For my 50th post, I want to celebrate a film that had little chance of succeeding, but did anyway.
Let's face it, ever since Marvel launched the MCU in 2008, DC has been playing catch up, and playing pathetically. If not for the excellence of their feature-length animated films, I think its easy to say that DC has not had more than three decent films since 2008: Dark Knight Rises, Wonder Woman and Joker. Not that Marvel hasn't had some stinkers, but the overwhelming majority of fans could be heard saying things like, "I wonder if this one is going to be any good" when entering a DC theater presentation.
It was such a weird time because DC had ruled the superhero film world with ground breaking projects like Superman: the Movie and Batman '89. Then Marvel took the lead with Sam Raimi Spider-man and the X-men franchises, and put the pedal to the metal with Ironman. DC counter-punched with Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, and then promptly fell on the canvas, and was counted out. We received just three watchable films in 14 years. And then something happened- DC reset the game board.
Zach Snyder and Ben Affleck decided to go do other things, and DC needing a solo Batman film (it had been 10 years), decided to just start over. Now normally, letting one person be in charge of directing, writing and producing a film is a strategy for disaster. The Sci-Fi film world is full of atrocities from the 50s, 60s and 70s that were complete failures for that very reason- a one man show. However, with Matt Reeves it was the right decision. Hats off DC.
Reeves was reportedly a genuine fan and even though he wanted to do something that was his own vision, he respected canon and the project was not that kind of ego-stroking, canon-busting abysmal disasters we have seen with things like Ang Lee's hulk or Tim Burton's Penguin (more on that later). Reeves gave us a gritty, dark crime noir that felt an awful lot like the animated film Batman: Year One. Some people objected to the angsty, PTSD Batman we got in 2022 Batman, but I thought it was completely viable. Matt Reeves played one of my favorite Marvel games of "What If?" and it worked.
The direction was precise, the writing even better, and except for a couple of small toe stubs, the casting was brilliant. I was expecting another DC train wreck with a former sparkly vampire now being cast as our Dark Knight, and I'm saying publicly, I was wrong. Robert Pattinson gave us a reclusive, troubled Bruce Wayne who did not have to switch between personas when he put on the cowl. He was who he was with consistency. It was a different take from the womanizing playboy we have seen previously, but it was not a character violation. Bruce Wayne just as easily could have slipped into Reeves' mindset, instead of dealing with his parents' killings with frivolity and irreverence as we have seen previously. Pattinson was amazing with his pain-filled Batman, giving us a Dark Knight we haven't seen since Christian Bale (the frivolous Bruce Wayne).
As far as casting blunders, Andy Serkis was the wrong choice for Alfred. If we would have seen more of him in the film, it would have become obvious. Serkis is a spectacular bad guy, not an Alfred. Michael Gough is an Alfred, as is Alan Napier and even Sean Pertwee from Gotham. The pinnacle of course is Michael Caine, and no one is going to be able to touch him. But I can imagine that it's not that easy to have a list of 40+ British actors with name/face recognition that aren't engaged in BBC projects. "Serkis is free, let's use him!"
And speaking of casting, I forgive Colin Farrell for ruining Bullseye. He was amazing as Oswald Cobblepot. Would someone call Tim Burton and explain to him that this is how you do Penguin? Or at least Robin Lord Taylor's version? Matt Reeves' Penguin nailed it so well, there is a rumor of a TV mini series spin off. And the Riddler? We finally get to see a version of the Riddler that matches Cory Michael Smith (a difficult task) in terms of psychosis and sociopathy. It's a "Wow!" performance from Paul Dano.
The Batman stacks up against DC's best ever offerings and closely matches The Dark Knight in depth, action and characterization. Who would have thought that we could get such a great Batman film with no Joker? Reeves did it. What a great film.
IMDB says 7.8/10. Wrong. This is tricky because Dark Knight shows up on the IMDB "best films of all time" at #3 with a 9.0/10. That just shows how beloved Batman really is. 2022 Batman is better that Dark Knight Rises, so that would earn it an 8.5/10. I'm good with that, I'm just going to have to ignore the ranking of some other spectacular films. Sunset Blvd at 8.4? Come on IMDB.