Rating of
2.5/4
The Too-Dark Knight
Chris Kavan - wrote on 03/21/22
I went into The Batman knowing it was going to be darker than even The Dark Knight trilogy - but Matt Reeves has channeled David Fincher to bring us by far the darkest knight yet. While many have praised the story and characters, I have mixed feelings about the direction this version of Batman is going. While it's not a bad film, it doesn't feel like a Batman film - and I'm surprised it wasn't more polarizing like The Joker.
I will say that the film does the gritty aesthetic right from the rain-drenched Gotham City to the Zodiac-inspired Riddler - this is not your Adam West nor Michael Keaton nor even Christian Bale's Batman. Robert Pattinson hasn't been a hero for long - his second year in fact of adapting the Batman persona - and the vigilante is viewed by fear from the criminals and disdain by (most of) the police. The outlier is, of course, Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) - not a commissioner just yet, but a mere lieutenant who seems to be one of Batman's few allies on the force. Unlike most previous Batman films, it skips most of the origin story so we don't know how the two became reluctant partners nor also how Gordon managed to get a Bat Signal installed considering how distrustful the law seems to be of our hero. That aside, even with Batman on their side, Gotham City is on a downhill slide with crime rising and drug use on the rise.
As the mayoral election approached, it seems someone else has an axe to grind and soon people in power seem to be dropping left and right. One thing all the men have in common is ties to a grand drug bust that made many a career - but may also have been a grand lie. Batman visits the Iceberg Lounge where The Penguin (a wholly unrecognizable Colin Farrell) runs things as he searches for a girl who works there who seems to be an integral part of the puzzle. Enter Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), who also wants to find the missing girl for more personal reasons. The erstwhile Catwoman likewise joins forces with our hero, though she is even more of a loose cannon and isn't afraid to get her claws out. But Batman is only one side of our puzzle and Bruce Wayne (a bit too emo over-the-top for my tastes) is a bit of a recluse himself and as his loyal family butler, Alfred (Andy Serkis) is quick to point out, also starting to bleed cash a bit too much. Bruce is still haunted by the murder of his parents and this new madman targeting Gotham's elite seems to elicit some long-buried emotions. As things build up, all signs point to underworld leader Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) as the lynchpin of the entire operation - and wouldn't you know he has ties to both Selina and the Wayne family.
Casting is a definite strong point for the film. While I had some questions about Pattinson, he does a great job of playing the tortured hero (maybe a bit too tortured, but whatever) and he has good chemistry with Kravitz and Wright. Paul Dano is as unhinged as he is completely mundane as a very scary version of The Riddler - definitely Zodiac mixed with Jigsaw territory and I can't wait to see how they build up Farrell in what I'm assuming will be sequels. There is also a cameo from our favorite villain - but you'll have to wait a fair bit for this little payoff. It isn't just the tone of the film that is dark - the film itself is quite dark with most of the action taking place at night... in the rain. And the climax doesn't lighten things up one bit.
A very brooding Batman, a very disturbed Riddler and plenty of dirty secrets just adds up to an extremely dark version of a long-standing hero. It makes for good film - but not necessarily the Batman I wanted, but maybe the one we deserve.
