InMatt Reeves’The Batman, he and cinematographerGreig Fraserpresent Gotham City in a way no other Batman film has done in the past. This isn’t the vague, metropolitan supercity ofChristopher Nolan’sDark Knighttrilogy, nor is it the highly stylized, kaleidoscopic creation of Gotham from theJoel Schumacherfilms. In Reeves’s film, his and production designerJames Chinlund’s vision for Gotham City is intrinsically tied to its story and characters. In the story, a sullen Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson), burdened by his family’s legacy, attempts to stop a string of murders committed by the Riddler (Paul Dano), who hopes to unmask the corrupt underbelly that is plaguing the city. In tandem with its decaying Gothic architecture, the film takes inspiration from the films ofDavid Fincheras it bathes the city in noirish shadows and a Stygian color palette.
‘The Batman’s Distinct Visual Style Is an Extension of the Movie’s Central Figures
In many ways, the decrepit atmosphere of the city seems to be a projection of the film’s central hero and antagonist.The Riddler views Gotham as a corrupt husk of its former self, hollowed out by broken promises, and the rain-drenched streets reflect the oversaturation of the city’s corruption bubbling over the surface. Similarly, Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is haunted by his past trauma. In film noir, it’s typical that the gradients of blacks and whites illustrate some internal ambiguity or cynicism held by the main character. InThe Batman,Bruce is pessimistic about the state of Gotham. He sees fear as the only functional tool to corral skyrocketing crime rates. Although he uses shadows to his advantage when donning the suit, the hostile haze that permeates the entire city suggests something more sinister. Coupled with Fraser’s tight framing and shallow depth of field, the Gotham presented before Bruce is a suffocating one, daring the caped crusader to try and rescue it.
AsThe Batmanexplores an internally shattered Bruce to a degree that no other Batman film has done yet, Reeves and Fraser’s style is undeniably evocative. Oftentimes, in sequences like District Attorney Colson’s (Peter Sarsgaard) kidnapping and any shot of the burnt orange sun shining over the skyline, the style is breathtaking. The noir aesthetic proves perfect for a patient, three-hour mystery in which Batman finally gets a chance to flex his investigative abilities. However, the aesthetic is not without its limitations. Tight frames, shallow focus, and subjective angles are not exactly conducive for a successful big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, which, despite Reeves trying to convince us that his film is not,The Batmanabsolutely is. In a genre that is all about grand scales and inspiring awe, Reeves must reconcile the inherent blockbuster core of his film with the noir sensibilities he is clearly more interested in.
Matt Reeves Uses ‘The Batman’s Action to Complement His Noir Vision
ThroughoutThe Batman’s thrilling action setpieces, Reeves makes his approach clear as to how he reconciles the two opposing forces of his film. He doesn’t. Reeves remains tunnel-visioned on visualizing Batman’s internal struggle throughout his action sequences. In sequences like Batman’s wingsuit gliding from the GCPD roof and the Batmobile car chase with the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Reeves doubles down on the noir aesthetic of the film. The result for both sequences is one that is frustratingly disorienting, with shot selection completely antithetical to what has become common for blockbuster films.
In the case of the gliding sequence, the intent is clear:place the audience in the same discomfort that the young Batman feelsas he plummets off of the GCPD building roof. The locked-down, subjective shot that repeats throughout the sequence certainly achieves this effect, but Reeves refuses to budge an inch in terms of wider angle shots. Reeves pushes his noir aesthetic far beyond its limitations, and the heightened reality of his comic-book character never successfully coalesces with his grounded detective approach.
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For the Batmobile chase, the trend continues. In what should be a rip-roaring chase similar to the one from Nolan’sBatman Begins, Batman pursues an escaping Penguin in an effort to get more information about the Riddler’s clues.Reeves has stated thatthe sequence takes heavy inspiration from a similar scene inWilliam Friedkin’sThe French Connection, where the car chase is filmed as though it were an extension of the main character’s obsessiveness. InThe Batman,the scene is appropriately chaotic, but stylistically it seems to get lost in a purgatory between the established noir aesthetic, the homage to the hard-boiled ‘70s detective films, and the heightened comic-book reality that demands more room to breathe. Reeves never finds a way to merge all three of these, and as a result, the chase feels like a disorienting whirlwind in the worst kind of way.
