Ok so I'll say straight away that The Batman is one of the best comic book movies I've
ever seen. One for you easter egg heads, it's filled with hidden details and an ending that's
bound to put a smile on that face. Throughout this video we're gonna be giving a full breakdown
of the film and talking about where things could be heading in the future.
Because of this there's gonna be major spoilers here so if you haven't had a chance to check
it out then you better Christian Bale on the breakdown as I don't wanna be robin you of
your first experience seeing the film.
If you enjoy the video then make sure you hit the thumbs up button and also don't forget
to subscribe for jokes that aren't half bad like Harvey Dent.
With that out the way, thanks for clicking this, now let's get into the Batman.
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Now the first major thing I wanna talk about in the video is very much where we leave Batman
at the end of it. Throughout the film he refers to himself as vengeance and he is very much
the embodiment of revenge. However come the end of this he finally leans more into being
The Batman and he leaves the vengeful side of his personality behind.
This comes after a Riddler goon says that they're vengeance too and he realises the
impact that he's had. Throughout the movie he constantly sees the ex-mayors son and he
saves him at several opportunities somewhat saving himself and the boy that saw his parents
die as a kid. The Mayors son did this too and thus he decides to drop the Vengeance
persona to become The Batman.
We'll talk about how he might adopt the Bruce Wayne playboy persona later on but I think
this character arc is very important to bear in mind as though this is a year two story,
it is in many ways an origin for the new Matt Reeves take.
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Now the next thing I wanna touch upon is where we leave things off at the end of the movie.
After Batman foils riddlers plans we catch him in Arkham alongside a mysterious inmate.
Played by Barry Keoghan the characters face is extremely scarred and though there's lots
of theories going around that this is Two Face, we can actually confirm that it's the
joker because of one of the funniest leaks ever.
If you cast your mind back to a couple of months ago you might remember that Barry's
brother got drunk one day andposted a facebook status saying he was playing the joker which....yeah
is good enough to be one of the clowns best crimes ever. The Arkham scene was reported
by several scoopers and Matt Reeves did some damage control earlier in the week saying
that the scene was deleted.
This was clearly so people could have a surprise and I think all these factors confirm that
he is indeed the clown prince of crime.
It's revealed in the finale that The Riddler actually wanted to work with Batman and that
he saw himself as being the opposite side of the same coin. That's not a two face pun
but clearly he's looking for allies which The Joker could bring. Barry also drops a
line about clowns and I think it's pretty clear who he is when you do the work of the
world's greatest spoiler detective.
Now though this seems to set up a sequel that could potentially be based on the war of Jokes
and riddles or No Mans Land, both of which turn Gotham into a Warzone. Leading up to
No Mans Land we had the book Cataclysm in which there was an earthquake that rocked
Gotham and it basically turned the city into the Big Apple during the John Carpenter classic
Escape From New York.
However, interestingly Reeves has said that he'd actually like to bring Mr. Freeze into
it.
Heart of Ice was such a cool episode in the animated series and it was do just-ice to
a character that was transformed into a joke during Batman and Robin.
Now we also know that an HBO Max series centred around the GCPD is coming soon and that this
will be set in the Reeves verse. If you've read the Gotham Central graphic novels then
you'll know this series followed the police force as they tackled supervillains. It very
much showed how the criminals and Batman operated from their point of view and there was a major
run in it that featured Mr. Freeze. I could actually see this being brought into the series
before it set up events for a future movie that would be one big Ice-capade.
Thank you thank you I'm here all week.
There's also gonna be a Penguin series involving the Iceberg lounge owner that will p-p-p-pickup
a penguin right where this left off.
The movie has somewhat of a post credits scene in which we get the code Goodbye pops up and
then a link to a website which if you've been following the marketing is full of riddles.
I love how they use PHP language and that tends to have a lot of question marks in it
which is of course a symbol of the Riddler.
Lots of secrets have been unearthed on this and it's likely that clues about the sequel
will show up.
It's just the tip of the iceberg and hold onto your butts because the puns are just
getting started.
I'm kidding, I'll try cool off on them.
Now the film itself is a year two story that pulls from several graphic novels. The most
notable of these is The Long Halloween which as you can probably guess, has a major event
on Halloween like the Riddler's first murder.
Throughout it we followed Batman as he investigated several attacks carried out on the mob that
happened every Holiday. These all revolved around the mob boss Carmine Falcone and his
immediate family, allies and mob rivals.
Batman slowly investigated clues left behind by a mysterious killer called Holiday who
was revealed to be Falcone's Alberto who sadly doesn't make an appearance. However the movie
completely reinvented the Calendar Man and painted him out as a Hannibal Lector esque
villain who helped batman from his cell in Arkham. The Silence of the Lambs clearly influenced
this movie and there are several shots in it that massively inspired ones in this film.
