‘The Batman’ Brings Goth Back To Gotham City

Batman: The Animated Series famously had its background artists draw on black paper, ensuring that darkness would always be the default in Gotham City.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman manages to echo the mood of that legendary animation, its Gotham perpetually soaked in shadow, illuminated by sickly, yellow streetlights, where the sidewalk is always slippery with rain.

It’s a vision of Gotham with emphasis on the “goth,” a timeless, otherworldly realm, modern enough to incorporate the internet and smartphones, whose eroding brick skyscrapers are riddled with old-timey Italian gangsters.

This incarnation of Batman finds himself inside the nightmarish caricature of an inner city that Fox News imagines, drowning in greed, corruption, and violence. The opening plays like a horror film where Batman is the monster, stalking the grimy streets, striking fear into the heart of costumed street gangs who are never quite sure if he’s lurking in the shadows.

Robert Pattinson’s Batman is still young and inexperienced, but thankfully, has established a presence in this city; viewers are not subjected to painstaking costume building, fight training, or yet another scene showing the Waynes being gunned down.

He and Commissioner Gordon already have a trusting relationship (much to the horror of every other cop on the force, many of whom wonder why the pointy-eared cosplayer is allowed to touch evidence). Batman is still viewed with deep suspicion and derision; the film never loses sight of how much of an unhinged weirdo this character really is, and how others would view him.

The interesting thing about this Batman is his absence of morality – fighting crime is a revenge fantasy he’s indulging in, and no more; the man has an addiction to punching out petty criminals, and he’s being enabled by his butler. It says a lot that he doesn’t even consider the corrupt politicians that the Riddler targets – his wealth and status completely insulates him from the true source of Gotham’s neverending crime wave. Intriguingly, he also doesn’t seem to care much about being Bruce Wayne, at all; Bruce comes across as more of a fantasy than Batman.

While the casting is a slam dunk all across the board, Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz seem born to play their roles, all jutting angles and jawlines, suitably sulky and brooding; this angst-ridden Batman seems to have stepped right out of HBO’s Euphoria, with the lighting to match.

The mood and aesthetic are perfectly realized, but the plot wobbles a little as the film moves into its final hour, suffering pacing issues, as Batman bounces back and forth between revelations, losing some of that early momentum.

Paul Dano’s Riddler is very much influenced by the present moment, as he’s pretty much an incel terrorist, seeking to radicalize others in the digital realm. But he also feels a little stale, being so close to Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Colin Farrell’s Penguin proves much more fun – it’s kind of refreshing that his Penguin is just an ugly gangster with a big personality; indeed, he’s the only character that dares raise his voice above a husky murmur.

The Riddler might be far removed from the detail-oriented dandy of the comics (which is a bit of a tragedy) and Dano is muffled by a mask for most of it, but gives a staggering performance during his “mask off” scene, which builds on some of the ideas from The Dark Knight, as Batman is faced with the realization that his brutal vigilantism might be doing more harm than good.

And that’s where The Batman gets a little political. And to be honest, I don’t particularly like when Batman tries to say something profound and progressive – the concept of fighting crime with fists is inherently reactionary, and Batman isn’t well-suited to deconstruct the superhero genre. You’ve just got to accept the fantasy for what it is, or watch something else.

Still, the film forces Batman into the realization that he’s no better than a skull-cracking cop, prompting him to cultivate a different public image; essentially, he shifts from well-armed policeman to something resembling a noble firefighter, vowing to clean up Gotham’s institutional corruption, no matter how hopeless it seems. Essentially, Batman moves from “stop and frisk” to “vote blue, no matter who.”

Again, this is familiar territory, already explored by Chris Nolan’s gritty reboot. Hence, if you’re expecting something strange and subversive, you might be disappointed by this even grittier reboot. But if you’re looking for a simple, classic Batman story?

The Batman is as good as it gets.