The Batman (2022): Hello darkness my old friend
Who's got three thumbs and likes to beat criminals senseless? What has three city officials killed, a mobster put to his crimes, and a masked maniac who loves another masked maniac? If you said Batman to either of those, then you saw Matt Reeves's The Batman and also The Dark Knight.
The Batman features a Gotham City so bad even the victims are pieces of shit. That's part of the whole, though, as bringing back hope slowly becomes Robert Pattinson's mission in between all the explosive stunts and daddy issues in the noir blockbuster of super hero angst.
Batman has been patrolling Gotham for about two years. He and Gordan are BFFS with their own signals while the rest of the city runs in fear. When the Riddler kills city officials, Batman teams up with Catwoman, a young thief with a heart of gold and her own dead friend.
Right away we have a noir movie lovers dream except for all the superhero nonsense. But I bet if you gave Sam Spade a flying squirrel suit and a jet powered muscle car the Big Sleep would have ended much quicker. Everyone here is made of iron, ready to talk at length about their own darkness, and the things they have to do to stay in the light. The Riddler ends up being just "some guy," the same symptom of the crime ridden city that created the Batman and every other character of note. Corruption, not just of institutions but of people's souls, is the center of the story.
Of course it is a Batman movie, so we gotta fight and blow shit up. The choreography is on point and brutal. Darkness surrounds this movie as fire and blood splash the screen. In multiple fights Batman is lit only by the muzzle flashes and sparks of bullets bouncing off his armor, to say nothing of the raging car chase that starts with the raw ferocity of a growling car and ends in fire. The best thing you can do this year is find a theater with good sound to hear the Batmobile rumble to life and shake the heavens.
The hang up is the same as every other Batman film: daddy issues. You can tell when a writer hits forty and is male: everything will be about what dads do to scar their children. No spoilers, but this is shown across multiple characters.
Overall the movie works. The noir detective story has been lacking from most iterations of the character over the years. Every twist and turn… shit, I forgot to talk about the actors. Goddamn, there is a lot to love here.
