I Am Vengeance – The Batman- A Perfect Reinvention
By Anand Venkitachalam
(Review rating: 10/10; Verdict: A must watch)
The World’s Greatest Detective is finally here in perhaps the most badass and satisfying reinvention of the character to date. In a take completely different from all other iterations, director Matt Reeves has brought something completely new to the Dark Knight in The Batman.
A neo noir film at heart, Batman is indeed vengeance when he responds to a thug who asks him “Who the hell are you supposed to be?” and he proceeds to brutally pound him before answering, “I am vengeance.” Inspired by Batman comics such as the “Long Halloween”, “Year One”, “No Man’s Land” and “Dark Knight, Dark City”, the Batman is far more a detective here than he ever has been in any live action adaption before.
However, before jumping into its plot and its cast, praise must be showered for the cinematography, score and the design of Gotham, for this is not the Gotham any of us know. Sure, the city was always plagued by a strong criminal element, but it would seem that Reeves took heavy inspiration from Blade Runner when he designed the city, for it is more dark, bleak and depressing than any rendition of Gotham ever has been. There are no smiles, no laughter, and its canvas so pallid in its texture it’s as if hope itself has taken a full 360 degrees turn from it, letting the city rot in its filth.
Every corner of the city is littered with filth with the neon lights at night only enhancing its metamorphosis into an ever descending state of decay, with junkies, local gangs, murderers and rapists prowling the streets always fixating their sight on the average citizen. More so, half the time the whole city is covered in rain and that does not help in adding colour to its morose self. To further worsen the situation, it is in this scenario we find that the city has now been targeted by a deranged, enigmatic, intelligent, menacing, psychotic killer who is mounting an attack of terror. Michael Giacchino’s score also deserves great praise. Full of grandiose and power, the score perfectly balances and enhances the thrills of every moment only making it a more exciting watch. With the rising highs of his music, we get a Batman who is not only just a mystery, but also one who is a grand spectacle full of wonder, darkness and chills.
The action of the movie is very organic flowing like butter with spectacular choreography. Rather than add some grandiloquent and ultra graceful martial arts, this Batman, while a very well versed fighter like all his other counterparts, is extremely rough and aggressive with his enemies where the action truly signifies his damaged psyche. The rest of the action, be it the scenes with the Batmobile, the creepy terror attacks of The Riddler, the escapades of Catwoman or just the perplexing intense investigative scenes are shot to near perfection leaving nothing to be desired.
Batman now in his second year of crime fighting, by this point seems more broken and damaged than anything else. Though always a gruff and grumpy guy, Bruce Wayne is also a man who has a limitless reservoir of hope for his city, but in a completely opposite take this Batman is just tired to the point he even considers his crusade useless and maybe even considers the city beyond saving. At this point he fights not as a knight of justice, but as a deliverer of vengeance, fighting with anger rather than giving people hope. Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne is way apart from anyone else’s and as such he should not be compared to anyone else.
Suffice it to say, however, that if a comparison is necessary, he is truly sublime as a Batman who is just mentally scarred and fighting with more of an obsession than anyone else, in a scenario rather similar to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Caped Crusader in “Batman Vs Superman”, where the former is hell bent on destroying the Man of Steel. Here he is not hell bent on erasing crime in Gotham, so much as he is obsessed with solving them with his mind and beating criminals to a bloody pulp. Pattinson’s expression is always gloomy and serious in what some might even consider ’emo’, but that would be just plain wrong.
No, this is a rash, angry and morose Batman who it seems is teetering on just going above the edge and Pattinson as mentioned before was truly amazing in his portrayal. A minor complaint here is that even as Bruce Wayne instead of putting forth his public persona of a flamboyant billionaire playboy in order to hide his real identity, tends to be a glooming recluse who does not even handle his company and rarely makes public appearances, but then again given his psyche in the movie that might have been the right call after all. Donning a suit that is crude and rough around the edges, yet fully bullet proof and sexy, few words can give true merit to the actor’s performance whose very announcement as the Dark Knight was once the source of a public outcry.
