Film Name: 新蝙蝠侠 / The Batman
For an IP to be remade, reimagined, and receive so much attention, it must have some extraordinary value, and Batman is a classic example of this.
The 2022 version of “The Batman” is destined to make a significant mark in the history of this IP, and I don’t know if it’s “redefining the superhero movie,” because to me, it’s more like a realistic movie that combines elements of detective, suspense, noir, and crime.
It’s just a Batman setup, and underneath the black hood and battle suit, there’s no so-called “superhero”, just a masked vigilante who’s scarred and confused.
“Revenge is the key word to understand The Batman, and the different ways in which the citizens of Gotham take revenge puts together the pieces of a new understanding of the world.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
The first thing to note is that The Batman is not commercial entertainment – at least, never the mainstream comic book movie we’ve become familiar with over the last decade or so.
To make an inappropriate side-by-side comparison: the same nearly three hours long, “Avengers: Endgame” can do “five steps a pop, ten steps a hurt feelings”, always mobilizing the audience’s emotions and attention, while the “The Batman” similar pace stretched several times, not to mention the slow heat, and a lot of places may have been “sandwich”. A lot of it could’ve been “caught in the middle” all along.
Even in the relatively more serious DC movie sequence, “The Batman” also belongs to the slow pace and “dull” batch of …… Therefore, part of the audience will be dissuaded by the film is very normal, box office sales is very difficult.
The Batman” character image, equipment design are biased in realism (compared to the Nolan trilogy to play the ‘tricks’ can be more), the real protagonist is only a large piece of darkness and the occasional light, the film’s audio-visual performance are to comply with the principle of low-profile, subdued, heavy, restrained.
In terms of cinematography and graphics, the film maintains a sense of silence under the cover of black, and even if there are a few low-light daytime scenes or intense and fiery action sequences, they are quickly swallowed up by the night and disappear without a trace.
Mike Giacchino’s score is also a masterpiece, with the theme BGM always carrying a mysterious and mournful depth. For me, the bigger surprise is that the movie used Nirvana’s famous song “Something In The Way” twice before and after the movie (the memory of listening to Nirvana for a while in college was awakened), and when I heard it again at the end of the film I couldn’t help but sigh with emotion that the song actually fits so well with the film’s depressive, desperate, yet warm atmosphere, which is really a perfect match.
I believe that those who have seen the film can appreciate that The Batman is very much a film noir of the 1960s and 1970s, reflecting social injustice and the plight of the characters, and at the same time full of tragedy.
The movie has a lot of scenes with Batman and Gordon circling around the crime scene, not much action, and no fancy flying around, but it’s got a real tough-guy vibe to it (which is actually more of the original DC Comics style).
Incidentally, there are no real “high value” characters in “The Batman” (no Robert Pattinson’s face to make a big deal), in fact, even Bruce Wayne only appeared when “Batman needs him”, not to mention In fact, even Bruce Wayne only appears “when Batman needs him”, not to mention Catwoman, who has a body but doesn’t take her make-up seriously……. The character is not eye-catching enough, but it fits in the context of this movie.
The “darkness” of the movie is not only reflected in the style and type of painting, the theme of the story is also breathtaking, Gotham City, a variety of “messengers of vengeance” together to write this gloomy, which is most typical of Batman, Catwoman and the Riddler.
Batman’s vengeance stems from Bruce’s “fear begets anger, and anger begets hate” after losing both of his parents.
What we see at the beginning of the movie is a young, reckless Batman who, for Bruce, lost his parents to the “evils of Gotham,” but that hatred is abstract and widespread, so he’s keen to fight street criminals in the dark of night.
Batman’s reputation for ferocity is indeed quite effective, as he uses fear to deter Gotham’s petty criminals.
In contrast, Selina “Catwoman’s” revenge is much more understandable, because she hates a specific person: her father, Falcone.
Selene has the closest thing to a normal person’s “sense of chaos”, having come from a humble background and having lost her mother at a young age, but her hatred isn’t fatal, and for a long time all she wanted to do was protect her beloved friends and make her bad life a little bit better.
It wasn’t until she found out that her best friend had been silenced that Selene was driven by a new hatred to assassinate Falcone, and with it, to further her hatred of the entire power elite.
Most chewy of all is Edward “The Riddler,” whose seeds of hatred were planted when the Waynes died: the well-dressed Bruce Wayne took all the attention, while many orphans like him who really needed help were forgotten, lied to, and let down.
When he grows up and discovers that the Gotham Revival Fund has been embezzled, and realizes the truth of his social outcast status, Edward finally transforms into the Riddler, and begins to kill the Mayor, the police commissioner, the D.A., and others, taking his revenge on the higher source of Gotham’s downfall.
Herein lies the damning question: is Thomas Wayne, who indirectly created the Riddler, considered evil or not?
Subjectively speaking, Thomas is not malicious, on the contrary, he established the “Gotham Revitalization Fund” is a good man who really wants to help Gotham, he just for his wife, made a powerful rich people “easy to make mistakes”; but objectively speaking, just because But objectively, it’s Thomas’ lack of goodness to know right from wrong and to protect himself that cost him his life and fed a villain like Falcone.
A “greater good” that has no power to defend itself against evil is equally evil.
In this regard, it’s not unfair that Wayne and his son are also listed by the Riddler as the leaders of the evil, as their failure to do their duty has fattened up Gotham’s assholes, and in fact aided and abetted the evil.
That’s why Bruce was so disoriented when he learned the truth, not only because he himself is a party to the original sin, but also because he can’t do anything about the systemic and systematic evils that have festered at the roots of Gotham, and relying on one or two good guys to punish the evils can’t cure the symptoms any more than the root of the problem.
In this regard, the Riddler completely outclasses Batman – on the one hand, the Riddler is inspired by “fear mongering” and uses his “mentor” to accomplish his plan step-by-step; on the other hand, the Riddler is much more effective than his “mentor”. On the other hand, the Riddler’s vengeance is more targeted and has a better chance of redeeming Gotham than Batman’s scabies-removing, itch-expanding anger (no wonder Batman’s considered a kindred spirit). ……
Of course, The Batman wouldn’t have made it to the theaters if it had gone this dark, and the Riddler’s plan to “cleanse Gotham City of its evil” on a physical level, and his desire to destroy everything and embrace total chaos is an act of terrorism, not a good one.
For most of the movie, Batman has been led by the hand, until he hears about the “Avenger” from the terrorist thugs and realizes what he really wants, and finally grows up and has a little bit of hope.
The endings of all three of these men correspond to their ideas of revenge: the Riddler is devastated by his failure, then makes new friends at the talented Arkham Asylum and begins to formulate his next plan; Catwoman, avenged, doesn’t believe that there is any salvation for Gotham and is determined to escape from a place with no future; and Batman is the only one who still chooses to believe in order, and is willing to do his part for the sake of a slim hope.
It’s because of this “different darkness” that this different “The Batman” was created, right?
Admittedly, from the comic book, detective, suspense, noir and other perspectives, the film can not be considered too good …… But probably because of these years the pace is getting faster and faster, I am more and more like to see such a slow pace of the movie on the big screen, retro and innovative “The Batman”, we deserve to have.
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