The moment a lot of DC fans have been waiting for has finally arrived, as The Batman has
made its way into theaters.
The new live-action film sets to bring about an unprecedented take on the mythos of DC
Comics, one that is currently disconnected from any other canon of established films.
As a result, fans couldn’t be entirely sure what to expect going into The Batman, even
as the trailers and teasers began to provide an epic glimpse.
The film’s events, which clock in at nearly three hours long, culminate in a finale that
fans have to see to believe.
Major spoilers for The Batman ahead!
Only look if you want to know!
The Batman follows the second year of Bruce Wayne Batman (Robert Pattinson) fighting crime
in Gotham City, only for him to get drawn into a series of events orchestrated by Edward
Nashton The Riddler (Paul Dano).
As high-profile figures in Gotham began to be murdered by The Riddler, and Batman attempted
and largely failed to prevent their killings from occurring, Bruce began to realize that
all of the men were tied to the Gotham Renewal program, a fund set up by Thomas Wayne just
prior to his death.
The officials had been using the money from the Renewal fund for their own profit, something
that Nashton hoped to expose, all while his Riddler persona developed a radicalized group
of followers.
Ultimately, Batman became aware of Riddler’s master plan to blow up the sea wall surrounding
Gotham and flood the city, forcing any survivors to gather in the Gotham Square Garden, only
for his followers (dressed in their own Riddler garb) to kill them one by one.
Batman managed to get to the Garden just as that was happening, and he fought off Riddler’s
goons, with the help of Selina Kyle Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) and Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright).
Once the flood breached the Garden and appeared to trap the civilians below, Batman dropped
down into the waters and led them to safety, unintentionally establishing himself as a
hero for Gotham in the process.
We then began to see the fallout of the flooding — Oz Cobblepot The Penguin (Colin Farrell)
began to make plans to gain more power in the city’s underworld, and Batman helped
the injured civilians at the Garden get to safety, all while realizing he needed to be
a symbol of hope for the city.
We then saw Nashton sitting behind bars in prison, expressing dismay at how his plan
went horribly wrong, only for a heavily-scarred man in the cell next to him (played by Barry
Keoghan) to try to calm him down, and ominously offer to be Nashton’s friend.
The man then laughed — the unmistakable laugh of The Joker.
The film’s final scene showed Batman and Catwoman parting ways, but not before Selina
suggested they go on the run together (potentially to Bludhaven).
As the pair shared a romantic embrace, Batman got distracted by the Bat-Signal in the sky,
leading Selina to remark that he’s already “spoken for.”
The pair then got on their motorcycles and off into separate directions.
So where does this all leave Batman?
By the time the action in Gotham Arena is over, he's immediately on disaster aid duty.
He starts the film with a devil-may-care attitude, but he slowly realizes that he can be a positive
force for change in Gotham by trying to help its people — not just as muscle against
muggers and serial killers.
The prime example of this is the way he leads some of the survivors out of the wreckage,
while holding a flare as a shining beacon of hope that cuts through the darkness.
The symbolism is a bit heavy-handed, but it absolutely hammers home the film's central
moral quandary: What makes Batman good and Riddler evil?
The answer appears to be that for Batman, there's an honest moral calculation between
means and ends, and space to help people who are suffering in addition to punishing those
who inflicted that pain.
Bruce doesn't just stop there either, as he's on hand to help the rescue effort on top of
the arena as survivors are airlifted to safety.
It's clear to the hero that he can do more when he helps a young girl who's being evacuated.
She grabs his hand out of fear, and he's there to silently reassure her that everything is
going to be okay.
At the end of the day, isn't that what a hero is supposed to do?
Batman stops evildoers to prevent them from causing more harm.
He's more than the retributive hand of justice.
He also helps the people who have been harmed.
Riddler has no interest in helping, and for him the punishment appears to an end in and
of itself, no matter how much collateral damage is created as a result.
Considering the film starts with Batman brutalizing a gang of thugs in the rain this is all quite
the optimistic and hopeful development.
He's not the only one who's changing their outlook on life.
Selina is also ready to change her situation by the time the credits role.
Miss Kyle decides to leave Gotham for Bludhaven — a sly nod to Nightwing — in the hope
that she can make a new life there.
It's unsurprising that she needs a fresh start after enduring so much trauma thanks to her
mobster father.
Unfortunately, she can't persuade Bruce to join her, because he's got a renewed sense
of faith when it comes to his crusade to save Gotham from itself.
But who are we kidding, Bruce and Selina have so much chemistry together.
She'll probably be back for the sequel.
It'll be interesting to see whether Selina discovers his billionaire alter-ego in the
future, and whether than makes him seem more or less eligible as a romantic partner.
So the Bat and the Cat say their goodbyes in a race through Gotham's sprawling necropolis
like the angsty emo kids that they are.
Leather and eyeliner isn't just a phase, after all.
It was a lifestyle all along.
They even speed off in separate directions — with Bruce heading back into the city
toward the light — the light of the Bat-Signal.
Believe it or not, the release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman marks the first solo live-action
Batman film in a decade, with the last one being Christopher Nolan’s 2012 film The
Dark Knight Rises.
While Nolan’s take on the Dark Knight was certainly, well, dark, and Ben Affleck’s
take on the character in Zack Snyder’s films certainly had his moments of gloominess, The
Batman takes the live-action Batman into a more grounded world of shadows and corruption,
a living, breathing Gotham that is full of antagonists—both through men in power and
the supervillains that torment the city.
Reeves has stated before that The Batman is the beginning of a trilogy, and with several
HBO Max spinoff shows in the works, the ending of The Batman is likely essential to whatever
plans Reeves is laying out for the future.