The Batman is a Hollywood film which took the world by storm with its release in the year 2022. The film backed by Warner Bros and DC starred Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz in the leading roles along with Paul Dano playing the antagonist. Matt Reeves, the director of the Planet of the apes franchise, gives us a new, bold and fresh take on the popular fictional pop culture icon- Batman.
The character is not only infinitely gritty and rooted in this adaptation but also flawed and vulnerable at various moments throughout the story. The art direction and cinematography along with Reeves's incredible sense of style (akin to that of David Fincher's) uplifts the film to a certain plain in which we don't usually see comic book films play at. It plays out more like a sombre crime drama, taking its own sweet time to build the world and introduce us to the character.
Paul Dano shines with his incredibly dark portrayal of the riddler who was earlier played by Jim Carrey in a largely campy and comical way. With this new twist and an added addition of gore, the film does alienate the target audience (the kids and families) but that goes onto aid the film and character at many levels.
This is by far the most mature work from DC or any comic book franchise for that matter since Christopher Nolan's dark knight. In a certain scene, Gordon reads out a paragraph from Riddler's diary. That is when you realise that Batman and Riddler aren't entirely different. If not for that family name attached to him, Bruce might've been roaming around scribbling cyphers under a green mask with goggles. These intricate moments and details separate this film from the usual grain of the mainstream.
This film is both a ray of hope for the oversaturated genre of superhero films as well as a saving grace for the dry streak of films that mainstream Hollywood has been a prey to. Let's hope that Reeves and Pattinson manage to sway the same magical tunes around the next time they team up for what looks like an incredibly exciting sequel.
The author is a student at The Somaiya School and is one of the winners of The FPJ's Pen To Paper Contest this year.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
