The Batman Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
The moodiest superhero played by Robert Pattison modeled on…Kurt Cobain!?
Yes, please!
Today we’re reviewing, The Batman.
The hype is real! I am straight up announcing that “The Batman” is so far my favorite superhero movie, because tastes bhi change hotey hi rehtey hain, aur pandemic ki wajah se joh nihilism ghusa hai, aur khushiyaan andar se khatam ho gayi hain, jaisa mainey twitter pe dekha kisi ko kehte huye, we are living in a “post-humor world”, uss hissaab se bikul sahi padti hai yeh film.
Thank you Matt Reeves for making the darkest, sulkiest, superhero vigilante 30 years old again, completely unsure of who he is, and what he needs to do in this world, I feel seen.
Robert Pattinson is Bruce Wayne, jisko Batman baney abhi sirf do saal huey hain. He has undertaken what he calls the “Gotham Project”, kyunki saari khandaani wealth bande ki iss hi shehar mein hai, toh soch raha hai ki legacy ka karein kya. You hear him talk to himself in a voice over, which THANKFULLY turns out to be him writing in a diary because I find it damn annoying when filmmakers resort to bina sir-pair ka VO, for no reason, who is talking, who are they talking to, why are you breaking this 4th wall?
Bruce lives in what looks like Dumbledore’s office at Hogwarts, jiski entrance is through some underground tunnel situation. Alfred is a full zaddy looking Andy Serkis and together they’re committed to stopping bad guys. Gordon is not commissioner yet, and Penguin is still popularly known as “Oswald” ya “Oz”. Joker nahi aaya hai, lekin a serial killer named Riddler is on the lose.
Despite everyone’s young age, fashion and technology suggest its set in modern times. Even Todd Philips’ dreary “The Joker” didn’t take place in a Gotham so dirty, dingy, and wet from monsoon and gutter water both. Mat Reeves’ Gotham looks post-apocalyptic, graffiti lines all walls and nuclear waste looking, smoking, forgotten bags of trash pepper the landscape. Batman himself wonders if needs to bother with his hometown, saying “The city is eating itself, maybe it’s beyond saving”.
Par yehi colorlessness aur gandgi banti hai the riddler ka playground, kyunki he too fancies himself as a vigilante, though uske methods violent aur gair-kanooni hain. Batman sees the obvious evils like drug trafficking and murder, but Riddler sees corruption and capitalism as the root of all problems, uske dimaag mein dono who kaam same hi kar rahey hain.
Paul Dano as the Riddler is the second most incredible performance, after Robert Pattinson. Wahee saare fan boys joh merey theatre mein harr character ki introduction par wooohoooo chilla chilla kar taaliyaan bajaa rhaye they, the Bat MOBILE aaya tab uchhal uchhal kar paglaa rhaye they…..ek insaan ne kuch express nahi kiya jab Paul Dano ki shakal reveal huyi. Superhero fandom bohot hi toxic lagta hai mujhey, Heath ledger se bhi problem thi, Robert pattinson se bhi, vitriolic bass khaali, filmmaking ki kisko padi hai.
Anywaaaayyyyyy, that’s a different discussion, filmmaking ki aur baat kartey hain.
Matt Reeves and Peter Craig put together a marvelous screenplay, fully aware the nearly 3-hour long duration needs to be worth our time. Of course they do so by putting an insanely good Robert Pattinson in nearly every frame, but also by choosing Riddler as the main antagonist. Toh hota yoon hai ki poori film mein riddles hain, puzzles hain, joh koi na koi character suljha raha hai. Bataao why?
Because you are also solving na as you go, before batman gives the answers other characters repeat the puzzles, looking, well, puzzled, giving you 10 seconds to solve it in your head, its such a simple little clever trick, works so well.
This movie is also mega-ly political, love.to.see.it. There is a decent amount of conversation about how power corrupts police officers. Gordon is played by a black actor for the first time, there are female cops. And also a Q-Anon-style underground digital rumor-filled movement, which leads to an insurrection aimed at killing an elected government official.
I believe this was already written before USA’s Jan 6 resurrection, kyunki yeh film toh na jaane kab se bann rahi hai, but the prescience is commendable. To add to the real-ness, two characters — Mitchell and Colson are given surnames from actual Watergate scandal figures.
Also incredible, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman in the making, a bisexual, badass ticking time-bomb. Colin Farrel, joh poori picture mien mujhey kaheen mila hi nahi banda, until I realized he’s the man behind the prosthetics playing the penguin.
In one scene Batman and Jeffrey Wright as Gordon tie-up Oz’s feet as he wobbles trying to follow them, like penguin, nice touch. The only unnecessarily indulgent sequence though in the film, is given to Colin Farrell, an excessively long car chase, which I didn’t get the point of.
If you haven’t watched The Boys on Amazon Prime, please do. While the name doesn’t suggest it perhaps, the show is a superhero series devoted to exploring the actual price the world has to pay for having superheroes.
Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” goes further, and tackles what it means to be a superhero in a world where no superpowers exist, everyone is just as human as each other, there is no Superman, no Wonder Woman, no Justice League. Just deeply disturbed and broken people, trying to make it to the next day. Batman is not doing a stupid Batman voice, nor is he on a mission to save the world from evil. He is just a young man, entering his 30-s, trying to assuage his white man, rich person guilt, by trying to put himself to some use, in a rather masochistic manner. It's about his inner demons, more than the city he protects.
Aisi andar ki darkness nikaali hai Dune waale cinematograoher Grieg fraser ne ki kuch scenes toh ekdum ghor kaaley hain, sirf jab goliyaan chalti hain toh unki Roshni se dikhta hai kya action chaaloo hai, too good.
Robert Pattinson ki aankhon ke chaaro taraf phailey huye surmey ki kasam, mazaa aa gaya picture dekh ke. Nirvana ka gana ‘something in the way’ alag. Theatre mein zaroor dekhein, mask lagaa kar, unmask karne ka kaam riddler par chhor do, tum matt utaarna.
Now for, Relation Mein Recommendation.
Paul Dano ka double role dekho aap, Paul Thomas Anderson ki “There Will Be Blood” mein. Banda 21–22 saal ka tha jab who film bani, aur ek-ek scene mein Daniel Day Lewis ko takkar de rakhi hai, he doesn’t get enough love for his roles are Paul and Sunday Eli, please dekho Apple Tv par lagi hui hai.
