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Robert Pattinson as »The Batman«: Flirt with the dark side of the force
Photo:
Jonathan Olley / Warner Bros.
The more uncertain the times, the greater the longing for superheroes who shoulder the evil of the world on muscular arms or at least on a well-armored bat suit, who beat up criminals and punch dictators in the face.
How strong the desire for moral clarity and escapism is at the moment was shown most recently by the enduring box office success of the blockbuster »Spider-Man: No Way Home« from Marvel and Disney.
The competition from DC/Warner is now sending the most popular character from its hero universe into the game for the box office throne – again in a new screen incarnation.
Unlike in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, "The Batman" does not follow a multi-film "Avengers" narrative, but is a standalone film that resembles in many ways the "Joker", the harsh sociogram of the comic book villain of the same name, for the Leading actor Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar.
Director Matt Reeves was able to win British actor Robert Pattinson for his »Batman« after Ben Affleck, who was originally subscribed to the role, withdrew from the project.
There will therefore be two Batmans in DC cinema in the near future, because Affleck will embody the character at least in the upcoming »Flash« film.
Pattinson, best known as the romantically tormented vampire in the »Twilight« saga, has earned a reputation as an accomplished character actor in art-house genre films such as »Good Time« and »High Life« since his success as a teen idol, most recently he returned Christopher Nolan's »Tenet« back into the blockbuster category.
Fans have long doubted whether the Englishman, who often appears fragile and despondent, could credibly fill a pithy role like Batman.
Now it's clear: For Matt Reeves, the anti-superhero Pattinson is a stroke of luck, because his film is no ordinary superhero cinema either, but a nihilistic film noir with borrowings from psychological horror thrillers like »Seven«.
That there are also fistfights and car chases with motorcycles and a furious Batmobile,
seems almost like a concession to the conventions of the genre.
The spectacle of "The Batman" is - apart from the exorbitant length - something else: the almost complete dismantling of its hero.
Batman, in use since 1939, has often walked the path from the clearly defined hero figure into the twilight of postmodernism through countless comics and films: For more than eight decades, the once upright detective has served more and more as a dark foil for the abysses that behind the motives of those self-appointed avengers who use brute force to position themselves beside or above the law.
»The Batman« is the provisional end point of this deconstruction in the cinema.
Bat Fetish and Severe Childhood Trauma
He puts the character with the bat fetish and severe childhood trauma on a fine line between psychotic and profiler: What if the comically costumed guy who hangs around the crime scene so stoically and taciturnly next to police Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) in truth is not a fighter for light and enlightenment?
But a freak just as crazy as the serial killer called »Riddler« who killed the mayor of Gotham City and is targeting other dignitaries.
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Gotham, this eternally dark, rain-soaked megalopolis crammed with Gothic towers and cathedrals, has always been the grotesquely exaggerated image of all real and imagined abysses of inner-city structures.
The "Riddler" (Paul Dano) has wrapped himself in a kinky costume just like Batman and tackles the corruption that is deeply rooted in the city's system, albeit with murderous methods that his colleague who works with the police has (still) denied.
The film begins with a scene in which one does not immediately know who is observing the mayor and his family through the window of his apartment, breathing heavily.
Is it Batman the voyeur who later in the film also teases Catwoman Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz)?
Superficially, of course, because she seems to know something about the murders, but in truth, of course, because he finds her pretty hot in her skin-tight latex dress.
Unfortunately, the sizzling romance between Bat and Cat doesn't find much space in the film, but is limited to a few, all too chaste scenes.
»I
am
the shadow«
More important is Reeves' psychological journey of his hero, who at this point has already been on the road for a year or two as a leather mouse in Gotham's offsides - but his motives are still dangerously unclear.
He doesn't introduce himself to a gang of rascals as »I'm Batman« like Pattinson's pre-predecessor Christian Bale in Nolan's successful trilogy, instead he says: »I am vengeance« – I am vengeance.
As is well known by now, the aim is to avenge the murder of his parents in a dark alley, which Bruce "Batman" Wayne had to witness as a young boy.
From the off, he philosophizes about the fear he creates in criminals because he could hide in any of the numerous shadows of the street canyons.
"I'm not hiding in the shadow," he murmurs, not without morbid pride: "I
am
the shadow."
Unless a borderline flirts too risky with the dark side of power.
The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino makes it clear which cinematic role models Reeves would like to evoke.
The new Batman theme is reminiscent of Chopin's looming funeral march, which was also included in the "Imperial March" from "Star Wars": The "Dark Knight" is also a bit like "Darth Vader" here.
When Gotham's mob boss Falcone (John Turturro) comes into play, the music sinisterly leads into Nino Rota's theme from The Godfather, even playing Al Martino's "I Have But One Heart" in one scene, which is also featured in the ultimate mob Epic of Coppola plays a role.
All these echoes do not make Reeves' film the ultimate Batman film, the story is ultimately too thin and the dramaturgy too static and sluggish - very similar to the two "Planet of the Apes" sequels with which the former indie filmmaker as Blockbuster director recommended.
Before the usual Hollywood test screenings, he worried whether the detective story he was telling might not be too complex for the superhero audience, Reeves said in an interview.
Well, let's put it this way: neither for decoding the riddle messages left by the "Riddler" nor for unraveling the criminal network of the city's institutions, in which Falcone and Catwoman as well as the nightclub owner Oswalt Cobblepot (unrecognizable: Colin Farrell) are involved is, it should take a world-class detective like Bruce Wayne just under three hours.
In any case, as a viewer you have enough time away from the plot to savor the stunning, blood-red and night-black toned silhouettes, images and noir tableaus of cinematographer Greig Fraser (»Dune«) and production designer James Chinlund.
It may be lacking in tempo and dynamics, visually this »Batman« is a stunner.
And Robert Pattinson, the improbable, cuts a good figure as a mentally unstable bat freak.
Unfortunately, fate of almost all Batman actors, he gets too little time without his rigid pointed-ear armor, which he could use to give his character depth and thus create an emotional bond with the audience.
In one of these scenes, he sits sad and exhausted by inner turmoil in his man cave, his eyes still smudged with the remains of the black eye make-up he wears under the mask.
Nirvana's manic-depressive ballad "Something in the Way" runs on the music track.
One almost believes that this gaunt emo vampire would burst out laughing insanely in desperation like the »Joker« three years ago.
But Reeves and screenwriter Peter Craig don't go that far.
In the end there is still something like hope for his Batman.
Whether DC and Warner's high expectations for the box office success of this painfully ambiguous - and largely humorless - super horror film will be fulfilled remains to be seen.