I Watch Films: The Batman

 

The Batman

It’s Halloween in Gotham City and someone’s killed the mayor. He’s left behind a card for the vigilante The Batman, and police lieutenant Jim Gordon has invited him to take a look. It contains a riddle.

I’m going to assume you’re vaguely familiar with the character of Batman so I’ll bring you up to speed on what's up with this version. This is a new Batman we’ve not seen before; according to his journal this is Year Two of his vigilante campaign. His alter ego Bruce Wayne is reclusive, and  uninterested in even the City Renewal Fund his father set up during his run for mayor, though his butler and only confidant Alfred tries to make him pay attention and actually attend a meeting with the accountants. He's obsessed only with crime, and now with this Riddler character.

The Riddler’s clues lead Batman to the Iceberg Lounge, run by a criminal called The Penguin, the right-hand man of crime boss Carmine Falcone. This leads him to meet waitress and cat-burglar Selina Kyle, who we know from other Bat-films/cartoons/comics/books/jokes/TV-Shows/Video-Games/Board-Games/Card-Games/Funko-Pops/Collectible-fast-food-cups is Bat-nemesis/lover Catwoman. Her “room-mate” is missing and she was in one the clues the Riddler dropped, photographed with the mayor, coming out of the Iceberg Lounge.

The Riddler has figured things out. He knows how deep the corruption in the city goes, through the police, to the crime families, to the mayor and politicians, reaching back deep even into Bruce Wayne’s own past.

So what differentiates this Batman from other Batmans? We’re in Nolan/Bale trilogy territory here, no aliens or superpowers, no technology you might not see in a slightly over-excited techno-thriller. This Batman is newly established. Not a myth. Criminals fear he might appear when the batsignal is lit. He has a relationship with Jim Gordon. He’s put some people away, and people are divided on if he’s making a difference.

When he arrives he has big, heavy boots and can choose to have a portentous tread. Striking fear again. He has the eye make up under his mask, which combined with the actor’s floppy-haired good looks and morose insomniac moping gives us a new Bruce Wayne. Which would be fun (not that he’s fun, but a gloomy downer of a billionaire playboy is a new idea) except that Bruce Wayne barely makes an appearance. Even when he does, at the mayor’s funeral and confronting Falcone about his involvement with his father, there’s no disconnect from the Batman character.

I enjoyed this, yet it’s almost three hours long and not a lot happened. No one seemed to learn anything or change, except maybe Selina. There were some good fights, and good scenes, and even a couple of good jokes, and a whole lot of hanging about in dimly lit places. The Riddler has figured out everything but in the end does not understand anyone. I mean except his own weird internet followers, it seems he understands them. And he knows that he can’t reveal the corruption. So maybe he does understand some people? Eh, I don’t know.

Watch This: Stylish, gritty, tense bat-thriller
Don’t Watch This: There are other grim crime stories that don’t need a guy dressing up as Dracula