Thread by @dcumoviepage

As i promise (and after a long time) I’ll finally talk in details about #TheBatman, what I think about things and besides been a solid movie, isn’t necessary a relevant one as a Batman adaptation. With that said... lets start.

I can say that watching #TheBatman was a… strange experience. Not just my reaction to the result, but also the nature of how the project was started.

Originally a film in the almost-dead DCEU with Ben Affleck, until Matt Reeves realized the trap that Geoff Johns (at the time Chief Creative Officer) wanted to put him on, and fought to make his film belong in a closed universe.
#TheBatman

For a stupid administration with no clue what to do, turned out to be a good solution for something they already mistakenly wanted to eliminate anyway. #TheBatman

It took Matt Reeves a long time to build a story that had his style and also inevitably built the foundations of a closed Batman shared universe. #TheBatman

We were introduced to a rusty Gotham, a city that just survives and ages between buildings, alleys, metal beams, screens and rain (lots of rain), which makes for an ideal environment for a vengeful, hate-filled vigilante to be able to take justice into his own hands. #TheBatman

And both the casting and the construction of the script delivered to Robert Pattinson to play Bruce Wayne brought exactly the most perfect version of what a YOUNG Batman should be. #TheBatman

He's a lost young man, crazy to do good and save his city, but so taken by his own hatred of not having been enough in the past, he doesn't even realize that just beating and punishing aren't enough to save a city, and this plays out throughout his journey in the film.
#TheBatman

The other characters also bring incredible quality, combining good actors with good characterizations. #TheBatman

Selina contains bits of Frank Miller and Jeph Loeb, but it has to be credited that Ed Brubaker is the main base of the character here. #TheBatman

She's having an agency that correlates, but is independent, of Batman's greater journey, which puts her in the advantage of the best version of the feline in theaters in front of (yes) Anne Hathaway. #TheBatman

Jeffrey Wright's James Gordon is the perfect Watson to Batman's Holmes, showing him as a real investigative partner that marries well with the plot's noir mood.
#TheBatman

Colin Farrell is having a hell of a good time playing the Penguin, even if his space in the movie doesn't give him much to do, but what little he does does he steals the show. #TheBatman

But the few scenes in which he appears explain well his position in this universe, and what from there he can go on and be further explored in his future HBO MAX series. #TheBatman

Andy Serkis here was underused in my opinion, he had few interactions during the movie that doesn't give much weight to the twist that happens to him later.
#TheBatman

Paul Dano's Riddler shows again the actor's strength, and despite his origins differing from the comics, he still brought a memorable version of the character, with the inspirations in 'Zodiac' being very clear on screen, but not limited to that either. #TheBatman

#TheBatman is a story about orphans, victims of a cruel city, and how each of them deals with their feelings when they have to face the challenge of surviving it, regardless of their goals.

Throughout the journey of these characters, they end up intertwining themselves in the grandiose plan of the Riddler, facing what prevented them from being better and complete, with these events offering the challenges for this to be achieved. #TheBatman

All this with Michael Giachinno's incredible and already iconic soundtrack, and photography by recent Academy Awards winner (with big changes to get another one next year) Greg Frasier. #TheBatman

BUT despite the many accolades, #TheBatman have a serious problem. The movie does a lot of things very well, but a colder analysis makes you realize that it's all been done before, and done better.

The film holds you more for the technical quality and recognition of elements of the character (and where they came from), than the story presenting a different take on the character that validates another reboot. #TheBatman

It ticks all the boxes for what would be an ideal #TheBatman movie, but for those who know the comics well, or at least have seen all of his movies, whether live action or animation in the last 24 years, the movie filled more checkboxes than that bring a different, fresh take.

