Although Batman’s on-screen journey began with the zany, colorful, hypercamp adventures of Adam West’s Bruce Wayne, the Caped Crusader’s stories are traditionally dark in tone. Tim Burton brought a gloomy, expressionistic Gotham City to life; Christopher Nolan tackled storylines about terrorism with haunting realism; and Zack Snyder made Batman a murderer.
Against all odds, with this year’s horror-tinged neo-noir epic The Batman, Matt Reeves managed to envision an even darker take on the Dark Knight than Burton, Nolan, or Snyder. The Batman is arguably the darkest, edgiest Batman movie to date.
This Batman Might Have The Most Brutal Fighting Style Of All
Reeves’ Batman isn’t the seasoned crimefighter that audiences are used to. The Batman’s “Year Two” storyline follows an inexperienced Dark Knight who takes as many punches as he lands. In lieu of a refined fighting style, this Batman makes great use of the character’s signature brute force.
From Christian Bale’s rapid-cutting brawls to Ben Affleck’s relentless smackdowns, almost every previous incarnation of Batman has been a formidable brute. But Pattinson’s Bat might be the most brutal of them all.
It’s A “Horror Noir” In The Vein Of Se7en
Ever since Marvel Studios started dabbling in different genres, superhero movies have branched out into other genre frameworks that best suit their characters, story, and tone. Batman is the ultimate noir antihero, so his big-screen adventures tend to be noir-tinged mysteries.
But Reeves went a couple of steps further with The Batman’s noir elements. Not only is it a straightforward detective story making use of the Bat’s sleuthing skills; Reeves drew on his background in horror to make it gruesome and terrifying. The movie has been compared to similar “horror noir” Se7en, with Batman and Jim Gordon filling the Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman roles.
The Riddler Is Based On A Real-World Serial Killer
Traditionally, the Riddler is one of the silliest Batman villains. He wears green spandex covered in question marks and bombards the Bat with goofy riddles. But Reeves’ adaptation of the character draws influence from the real-world Zodiac killer.
Much like Paul Dano’s deeply disturbed Riddler in the movie, Zodiac left ciphers and puzzles at the scenes of his unsolved murders. Thanks to the Riddler’s creepy killings, The Batman is as much of a serial killer thriller as a superhero actioner.
Most Of Gotham’s Cops Are Corrupt
The G.C.P.D. has never been able to contain Gotham’s criminal underworld, but at least previous incarnations of the G.C.P.D. tried. In the other movies, the G.C.P.D. is portrayed as a straightforward police department with mostly good cops and a couple of bad eggs.
In The Batman’s seedy, crime-ridden Gotham, Jim Gordon is the only incorruptible G.C.P.D. officer. Almost every other cop in Gotham is on Carmine Falcone’s payroll, following the tenet of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
There’s A Morbid Pun Involving A Severed Thumb
While the version of the Riddler portrayed in The Batman isn’t particularly faithful to any incarnation from the comics, he does have the character’s trademark sense of humor – except this Riddler’s comedic sensibility is much darker than his peers.
As Batman and Gordon strive to solve the mayor’s murder, they stumble upon a morbid pun involving his severed thumb. The bloody thumbprint is used to unlock a thumb drive full of incriminating evidence.
Carmine Falcone Is A Cold-Blooded Murderer
Carmine Falcone has always been depicted as a sleazy, morally bankrupt mob boss. But the version played by John Turturro in The Batman is arguably the most sinister and ruthless take on Falcone to date.
After killing Selina Kyle’s mother and roommate without remorse off-screen, he exhibits the same remorselessness as he tries to kill Selina herself with a pool cue.
This Batman Is A Shameless Voyeur
With jaw-dropping plot twists, a bomb under the table (or, technically, around a guy’s neck), and a subversively sympathetic femme fatale, Reeves set out to make a Hitchcockian Batman movie. The Batman also exhibits one of Hitch’s defining stylistic hallmarks: voyeuristic cinematography.
This version of the Dark Knight is a shameless voyeur. When he spies on Catwoman in her apartment, he keeps watching as she gets changed.
The Penguin And His Cronies Act Like Scorsese Gangsters
The Penguin is usually characterized as one of the most cartoonish Batman villains, with a monocle, a top hat, and an army of penguins to do his bidding. But the grounded take in The Batman isn’t cartoonish at all.
Colin Farrell’s portrayal of Oz as a low-level mobster is closer to Robert De Niro’s hothead gangster performances in Scorsese movies than Danny DeVito’s definitive turn from Batman Returns.
The Riddler’s Death Traps Are Reminiscent Of Jigsaw
When the Riddler kills the mayor in the opening scene, he takes him out in seconds with blunt force trauma. But he drags out the deaths of his next few victims. The Riddler’s elaborate death traps hark back to the grisly crimes of the Jigsaw killer.
The police commissioner is strapped to a chair and fed to rats. The district attorney is fitted with a collar bomb and jokingly told not to “lose his head.” These scenes are as gruesome as a Saw movie.
Batman Inspires Criminals
Like any incarnation of Batman, this version of the Dark Knight wants to inspire Gothamites and strike fear into criminals. But this one falls short of the goal of his vigilante crusade.
Instead, he strikes fear into Gothamites and inspires criminals. Trapped civilians are reluctant to take the Bat’s offered hand, while the Riddler’s snipers gleefully repeat his catchphrase, “I’m vengeance!” As a result, he decides to stop representing vengeance and starts representing hope instead.