is putting on it from his vigilantism. 

Pattinson’s Batman’s physique is a great choice because we enter into this world on Year Two, and in the middle of a rushed and frenzied state of decay of the city, while Batman’s persona is rising. We get right away how exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally it is on him. He states that he can’t keep the days straight or the memories, which is why he journals. We see him rewatching his recordings because he says he goes for so long, he can’t remember if it’s a dream or not. Pattinson’s Batman was exhausted. And we saw that throughout the film, it wasn’t only his black eyeshadow, it was the immense bags under his eyes and deadpan posture. Multiple times I saw his face as Wayne and went ‘damn, look at eyes’ and Alfred mentions in one line at the beginning to get a long rest (a la DND to get your Hit points back.) Batman is exhausted but continues on because that is his character, his obsession, and his body just couldn’t physically keep up with that amount of calorie output. 

His physique and body reflect that, it’s exhausted, it is undernourished, and overworked. The only thing we see Wayne eat is the few berries from the previously mentioned scene, and we see him move a table and fight, other than that we know his body is being pushed to the outmost limits, making it physically impossible to maintain a traditional superhero body. This is what makes the stakes higher, and makes this Batman better. 

Batman wished to become a beacon of vengeance, of fear, as a way to deter crime, and to justify his actions, and as we are told, it turned out to be a symbol of vengeance to other criminals. We would have never gotten Riddler, therefore Joker, etc. if Batman never came into existence. Since we see Riddler thinking they were a team, in his psychotic way, he thought he was playing Batman into his scheme, but he did in a way, because his plans executed anyway. 

It was however, three hours; did it need to be three hours? …

Honestly, yes and no. Everything was deliberate, intentional and chosen. Everything from Batman looking at a footprint, to a small sentence someone uttered, played into the concept of Chekhov’s gun. It all came back at some point, which was great. At no point did I feel like there was an extra scene, or extra dialogue just to be put in there for humor, development, or “just because.” It was all intentional and purposeful which played into it all being relevant and important. For example, In this new one, what I thought was some throw away lines muttered under Gordon’s breath was just for emotion, but later turned out to be the explanation of some plot device. That is why this movie was so tightly executed and doesn’t feel three hours for how the story unfolds as it progresses. It was tight, you know, it did not stray, like Nolan’s Batman’s did. Nolan’s had a lot of fluff scenes, especially at the end of the trilogy to have some nice Hollywood type ending and feel good scenes. Pattinson’s Batman does not use this. I have seen some deleted scenes and I am glad about their decision to cut those, I do feel like it wold have changed the movie’s directions, especially the deleted scene between the Riddler and the Joker. 

Bale’s Batman was the Batman hero we needed at the time, but Pattinson’s is the one we deserved, and we finally got it served. It is immediately one of my favorite films, and top Batman choices. I look very much forward to the next one, and I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say. As always  –  debate opinions.