Tripwire Reviews The Batman Now On Streaming

A Dark Knight To Remember

Matt Reeves’ The Batman made an impressive showing at cinemas in March and now it is available to watch on streaming in the UK and US as well as parts of Europe. So here’s Tripwire’s contributing writer Laurence Boyce taking a look at it now it is on home platforms…

The Batman
Director: Matt Reeves
Stars: Robert Pattison, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Colin Farrell

There have been so many different on-screen iterations of The Dark Knight Detective over the past decade as to make your head spin (well, unless you’re wearing Michael Keaton’s infamously restrictive version of the Batsuit). Bale and Affleck have carried the cowl on the big screen (and so has Will Arnett in animated Lego form) while David Mazouz played a proto Batman in ‘Gotham’ (donning the Batsuit in the show’s final episode) while Kevin Conroy held the fort in the video gaming world. It’s fair to say that audiences have been exposed to more than their fair share of the Caped Crusader over the past few years.

While familiarity can breed contempt, in the case of Matt Reeves The Batman it proves somewhat liberating. While divorced from the continuity of the likes of the Nolan-verse and DCEU, Reeves understands his core audience will be approaching the film with a certain amount of knowledge regarding the Batman mythos. Whilst this is still a fresh approach to the character and the other inhabitants of Gotham city – albeit an approach more closely grounded in the original source material than other cinematic iterations – Reeves knows he can dispense with the sometimes more tedious minutiae of origin stories (there’s no Crime Alley / pearls falling to the floor here) and get on with it. Something of a bonus as the film still runs at – an, on occasion, punishing – 176 mins.

The opening scene sets up the vibe of the film with dark aplomb , with the Mayor of Gotham being brutally murdered by a villain we’ll come to know as The Riddler (Paul Dano). It skirts the line between being tense and horrifying (as does the film’s PG-13 rating) and sets the dour tone for what is to come. True, ‘dour’ has become a bit of a cliché when it comes to Batman but Reeves and cinematographer Greig Fraiser do create a unique vision. The requisite darkness and shadows that come with realising any version of Gotham city contrast with the blood red and hazy orange that is also –pardon the pun – riddled throughout the film. While it’s not exactly a riot of primary colours, this still feels more faithful to the comic book aesthetic of the modern Batman.

Dour has also become something of a watchword when it comes to portrayals of Batman / Bruce Wayne. Much like Michael Keaton in ’89, the casting of Robert Pattison caused a few raised eyebrows. But he’s pretty much perfectly cast here. His iteration of Batman is two years into his career and there’s a constant push and pull between his relative naivety and his intense focus on vengeance. He has a lithe and believable physicality that he gets to show off in a number of well-choreographed action sequences (though, ironically, one of the best set pieces in the film has him shrouded in darkness, only illuminated by occasional bursts of gunfire). But he also gets the relentless nature of Batman’s intellect, the drive to find out the truth.

Certainly, the film aestethetically takes many of its cues from crime drama, with the work of David Fincher (albeit without the hard edge) seeming to be a particular influence. While there are the requisite set-pieces – the centrepiece being the Batmobile chase sequence – it’s the twists and turns of the plot that are the focus here. Just why is The RIddler offing Gotham’s elite? Will Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) find her missing friend? And what secrets lie at the heart of a conspiracy that is slowly uncovered.

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s The Long Halloween seems one of the biggest narrative influences, with a few plot points that will ring a bell with fans of the classic Batman story. Reeves has also cited Dawyn Cooke’s Ego as another influence, which is seen as Wayne struggles with the moral absolutism demanded by his alter ego. Throughout, the influence of specific comics is felt more than perhaps any other cinematic adaptation of the Batman.

While Pattison carries the film, the supporting cast are all equally as good. The rogues gallery of Carmine Falcone (John Tutturo), The Penguin (with Colin Farrell unrecognisable) and The Riddler constantly playing with the borders between comic book grotesque and real world criminal. Kravitz in particular has a crackling chemistry with Pattison and their will they/won’t they dynamic is another well realised and key element to the film.

As compelling as it often is the narrative does sometimes get a little too dense for its own good. The film runs out of steam as it reaches its conclusion suffering from the ‘one too many endings’ problem that can often plague modern blockbusters.

With the reveal of Barry Keoghan’s Joker at the end of the film and in a widely circulated deleted scene (another villain seemingly playing with the real world / comic book dynamic) alongside two announced HBO spin-off series, it’s clear that Reeves Batman universe is here to stay for a while. And with a unique vision contrasting with the core and familiar beats of the character it seems that there is a little more going on than exploiting an IP in a different way (though I am sure Warner / Discovery care little about comic book fidelity and are happily counting the Batbucks). While The Batman is satisfying in its own right (despite a few pacing stumbles on the way) it will be interesting to see where Pattison’s version of Batman goes next. Reeves has laid enough groundwork to allow a more realist approach or even a more obvious comic book aesthetic.

That is perhaps why The Batman is a great of example of why the Batman still works more than 80 years since he was created. The likes of Adam West, Michael Keaton and – god help us – even George Clooney can all be equally valid as ‘Batmen’ as he and his world can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways. And The Batman shows that Reeves’ interpretation is one that knows that Caped Crusader was always as famous for his brains as his brawn.

The Batman is available on demand at Prime Video

Here’s the film’s trailer