This had a spin-off book called Catwoman when in Rome in which she left Gotham and travelled
to Europe to confirm whether her father was Carmine or not. Eventually this was revealed
to be true however in the movie she already knows whereas he doesn't.
Other notable graphic novels that inspired the work are Batman Earth One which this film
takes a lot from. In the second volume we watched as Riddler terrorised the city by
planting explosives throughout it and this Jigsaw esque incarnation terrorised Gotham.
Earth One saw a far more grizzled Alfred that we'd ever seen before who highly influenced
Andy Serkis' portrayal. There was also Batman punching Gordon, him saying that he's vengeance
and Thomas Wayne running for Mayor which is a major subplot in this movie.
More loosely based ones are Batman Year One Hundred which was a very DIY type Batman of
the future who used his mechanic skills to build motorbikes and he very much tried to
appear as a creature of the night. The guy even wore fake vampire teeth to scare his
enemies and it's a book I definitely recommend you pick up.
At one point we see Batman injecting a green substance into himself and this may be a nod
to the graphic novel Venom in which he became addicted to steroids after failing to save
a young girl. He managed to beat this need but the substance returned later down the
line with Bane using it to give himself super strength.
Also this venom isn't to be confused with Venom from the MCU which spawned the greatest
song ever VENOM DAADADALIN VENOM.
Hush too gets a nod and this involved Bruce's childhood friend Tommy Elliot attempting to
torment the character. This comes in the form of a reporter with the same surname who has
the word hush appear in one of the reports about them. Now the Riddler actually went
to Tommy Elliot with Batman's identity after he figured out who was behind the cowl. Realising
that a Riddle everyone knows the answer to is useless he decided to keep it to himself
which will likely be what happens in future movies.
There's also Batman Zero Year Volume 2 titled Dark City. In it the Riddler held Gotham hostage
and though the movie is based heavily on comics it also pulls a lot from real life crimes
too.
Now the Riddler's costume is highly based on sketches of the Zodiac and what he used
to wear when he killed people.
There's also the collar explosive that's placed on Gil Colson's neck which pulls from a real
life bank robbery heist. Documented in Evil Genius you can check out that story on Netflix
to see where Reeves got inspiration from.
There's also Seven and Chinatown but the film has a lot of Detective Noir elements such
as journals and narration. The latter of which was used heavily in The Dark Knight Returns
so we could hear Bruce's inner thoughts and Reeves clearly pulled from every aspect of
Batman that he could. This extends to Catwoman who lives with a woman she protects much like
Holly Robinson in Batman Year One.
She might even be in a relationship with her and as of now we don't know if she likes dick...grayson
as he isn't in the movie.
Now the movie leans heavily into the Long Halloween and it's sequel Dark Victory and
we watch as a masked criminal kills several high ranking citizens. The Riddler is a true
Mr. E Nygma though he is called Edward Nashton in the movie instead of his typical comic
book name. However we do learn he was an orphan and I think that going forward they might
reveal his true name as being that in the sequel.
Either way the guy is a complete psychopath and slowly Batman and Selina Kyle start to
unearth a web of corruption that's connected to Falcone.
The investigation goes high and low and it's all in search of an informant called El rata
alada. This also just so happens to be the viral website address that we talked about
in the post credits scene section.
We learn that this was Falcone who flipped on Sal Maroni in order to basically become
the king of Gotham. You might know the name Maroni from the comics as he was the person
who threw acid in harvey dents face.
They look high and low for him and this eventually leads Batman and Gordon to the ruins of an
orphanage which is similar to how Earth One Climaxed.
We discover that this was run by Thomas and Martha Wayne and that it's where Edward grew
up.
Called the renewal project the Waynes tried to help orphanages in the area but after their
death Falcone helped to skim the money into the pockets of the corrupt people in Gotham.
It basically turned into a money laundering business and things were bleak for the kids
it was meant to help.
We learn that things got so cold that babies would die in the winter and Nashton discovered
all this whilst he was working as a forensic accountant for the renewal project. Riddler
said he was spurred on to get revenge when he saw The Batman fighting crime in Gotham
and thus Bruce is sort of responsible for him.
After sending an explosive to Bruce that Alfred opens the villain then leaks evidence that
Thomas hired Falcone to kill a journalist whilst he was running for Mayor. This is because
they threatened to reveal Martha's history of mental illness which is a facet of the
Waynes that has been explored in the comics.
As a tribute to butthead Bob Kane, Martha was originally given the surname Martha Kane
but this was changed to the Arkhams and as we learn, madness runs in the family.
Bruce, devastated by this reveal confronts Alfred who confirms that Thomas did indeed
ask Falcone to intimidate the journalist. They have a brilliant scene with Falcone where
he talks about the night Thomas saved his life that's ripped right out of the long halloween.
Falcone was taken to Thomas after being critically injured and Bruce sat at the top of the stairs
watching him being operated on.
Now we learn that after learning Falcone killed the journalist that Thomas decided to go to
the police and though we don't get it confirmed, there are suspicions falcone killed the Waynes.