Well it suffices to say that Pattinson has beautifully shut his critics up giving justice to the superhero in a truly splendid performance. While all the performances in this movie, particularly the main ones are spectacular, a special ounce of praise must be given to Paul Dano’s portrayal of The Riddler, for this is something altogether new. This Riddler’s only similarity to his comic book counterpart is that he loves riddles, is highly intelligent and is a criminal.
Casting an UNO reverse card on almost all expectations, this Riddler is not a mere criminal, he is a bonafide terrorist who has essentially launched ‘jihad’ on Gotham. In a menacing appearance, this Riddler is wrapped in tape, has a heavy voice and is out on a mission targeting all of Gotham’s elites as he sets out to unmask the truth about Gotham through shedding blood all the while taunting the police and Batman. The Riddler here is a psychotic, deranged and highly intelligent freak who is more than likely to get your hair standing on edge with the amazing writing and Paul Dano’s on the spot performance. Another brilliant character is that of Catwoman for not only is the renowned cat burglar an extremely interesting one, Zoe Kravitz does a brilliant job portraying her.
Quite the mystery, Selina Kyle is not yet the Catwoman we know from the comics, and becomes Batman’s ally to locate her missing room-mate and friend all the while details of her own sordid past come into light. Selina Kyle is a woman of many dimensions who is angry and motivated, she is above all a survivor with a moral compass that counters Batman’s own extremely rigid black and white version of right and wrong. An important character that just cannot be missed is GCPD’s Lieutenant James Gordon. Though not a major deviation such as Gordon being the only honest non corrupt cop in the police department and Batman’s strong ally, Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon is a strong difference from his counterpart from Gary Oldman’s version of the character from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, this Gordon seems a lot more weathered down and tired almost like a part of him just does not care and only allows Batman to help him investigate because he pretty much is the only one who is actively doing anything while the rest of GCPD is so bogged down in corruption and protocol that it does basically nothing.
Little can be spoken of Jeffrey Wright’s performance apart from the fact that it was simply outstanding and he may very well be the best James Gordon rivalling even Gary Oldman. Then comes in Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot/ The Penguin. Donning a fatsuit and having a near unrecognizable look, Farrell’s version of the character is more akin to a slightly rougher and less sophisticated version of Al Capone or some Italian mafia killer from The Godfather franchise. When describing his performance, Colin Farrell slays it and possesses a simple but nonetheless effective story of a mid level crime boss who hasn’t yet fully established himself and is the lackey of Gotham’s real kingpin Carmine Falcone though he is someone just searching for an opportunity to change things.
A small but an important role is that of Andy Serkis as Bruce’s butler and mentor Alfred Pennyworth with whom he uncharacteristically shares a rather hostile relationship with. In spite of being his only family and confidant, the two hardly speak and when they do it really just shows how much broken Bruce has become as he is someone who just no longer cares. Alfred on his part does his all to protect Bruce and help him although he does not condone his quest in the slightest and even thinks that his ward is off his rocker. Finally comes in John Turturo’s Carmine Falcone. The real crime lord of the city, it might be best to say that he pretty much owns everything there and is someone who just reeks of power and is basically untouchable by the police or the administration.
If Gotham is cut off from the rest of America and made its own country, then Carmine Falcone is basically its President. Little again to say off Turturo apart from the fact that he just like everyone else has done a splendid job and needs little praise. A point of contention for some might be that the movie is too long given its three hour run time though that is hardly an issue for it passes by like the wind. Visually impressive, sporting an amazing cast, great production, a stellar score and a fantastic storyline Matt Reeves may have a masterpiece in his hands for The Batman marks the darkest, bleakest and the most experimental entry into all the live action adaptations of The Dark Knight.
Clocking in at over 2hours and 56 minutes it is the longest standalone Batman film yet which is laden with high ambition which it managed to realize perfectly and was very well worth the long wait. The Batman is one of the most compelling superhero movies that has ever been made and this newly rendered world full of creeping, chilling darkness marked by exquisite craftsmanship is a massive delight to watch and is a must watch for not just comic book or DC fans, but also of people who love quality cinema and noir movies. (Disclaimer: This piece is by a very enthusiastic DCEU fan, so the marks are 10/10 for direction, production, music score, acting, screenplay, cinematography, visuals, action)
