This moody, atmospheric movie is uninterested in Batman’s gadgets, and the car-chase scene, while terrific, is purposefully grounded: the Batmobile weaves down a crowded highway, rather than taking flight. But Reeves distinguishes his vision from what came before. Inevitably, critics will compare The Batman to Nolan’s films. “The film is more terrifying because of its contact with reality.” “The far-out parts of internet culture, I found that scary,” says Dano. Unlike Batman, he’s willing to kill, and-no less frightening-has leveraged social media to amass a violent, fringe following. Like Batman, he targets Gotham’s corrupt politicians and gangsters. Dano’s Riddler hides behind an army-green mask and leaves puzzles for the Caped Crusader on mutilated corpses. Played by Paul Dano, he’s a far cry from Jim Carrey’s green-suited slapstick character from 1995’s Batman Forever. Batman is hunting a serial killer called the Riddler. Reeves’ new film is cloaked in realism and a moral muddiness that echoes thrillers like Se7en and neo-noirs like Chinatown. In superhero films, the line between good and evil is usually bright. That’s an apt, if grim, observation at a time when a pandemic, increased anxiety about global warming, and a war in Europe have contributed to a pervasive sense of doom. Reeves’ version knows a bright future is not possible. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy told the story of a superhero desperate to help his city eradicate corruption so that it would no longer need someone to watch over it. Though Reeves started working on the script with Peter Craig in 2017, it manages to capture our current feelings of despair and isolation-a sign that the discontent that permeates the movie has been brewing for a while. The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, isn’t exactly a horror film, but it revels in discomfiting its audience.
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