The Batman: An Even Darker Knight Doubles Down on the Dour

By Jim Slotek

Rating: B

As the late Heath Ledger asked, three Jokers ago, “Why so serious?”

The question remains unanswered, but The Batman, which introduces Robert Pattinson to the now-lengthy list of grim, tortured, cowled vigilantes, doubles down on the dour while imbuing classic characters like The Penguin, The Riddler and Catwoman with all-new demons.

Certainly, The Batman is the most self-serious and even a bit cerebral take on the Dark Knight yet. Director Matt Reeves has acknowledged being influenced by ‘70s fare like Taxi Driver. But you can only fit so many Travis Bickles into a film while leaving room for an impressive vehicle-flipping car chase and an Armageddon-ish last act. Hence the movie’s nearly three-hour running time.

Zoë Kravitz as the nascent Catwoman and Robert Pattinson (we think, under that mask).

At least Reeves skipped the origin story. When we meet The Batman, it’s in a growly (natch) onscreen monologue. He’s cynical and frustrated, having been on the job for two years of night work and anguishes over the fact that, if anything, Gotham City is even more crime-ridden than ever.

Heck, he can’t even take the subway without having to beat down a gang of quasi-Joker-painted thugs intent on committing a hate crime. We then move on to the bigger picture. Gotham is rotten from the top down. The politicians are crooked, the police are crooked. And the crooks? Crooked.

Which is why the vicious murder of an incumbent mayor (Rupert Penry-Jones), running on the coat-tails of Bruce Wayne’s late father Thomas is noir, tip-of-the-iceberg stuff. Before we’re done, we see not one but two sins-of-the-father narratives unveiled, and a surfeit of wannabe shocking revelations.

The murderer is The Riddler, who is definitely not the giggling life-of-the-party Jim Carrey and Frank Gorshin gave us. He wears a bulky mask, talks in a disguised voice, and is basically a very angry guy, riddles aside (“What does a liar do when he dies? He lies still.”)

Which brings me to the one thing Batman aficionados want to know every time they switch Batmen. How is Pattinson/Affleck/Bale/Clooney/Kilmer/Keaton in the role? The answer is always, “About the same.” It is built into the dynamic of a Batman film that he will spend four-fifths of the movie with a mask on. It could be anyone under that mask. It’s that one-fifth where he plays Bruce Wayne that makes any difference at all – bad news for devout Robert Pattinson fans who’ll go most of the movie not seeing his face.

For that matter, having The Riddler similarly covered and disguised makes him less interesting. It’s only in the last act, when we finally see his face (hello, Paul Dano!) that he electrifies the movie. Faces matter. (Pattinson’s touchingly vulnerable Bruce Wayne also makes the movie more real when he gets to show expressions.)

The rest of the time, The Riddler is just a Batman of a different moral hue, a grim vigilante out to murder Gotham’s “liars.” He’s also something of a McGuffin, since his murders serve as bread crumbs to lead the Batman to the real story.

The Batman definitely takes on too much, seeming about to end several times before it actually does. The tone and cast are all spot on, and the last-act extra action in just seems like an add-on. An unrecognizable Colin Farrell as The Penguin has a mini-arc of his own, graduating from the employee of a mob boss (John Turturro) to his own man. Jeffrey Wright as Lieut. Gordon makes believable a man who would give a masked vigilante free rein to examine a murder scene in front of resentful fellow officers. And Andy Serkis is a decidedly proactive Alfred, practically a sidekick.

Finally, there’s Zoë Kravitz, as Selina Kyle, mob nightclub hostess by night, cat burglar by, er, night. She’s given her own narrative, one intimately connected to the Batman’s story. But the almost-kissing scenes that are supposed to suggest romance just don’t work. C’mon, a couple wearing black leather should generate some sparks.

Batman as a straight-ahead film noir anti-hero – just psychos and murder, no end of the world scenarios - is an idea that’s overdue. It was the tone the original comic book set way back when. And for long stretches, The Batman gets it..

The Batman. Directed by Matt Reeves. Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz and Jeffrey Wright. Opens in theatres Friday, March 4.