The reason it is frustrating to see Reeves fail to fuse the split disposition of his film is that it has been done successfully in the past, and in aBatmanfilm no less. Christopher Nolan has never triedto hide the influenceofMichael Mann’s 1995 crime sagaHeaton his secondChristian Bale-led caped crusader outing,The Dark Knight. In the film, Nolan pulls off what Reeves refuses to try in his film. Among the many other thingsThe Dark Knightaccomplishes, the film manages to simultaneously be a pastiche of the ‘90s crime dramas likeHeatbut is also willing to surrender itself to its more blockbuster inclinations. The film begins with a white-knuckle bank heist, but it is still able to operate within a heightened reality where a small motorcycle has enough gadgetry to flip a 16-wheel semi-truck.
‘The Batman’s Fight Scenes Offer Fans the Best Fusion of Matt Reeves’ Noir Superhero Aesthetic
WhileThe Batman’slarger set pieces are burdened by their reliance on the tortured mental state of Pattinson’s dark knight,Reeves at least comes close to blending the grittiness of his noir film with the scale of a superhero blockbusterthrough his movie’s hand-to-hand fight scenes. Shunning the blurry, close-up filming style that definedBatman’s best combat moments in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy,Reeves slows things down and adopts wider shotsthat allow viewers to appreciate Pattinson’s raw power and ferocity. The resultis a Batman who appears more enraged man than inhuman myth, a seamless balance between the confusing skirmish at the docks inBatman Beginsand the tedious, daytime brawl at the end ofThe Dark Knight Rises.
The advantages of Reeves’ approach to Batman’s fighting style are on full display as the caped crusader directly battles the film’s fledgling supervillains. After forcing his way into Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge at the end of Act 1,Batman’s altercation with the spin-off villain’s goonsblends the intensity of a noir film’s focus with the breathing room of a superhero epic, resembling the flawlessly executed warehouse fight scene fromZack Snyder’sBatman v Supermanby allowing Pattinson’s Batman to brave bullets and incorporate his enemies’ weapons. Likewise,Reeves’ combination of tight angles and broader visuals in Batman’s final battleagainst Riddler’s army enables the viewer to savor the hero’s intimate, skull-cracking brutality as Batman flies through the smoke-smothered air, creating that dichotomy of dread and exhilaration thatReeves needed to balance his film on a larger scale.
‘The Batman’ Uses Noir Cinematography To Complete Its Hero’s Personal Journey
At the same time,The Batman’sending also demonstrates how Reeves is not totally beholden to his breathtaking noir cinematography. As Bruce Wayne’s tormented psyche learns to let go of the darkness of his past and let in the light, so too does Reeves’ film graduallyallow a brighter aesthetic to dawn after the film’s final battle. While lingering shots of Gotham’s flooded streets and crumbling infrastructure allow Gotham’s depravity to finally meet daylight, the mood of these images is a far cry fromThe Batman’sopening tone of moral decay. Beginning with Batman’s rescue flare burning against the dark backdrop of a caved-in Gotham Square,the bleak cityscape quickly transitions from its dark night into a well-lit morning, mirroring Batman’s newfound hope in a bit of visual symbolism that demonstrates whyReeves movie is one of the best superhero films of recent years.
Rather than clinging to the shadows and emerging from the darkness as an ominous silhouette as he does at the start ofThe Batman,Pattinson’s dark knight proves his literal enlightenment by the film’s endby helping the victims of Riddler’s masterplan instead. A close-up shot lingering on his cowl in the morning light solidifies The Dark Knight’s newfound compassion, though Reeves and his creative team are smart enough to understand that the daytime is no time for Batman. The film’s final scene therefore situates Batman’s conversation withZoe Kravitz’sCatwoman in a more moderate background, a middle space between darkness and light that illustrates Batman’s newly balanced perspective whilehinting at the movie’s sequel. Yet, without embracing the grander scale that Batman’s superhero status calls for, this brighter finalestill falls short of counteringThe Batman’soverwhelmingly disillusioned perspective.
In the end, Reeves’s steadfast rejection of something that he believes would dilute his film is admirable. And for the vast majority ofThe Batman, the noir aesthetic works exactly as intended, seamlessly placing the audience inside the mind of a Batman tormented by his past and the cesspool of a city surrounding him. Coupled with Chinlund’s immaculate production design, Fraser’s heavily shadowed cinematography brings a new kind of life to Gotham City. Even during the scenes where the noir aesthetic proves too inflexible for the material, Reeves’s missteps are a commendable miscalculation.Reeves is unafraid to try new things with his established heroand his approach proves to err on the side of ambition is much more interesting than playing it too safe.
The Batmanis currently available to stream on Max in the U.S.
The Batman
In a dark city plagued by crime and corruption, a masked crusader investigates a puzzling string of crimes linked by cryptic messages. His journey into the depths of the city’s sinister underworld reveals connections among its most powerful citizens and forces him to confront his own complex relationship with justice.
