Written by Jack Hulbert

There is no Batman film quite like Matt Reeves’ The Batman (Matt Reeves, Warner Bros Pictures, USA, 2022). In many ways this is because even The Batman doesn’t quite identify with the tenets of what constitutes a Batman film. It is extremely removed from each previous iteration in the franchise. 

The film’s setting of Gotham city has more in common visually with the perpetually rain-battered streets found in Fincher’s Seven (David Fincher, Arnold Kopelson Productions, USA, 1995). Along with being a unique composite of Chicago, Liverpool and Glasgow, opposed to the usual plain New York stand ins from Batman (Leslie H. Martinson, Greenlawn Productions, USA, 1966) and The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros Pictures, USA, 2008).

The film’s villain, the normally comical and unserious Riddler, has more in common with the Zodiac killer and dark web psychopaths than a leotard wearing, playfully puzzling genius, as was standard in his previous live action appearances. 

Even the film’s Batman is removed from every previous iteration of the character. Robert Pattinson plays him far more tortured and tormented than other versions. There is a soul deep beneath the cowl, and lingering black eye makeup, but only deep beneath. This is a Batman with no care for his family’s legacy or even his own life. His only concern is his admittedly failing “Gotham Project”. The idea and cause which permeates through all versions of the character: to take on the criminal element and give them something to fear. 

While other Batmen are beloved by their cities, regularly making public appearances and garnering the thanks of (most of) Gotham’s civilian population for giving the criminal element something to fear, Reeves and Pattinson’s Batman is feared by all. This is clear instantly from his opening save of Akie Kotabe’s character. In The Batman the people Batman is usually trying to protect fear him just as much as anyone else. In fact, most of the criminals in the film are fairly indifferent to him until he engages in “a little focussed violence”. This Batman is less a symbol of justice, but a violent orphan in military gear, literally wearing the gun that killed his parents. He spends his nights doling out his vengeance onto the people at large that he feels wronged him, Gotham’s criminal class, with no care about how his methods are perceived or how he is viewed. 

This is something that makes him so profoundly interesting as a Batman. 

Take that quote, “a little focussed violence”. It encapsulates Batman’s methods of dealing with criminals: beat them up and give them something to fear. Yet the quote’s origin is Paul Dano’s Riddler describing his own methods for changing Gotham. It is a fascinating dichotomy that reinvents the character of The Batman by contrasting his methodology with the film’s villain. 

It’s through Batman’s realisation of this similarity that he is allowed to complete his arc of becoming better: going from vigilante to hero. He learns that he has to become more than a symbol of fear for criminals. Instead, he must also become a symbol of hope, justice, and resilience for the people of Gotham. It’s a unique arc, which, paired with the film’s equally unique visual presentation of its world, creates a distinctively singular entry to the franchise. 

Clearly, The Batman is a Batman film like no other. It has no equal and no competition, in every possible field or category. It earns the definite article. This is: THE Batman.