The first teaser trailer for Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ promises a Batman movie that isn’t positioning itself as the biggest superhero epic of the moment.
The first teaser trailer for Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ The Batman promises a Dark Knight Detective movie that isn’t positioning itself as the biggest superhero epic of the moment. That Matt Reeves named Darwyn Cooke’s Batman: Ego as one of the prime inspirations for his and Mattson Tomlin’s The Batman is encouraging, as that one-shot is both a dark and psychologically introspective melodrama and an eventually (like Batman Begins) optimistic and inspirational Bruce Wayne-centric character play. We got the first teaser for The Batman at last night’s DC Fandome, and what’s striking about it is how much it plays like the antithesis of a blockbuster movie. That’s not to say it won’t make a lot of money when it opens in October of 2021, but it does seem to promise something a number of fans have wanted since the 1990’s, namely a Batman movie that isn’t selling itself as the biggest superhero epic of the moment. At a glance, the footage looks like a mix between outtakes from Batman Begins and a more buttoned-down variation on Gotham, which is merely a consequence of so many folks playing in the “grimdark/real-world Batman” sandbox since at least 1989. Of course, Gotham got better when it left the real world behind (starting in season two and peaking in season four), but the film’s “it’s like Batman meets Se7en meets Saw” sensibilities would fit right in with the often grotesque and graphically violent Fox TV show. Whether or not Reeves’ Robert Pattinson-led crime story actually ends up with an R-rating, the carnage offered up on Gotham (often perpetrated on innocent bystanders) would unquestionably be R-rated if rated by the MPA. I’d argue the brutal and intense violence offered by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes is more than enough for the director to make the Batman movie he wants to make while still staying within the realms of PG-13. More interesting than that the story involves a serial killer (who may or may not be Paul Dano’s Riddler) whose murder spree involves systematic corruption and/or interactions with other Gotham baddies, including Zoe Kravtiz’ Catwoman and Colin Farrell’s Penguin.