Even with the genuine new elements (such as, for example, religious allegories, which are usually more combined with Superman), when it ends, you can't help but feel that feeling of "I've seen this before, and it didn't add to anything." #TheBatman

But therein lies the big catch: the general public is not used to a Batman movie focused on showing him being a detective. #TheBatman

And I don't judge the positive reaction of people who got to know this side of the character more deeply because of this movie, or the movie in general, because calling it bad would be hypocritical on my part.
#TheBatman

But the technical qualities, which catches my eye and is my favorite thing about the film itself, didn't replace the certainty that, in the end, in therms of lore, doesn't bring anything new. #TheBatman

And I have my fears to see how the inevitable sequel and its spin-offs (Penguin and Arkham) will pave the way the rest of the construction of this universe.
#TheBatman

A lot of rumors have been fueled that the Court of Owls will be the big villains of #TheBatman trilogy, but after the reveal of Barry Keoghan as The Joker, I have my fears that the franchise could get increasingly stagnant at doing the basics really well, but nothing beyond that.

The scene cut with him is a synthesis of the film, which brings the traditional in a good shape, but doesn't really bring anything that is or make sounds new, fresh. #TheBatman

On betting on the Joker as the villain of #TheBatman 2, or not exploring the scenario of No Man's Land further, Matt Reeves take the risk of wanting to play with all the toys as if they were playing by the comics rules, and wasting the unique opportunity that the movies bring.

Adaptations can go beyond the comprehensively self-imposed rules of a form of infinite storytelling (in a way) in the case of comics, bringing visions that actually bring new thinking about these characters, and add things to the lore. #TheBatman

That's the fun of seeing adaptations IMO, more than just seeing these characters in live action. It's respecting the source material, but understanding that outside the comics, fidelity is no longer a cage, but a catapult. #TheBatman

And by the necessity on bet on what is safe, I think the part that suffers the most in running to have an '"idealized Batman" is exactly its final part. #TheBatman

For while it delivers a quick fix on the kind of hero #TheBatman should be when he finds out that the Riddler isn't the only nut he inspired to come out of the shadows, it's a very abrupt shift in tone that doesn't quite match up with the heavily noir mood of the rest of the film

And if the film had only delivered the attack on the new mayor with this revelation to Bruce, that his efforts only made his struggle and the improvement of the city more difficult, [+] #TheBatman

it would have delivered an ending much more in line with what the film was up to then, and a much more interesting ending than we had. #TheBatman

Yes, I understand that, like any good blockbuster, it needs at least one giant action scene, I don't think this is a negative defense for the scene. #TheBatman

But it end delivering a redemption that sounded quick to the character that, within the proposal, sounds much more interesting if they explored the consequences of the revelation in the long term. #TheBatman

Taking away the extra weight about the guilt that made Bruce become #TheBatman wasn't his, but putting the heavier burden than the guilt of the consequences that Batman brought, and leaving him to suffer from it, would end the movie in a much more impactful note.

And it's not that the movie doesn't necessarily recognize this (the last scene in the graveyard is exactly that, for both Batman and Selina), but the problem lies in the execution. #TheBatman

If you think that the movie took a lot from 'Batman: Ego' to build the character, the movie decided right at the end to ignore exactly the lessons that the comic teaches about.
#TheBatman

'Ego says Batman is about justice, and justice is balance. Though his darker impulses are often stronger, bruce' golden rules are there so he can keep his promise to protect the city every single day, and keep his darkness in check. #TheBatman

He uses his darkness to be a symbol that brings hope to the city, but unlike many who use the 'Ego' imagery out of context (see embed tweet), this darkness is used on his thugs in a constantly tamed way.

https://twitter.com/dcumoviepage/status/1508175081196990466

#TheBatman

And despite being able to see the application of this within the plot built throughout the film, along with the other comic book influences, the film disappears with it at the end. #TheBatman

Instead of (again, using elements that the film itself offers) leaving open a load of guilt in a more negative way for #TheBatman, and letting the city react to that, it could offer more interesting options for the future than those presented so far.

The way they went with the history, that change at the end would also close the commitment to present a genuinely noir Batman. And despite all that, I still consider #TheBatman' a good movie, and it makes me curious to know where Matt Reeves should take the franchise.

It pains me to say that the movie left me with this apathetic weirdness towards a Batman movie, being more concerned with checking boxes on what a "real Batman movie" should be, than doing something genuinely interesting with the material. #TheBatman

And I wish Matt Reeves the best of luck in the future projects of this universe, and i hope it offers something more than just this film to justify the existence of that universe. #TheBatman

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