The Batman
The Batman
When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, the Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.
Mike reviewedOctober 11, 2024
The Batman is a dark and gritty detective Noire, with very strong characters and a captivating story
"They think I'm hiding in the shadows... but I am the shadows."
After releasing multiple Batman films throughout the years, Matt Reeves brings us a very dark and gritty version of Batman that is heavily inspired by the comics and Arkham games. This Batman film is not an action packed film like we are used to, but it is a detective Noire film. The focus is on the riddles Batman has to solve with his detective skills, unfortunately these riddles can sometimes be a bit predictable.
The cinematography by Greig Fraser is just beautiful. He found a great way to depict Gotham as a dark character. He does this by focussing on strong lighting contrasts and the absence of color. He uses the shadows to create fear and mystery, adding horror elements to the film.
He emphasizes the strong emotions of the characters with close-ups. He also frames them like comicbook characters, which shows the beautiful costume design. The longer shots, blocking characters so they all focus on the speaking character and the staging that simultaneously focuses on speaking characters and surroundings, all place the focus on the dialogue, which makes it even more interesting to listen to them. It also visualizes the dark and characteristic set design very well and transports the viewer right there with the characters.
The versatile score by Michael Giacchino was amazing. Every single scene had a very distinctive score that heavily contributed to the creation of a specific and strong mood throughout the film. I loved how Franz Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ is the Riddler’s favorite song and that his theme score is a slower, darker and horified version of that. The overall score didn’t only sound amazing, but the timing with the visuals was also very well done.
The timing between the visuals and sound design was very well done too, to the part where the visuals and sound design trick the viewer and is strongly involved with the storytelling. I’m referring to the scene with Alfred and the phone that rings.
The staging is also wonderfully done. It makes Gotham come to life. I would say the overall aesthetics are somewhere between Tim Burton’s Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Batman.
The overall slow pacing of the film, combined with the focus on the dialogue, strong characters and dark Noire aesthetics, are very immersive and complement the interesting Batman story. This slow pacing creates a strong contrast with the action sequences, which makes them stand out. Especially since these action sequences do not hold back. Not only do these action sequences have great fighting choreography, but they also focus on character emotions.
Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E