No offense to Mr. Reeves, but the best possible interpreter of the Bat-canon is a nine-year-old doodling Batpeople on the margins of his schoolbooks.
I'm being humorous but not hyperbolic - even people really into the character, I think, would say Batman's arrested development is key to the character in a way that it isn't for the other big superheroes. You can have Spidey go through adolescence, adulthood, fatherhood even and still have the fundamental thrill of his character - what if you could walk up walls and fly around the city? - remain in tact. Superman "adulting" is sort of core to his character, and I think the real reason most "mature" "deconstructions" of the superhero myth from Watchmen on down use him as the model and not a "relatable" character. But Batman needs to be a kiddy hero, because age him up any more and it becomes ludicrous for a grown man with no powers to dress up like a bat and throw boomerangs at people instead of just shooting them.
I'm sure Matt Reeves is trying to make a point about income inequality or whatever but I just think that is a fundamentally dumbass take on the character.
I also think the way we've just abandoned the Bruce Wayne persona entirely is ultimately bad. It even makes Riddler's statement that the Batman is the *real* identity meaningless. We're nearly 3 hours into this movie and have heard Bruce Wayne deliver, like, three lines over his five minutes of screen time. We KNOW Batman is the real persona, buddy.
There is probably a really, *really* funny Batman movie where we pull back the curtain and see that the self-styled crusader against EVIL is in fact a trustafarian raised by his butler. No surprise why that one didn't get made. :P
I enjoyed The Batman, but J agree with most things you said. We should have a series of new goofy Batman movies. That’d inject some juice into the whole thing.
If nothing else, The Batman is a case study in why people who aren't David Fincher shouldn't try to make David Fincher movies. There's a lot of potential in a Batman movie with the aesthetic of Se7en, but it's completely wasted by a subpar director who lacks pretty much all of Fincher's talent.
I find the concept just kind of fundamentally broken. I'm not convinced even David Fincher could make a superhero comicbook movie into a serial killer movie that didn't end up becoming kind of silly.
And maybe that's my own personal bias and limitation showing, but all this dark and oppressive and overbearing atmosphere just becomes goofy after 20 years.
It's bewildering.
Aren't there multiple universes of Batman? Noir Batman? Dracula Batman? Red Rain Batman?
Great work on this one, as always.
What I want more than anything is the Batman written by Mel Brooks.
I searched that term and found some Mel Brooks Batman AI Art on reddit. Seeing it makes me more angry about the recent Batman.
https://www.reddit.com/r/weirddalle/comments/105emgs/batman_directed_by_mel_brooks/
hahahahah, oh god
No offense to Mr. Reeves, but the best possible interpreter of the Bat-canon is a nine-year-old doodling Batpeople on the margins of his schoolbooks.
I'm being humorous but not hyperbolic - even people really into the character, I think, would say Batman's arrested development is key to the character in a way that it isn't for the other big superheroes. You can have Spidey go through adolescence, adulthood, fatherhood even and still have the fundamental thrill of his character - what if you could walk up walls and fly around the city? - remain in tact. Superman "adulting" is sort of core to his character, and I think the real reason most "mature" "deconstructions" of the superhero myth from Watchmen on down use him as the model and not a "relatable" character. But Batman needs to be a kiddy hero, because age him up any more and it becomes ludicrous for a grown man with no powers to dress up like a bat and throw boomerangs at people instead of just shooting them.
I'm sure Matt Reeves is trying to make a point about income inequality or whatever but I just think that is a fundamentally dumbass take on the character.
hahahah, oh god, yes, exactly!
I also think the way we've just abandoned the Bruce Wayne persona entirely is ultimately bad. It even makes Riddler's statement that the Batman is the *real* identity meaningless. We're nearly 3 hours into this movie and have heard Bruce Wayne deliver, like, three lines over his five minutes of screen time. We KNOW Batman is the real persona, buddy.
There is probably a really, *really* funny Batman movie where we pull back the curtain and see that the self-styled crusader against EVIL is in fact a trustafarian raised by his butler. No surprise why that one didn't get made. :P
I mean, I'd rather see a movie where Batman and the cops are the villain.
That at least would be interesting! Probably a comic exists that is exactly this, even.
I enjoyed The Batman, but J agree with most things you said. We should have a series of new goofy Batman movies. That’d inject some juice into the whole thing.
If nothing else, The Batman is a case study in why people who aren't David Fincher shouldn't try to make David Fincher movies. There's a lot of potential in a Batman movie with the aesthetic of Se7en, but it's completely wasted by a subpar director who lacks pretty much all of Fincher's talent.
I find the concept just kind of fundamentally broken. I'm not convinced even David Fincher could make a superhero comicbook movie into a serial killer movie that didn't end up becoming kind of silly.
And maybe that's my own personal bias and limitation showing, but all this dark and oppressive and overbearing atmosphere just becomes goofy after 20 years.
There is only one real Batman.
https://morgthorak.substack.com/p/remembering-the-real-batman-adam