Falcone is revealed to be the informant and after we learn he killed Selinas friend she
goes off to murder him for all the pain he's caused in her life.
Batman and Gordon go to the Iceberg Lounge to stop her and after leading him outside
into the light, Riddler shoots him from his apartment.
This of course leaves a massive power vaccum in Gotham and it's likely that the Penguin
HBO Max show will follow Cobblepot as he takes over the criminal empire. Riddler is arrested
and we catch him in a cafe that resembles the painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
Locked in Arkham Asylum he tells Batman he wanted to partner with him and then reveals
his true plan which is that he's hidden 250 riddler trophies. Just kidding, no throughout
the city he's place several explosives in cars and
when these detonate they destroy the resevoir and flood the city.
This is somewhat taken from The Man Who Laughs in which the Joker wanted to poison the city
resevoir though Batman stopped him.
We learn that Riddler basically used 4chan boards to build a massive following and that
they have plans to assassinate Bella Real, the mayor-elect of Gotham. This leads to a
big finale and alongside Selina Kyle, Batman manages to put an end to them.
However it's very bitter sweet and as we mentioned earlier, this will likely set up a No Man's
Land Situation where the entire city is abandoned by the government and left to fend for itself.
Though this was slightly touched upon in the Dark Knight Rises, here they can really rip
things open and have an all out war where the criminals and supervillains vie for power.
Zero Year also had the streets of Gotham transform into a savage wasteland which had the Riddler
at the helm.
Throughout both, Batman pretty much dropped the Bruce Wayne Playboy persona which Robert
Pattinson's version hasn't devloped yet so I think they would make sense to be the next
storylines. I think that he will adopt it eventually but in the likes of both Earth
One and Zero Year, it was Alfred that convinced him that he needed a face he could show the
people. Bruce Wayne has connections that Batman does and he's gonna need every possible avenue
he has at his disposal to stop The Joker.
If he does end up working with The Riddler they have lots of interesting ways that they
can take things and I'm very interested to see where they go with it next.
Now as for Selina, she very much says that the city is beyond saving and decides to leave
for Bludhaven.
Bludhaven is actually a neighbouring city to Gotham that the likes of Nightwing ended
up being a defender of. There are rumours that Zoe Kravitz will be getting her own HBO
Max show too and with the way that the movie leaves things off, I definitely think that
there's a strong possibility there.
We could also have the GCPD show basically showing from the Police point of view what's
gonna happen with those in the city now that major areas of it are flooded. It has been
confirmed that The Penguin show is closer to shooting but that could end up being more
of a Book Of Boba Fett type series where we get a lot of flashbacks.
Which...yay can't wait to go Bacta that.
Maybe they'll put him in an icepool or something.
Now as for my thoughts on the movie, I have to say I was completely blown away by it and
not only did it meet my expectations but it surpassed them in every single way. A lot
of the chatter around this movie will be is it better than The Dark Knight which still
to this day remains as the benchmark for DC movies.
I think having just come out of it that I'm gonna have a lot of recency bias because I've
just seen it and when you're this hyped you can be like 'best movie ever made.' I wanna
let it marinate for a bit but my initial thoughts are that The Dark Knight works better as a
movie for general audiences because it's got great action scenes, some good humour and
you know it's just a sort of blockbuster movie.
Now whilst this has those elements too it feels like a film rather than simply being
a popcorn flick.
Reeves has worn his influences on his sleeve when talking about this and even niche films
like Conversation get a nod with the opening scenes being very similar to that movie. I
don't know which out of the two I preferred yet but that should let you know how highly
I think of The Batman.
This is absolutely brilliant and for me it ticks all of the boxes in terms of telling
a story that's not only faithful to the comics but also unique in what it does for this version.
Batman is someone who's such a flexible character and one year you can do Batman V Superman
and the next the Lego Batman Movie without it feeling like either are untrue to who he
is.
Reeves has done an incredible job of putting his own stamp on the character and along with
this is the phenomenal cast.
There's Pattinson who knocks it out the park, Zoe Kravitz who might be the best Selina Kyle
ever, Colin Farrell in an unrecognisable transformation and Jeffrey Wright, who brings the gritty
and grounded portrayal you'd expect.
Everyone does an incredible job and though I have nitpicks over the film, including it's
narration heavy third act, I feel they did a phenomenal job, especially for a first attempt.
This movie has me so hyped for what's to come and I really hope that DC learn lessons from
this and Joker and decide to greenlit more director driven takes on the characters that
aren't crippled by continuity.
Outstanding job and I think that the movie is a masterpiece.
Where we go next I don't know but for this film we're gonna give it a...
10/10
Now obviously I'd love to hear your thoughts on the movie and if you've enjoyed the video
then don't forget to subscribe. Right now we have a breakdown discussing why we love
the dark knight so much and I'd love to see you over there right after this.