Unrelentingly and unnecessarily bleak, "The Batman" is the darkest, heaviest big screen Batman yet, the result of years of fan demand that the Dark Knight's brooding match the weight of our world.
Well, here it is, and it's no fun whatsoever.
That's by design: director and co-writer Matt Reeves has scaled this Batman to let in as little light as possible, both tonally and aesthetically; this is a movie that exists in the shadows of shadows. That it's coming out at a time when the world is in a particularly grim state — two years into a global pandemic, war raging overseas — is in keeping with its mood board. This is the world, "The Batman" says, so why should Gotham City be any different?
How about escapism, or entertainment? Well you can find that elsewhere, just not in "The Batman," which is a fairly representative snapshot of the ways these types of movies are constructed today, and the way that internet fan demands have influenced blockbuster filmmaking on a wholesale level.
Back in 1997, Joel Schumacher's "Batman & Robin" was pure cartoon, and it flopped. Fans revolted and let their voices be heard, and that led to the character's more grounded reinvention in Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films, and into Ben Affleck's joyless stint in the Batsuit in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and "Justice League."
"The Batman" goes even moodier, and in its color palate and temperament, its default setting is despair. This is a movie that drops a needle on Nirvana's anthem of anguish "Something in the Way" not once, but twice. C'mon, even Kurt Cobain had a sense of humor.
Robert Pattinson, who played hottie vampire Edward Cullen in the "Twilight" movies before pivoting to a series of esoteric art films, plays Batman/ Bruce Wayne like a guy who throws on "Something in the Way" to listen to while he drinks his morning coffee. His blackout eye makeup doesn't get wiped off when he takes off his Bat helmet, it stays on, caked around his eyes like a goth teen that just discovered the Cure.
We've always been able to count on Bruce Wayne to be a billionaire playboy when he's not out busting heads in the streets in his superhero gear, but not this time around. He's not the smoothest or the savviest player in the room. He's a disaffected broken soul who's in pain and can barely muster a smile, and his suits fit like he's wearing his dad's clothes. (At least we don't have to see his parents get killed in an alley, again.)
But Bats is the life of the party compared to his foe this time around, the Riddler, who's no longer a cackling funnyman in a bright green question mark leisure suit but a barking mad serial killer who's part Zodiac, part Jigsaw. He's played by Paul Dano, the babyfaced "There Will Be Blood" and "Love & Mercy" star, who showed his nasty side as a vile slave driver in "12 Years a Slave" and as a deeply damaged suspected kidnapper "Prisoners."
Dano pushes things even further here, playing a deranged psychopath in oversized army green coat and a leather mask that looks copped from the Gotham City bondage gear outlet, and he's disturbing in ways we're not used to from "Batman" movie villains.
And then there's Catwoman, the leather-clad cat burglar (she signs her checks Selina Kyle) who is on her own mission of revenge in the city. She's played by Zoe Kravitz as a wild card who doesn't fit into traditional hero-villain categorization, and her scenes with Pattinson bring "The Batman's" only feelings of electricity, as well as levity.
On the periphery are a handful of familiar side characters: Jeffrey Wright is typically strong playing James Gordon, a lieutenant with the Gotham Police force who has yet to make commissioner; Andy Serkis is Alfred Pennyworth, Wayne's butler and confidant, more youthful than we're used to in some incarnations of the character; and Colin Farrell is Penguin, in a role that is as underrealized as Farrell is unrecognizable underneath his fat suit and layers of makeup.
Along with crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and Gotham district attorney Gil Colson (Peter Sarsgaard), they're all players in a drug and corruption yarn that only unfolds during nighttime hours. If there's a Gotham City neighborhood bagel shop that does a good mid-morning walk-up business, we certainly don't see it in "The Batman."
Reeves, who made his name with the mysterious monster film "Cloverfield" and also helmed the last two "Planet of the Apes" movies, has a wide net in which to work and decades of mythology to play with. He downplays the cool side of the Batman character — the cars, the gadgets — and leans into the gloom: scenes unfold in near total darkness, the occasional high red or burnt orange cutting through the black.
The film's themes are just as dark as its visuals: Wayne is investigating troublesome truths within his own family legacy, Kyle is on her own mission of harrowing self-discovery, and crime and murder blot the city (both are up, of course, we're told in an early news report). And that's not even counting the Riddler, who is leading an army of copycats and detailing horrific how-tos in plotting mass murder.
Fun stuff! Comic fans will argue this is the "Batman" that most closely matches the soul and spirit of the Batman character and what he represents: he is vengeance, as we're reminded many times throughout the film.
But in catering to that mindset, "The Batman" alienates crowds who don't read the comics, who just want to enjoy the latest installment of a long-running, immensely popular superhero franchise. It's tough to have it both ways, and Reeves doesn't even try. This one's for the hardcore fans. Don't like it? Go watch a Marvel movie.
But even within a similar framework, 2019's "Joker" was able to evoke more humanity from and more sympathy for its lead character. It existed in a world that was more recognizable to our own, and struck a chord with audiences who were familiar with the character but were open to a darker take on the material. It worked because on a base level it told a relatable story of an outcast pushed to, and beyond, his breaking point.
"The Batman" is a layer removed from that world, and at three hours, it's certainly a lot of time to spend in the darkness and the rain. (That heaviness is felt, especially in the cumbersome third hour.) It's tough to see where we go from here, or how the pendulum swings back toward the light, but if the Batman movies are in any way meant to reflect our times — honest question: are they? — "The Batman" certainly mirrors the dismal state of the world today. Any breaks from that dreariness will have to come at a different bat time on a different bat channel.
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'THE BATMAN'
Grade: C
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material)
Running time: 2:56
Where to watch: In theaters Friday
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