The Batman [2022]
“From your secret friend – Who? Haven't a clue! – Let's play a game… – Just me and you.”
Fit, flair, furious, fun, and fantastic, Mat Reeves’ The Batman lives up to the title and the hype. By putting “The” in front of a name, we grant that thing power. The power of being definitive; of being “the” [thee] version of whatever it is that should represent the larger group it’s a part of. Without a doubt, The Batman fills those shoes. Not only is it far and away the best Batman movie made to date, it’s the best superhero movie bar none. I think DC has finally found it’s path through the quagmire of Marvel domination and I hope they continue to make these 3+ hour epics. Why beat them at their own game when you can create an entirely new [and better] one?
Many will pump the brakes on this film when they see the runtime. I can tell you, however, that I have never seen a shorter 2hr 56m film. Never once did I feel dropped by the slack of stagnating plot or check my watch to see if we were finally about to be free [looking at you Don’t Look Up]. The narrative thread in this film is so tight that, when it’s over and the sun has set despite your 4pm showtime, you’ll scantly believe you just spent the better part of your after-work day in a theater.
From cinematography to score The Batman soars above every other film in its genre and even punches high enough out of its weight class to score solid hits on more “respectable” dramas. This is a film that survives even if you strip away the armor and the gadgets and the comic-book setting. The locations feel real and established, characters nuanced and interesting, and the conflict is perfectly plausible with just the right dramatic fantasy to keep you grounded but engaged. The world in The Batman feels alive and dangerous and visceral and scary… and you never want to leave it.
One of the most impressive things about The Batman are the seemingly unrelated stations many of the crew have come from. Writer/ director Matt Reeves will best be known for helping to reboot the “found footage” genre with his 2008 Cloverfield and the mostly now set aside final two movies in the modern Planet of the Apes franchise. Not bad titles, but certainly not astonishing either. Writer Peter Craig has such illustrious titles under his belt as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay parts 1&2, Bad Boys for Life, and Top Gun: Maverick. Yes, Maverick isn’t out so we can’t speak too much about it… but what were we really hoping for? After The Batman... I’m honestly not sure. Composer Michael Giacchino has won an Oscar for Up and was nominated for Ratatouille... but has never done anything close to the caliber of the work he’s performed for The Batman. The list goes on, but this film has solidly put all of these creators on the map, and I can only hope this isn’t just a flash in the pan for them. What a flash it would be though…
It has been a long, LONG time since I have been this excited after seeing a film, felt this cool after being part of a world, felt so ready to sit through it all again… and was actually excited for the potential of sequels. Don’t let this one pass you by and don’t forget,
“When that light hits the sky, it's not just a call. It's a warning.”
