THE BATMAN
“It can be cruel, poetic or blind. But when its denied, its violence you may find” this was the line from the teasers that had me sold to watch yet another adaptation of our very own caped crusader. When you have watched previous batman movies there are certain things you know about it and a few that you expect. You expect the new one to be different and witty in its own way and this piece of art takes just the first five and half minutes of opening shot after the bold red title “THE BATMAN” rolls in front of your screen to speak with the audience about its uniqueness. The two main characters of the film are introduced in a unique way, the first one leaves you puzzled as he murders the mayor of the city and starts living straightaway to the name given to him “THE RIDDLER”.
The latter one, instead of a fancy glass-breaking usual hero entry chooses to introduce himself with a monologue where he talks about how when that light (Bat signal) hits the sky it is not a symbol of light for the good but a nightmare for the evil, its not a call but a WARNING, about how his enemies think he hides in the shadows but little do they know he is the shadow that follows them with that signal. He goes on with a unique perspective of admitting how no matter what he does there is no way he can reach everywhere and save everyone, there will always be crime in the city of Gotham and conclusively he shows the grey inside this adaptation of him saying “I AM VENGEANCE” answering not only the goons but to the entire audience witnessing one of the best character intros in the cinematic history. All of it combined with a background music that will remain the highlight in making a three-hour long movie seem intriguing without leaving a single second for your mind to feel silence or slowness in the plot.
The first half revolves around our masked vigilante solving riddles for three murder cases, all of them uniquely riddled as there is a common thing happening, the riddler is writing is writing and showing something to the world and our cape crusader about his purpose and he also leaves an obvious note for ‘The Batman’. The first riddle consists a bunch of pictures and one of them references to Penguin and Falcone. Also comic accurate references to clubs like 44 Below and Iceberg Lounge are presented to the fans. The mystery continues to unfold but also continues to get more complicated. Riddler is shown as a person fighting against the system and he also provides evidences of why he killed the people he killed. But it is during the third killing when the people sitting in the audiences completely understand why this movie is nothing short of a masterpiece. Bruce Wayne is shown in a suit that has been a tradition in all previous movies as he attends the funeral of the mayor. In a two minute scene where Pattinson stays completely silent and leaves the acting part all to his facial expressions shows why he is the perfect Bruce Wayne as he eye contacts to the Mayor’s son in whom he is able to see a scared version of a kid he once was when the same thing happened to him. Suddenly a car crashes into the funeral house and there we see Bruce saving the kid and is shown standing straight whereas all the other people in the room fall down in terror breaking the fourth wall between Bruce and the Bat.
This is followed by Batman face-off with the riddler where three beautiful riddles are presented and the rat is again referenced, riddler keeps it simple by challenging the Batman that if he brings the rat to light, he will show himself to the world, rather unmask himself. ` Between these riddles and challenges we see The Dark Knight bonding with The Cat and Gordon and the trio is an amazing cherry on top of an edge of the seat thriller. Just when we settle down with the Bat-Riddler faceoff a fierce car chase scene between Batman and Penguin is presented to the viewers as the knight thinks that Penguin is the Rat. They confront him at the end and Penguin points out an interesting mistake that provides the protagonist with a hint of a website (ratalada.com). When they open it, it turns out to be a chat window with riddler where riddler also gives them there next victim a.k.a Bruce Wayne.
The leads follow the duo to the old Wayne mansion and all of the story ties up to a renewal fund foundation for orphans founded by Thomas Wayne when he was running for the mayor. The story unfolds beautifully where the main character goes through self doubts regarding the whole mission of him fighting the battles with the city criminals and the battle within himself. Bruce and the Bat find themselves fighting as Thomas Wayne is presented as a corrupt person who murdered a reporter through Falcone. Bruce is questioning himself and his legacy when an injured Alfred presents him with the truth of how that reporter was murdered by Falcone and how his father was about to surrender himself taking the blame and because of that was brutally murdered by Falcone. The trio meets and this time The Cat is full of rage as she finds out the murderer of her friend and after a few minutes all of them reach to a conclusion that Falcone has been the one who has been behind renewal since the beginning and who uses people as pawns so that the power of the city stays in the palm of his hand.
The Cat in a rageful mode goes to kill Falcone while The Bat stops her still believing in justice and law. In a scene where Falcone is arrested, he says “All you blue collars (cops) work for me, don’t you remember?” and to that Gordon replies “We don’t all work for you sir” and when the rat is brought to light the riddler shoots him down and is soon caught sitting at a café. Riddler asks for the Bat in Arkham (prison) which he references as “See you in hell” riddle implying he still has a plan. Batman at this point is rageful and also concerned if the riddler knows his identity or not. They get into the interrogation and soon we witness that it is poetic how the story of a Detective and a Riddler has turned into a story of two orphans which choose different roads. One of them finds his path finding justice while fighting the demons outside and the other one loses his path finding justice while fighting the demons inside him.
The final act begins where Riddler has the city flooded along with a few accomplices dressed as him and when our protagonist in dangerous rage is beating the final riddler heavily and when he is separated from him by Gordon, he asks the unmasked teen “Who the hell are you supposed to be?” And the teen replies with a smile “I am Vengeance”, this is the moment the knight realizes how he has been setting a wrong example, he falls down in flooded water and starts rescuing people while lighting up a torch symbolizing how he is not supposed to be vengeance but a ray of hope to the city and people of Gotham. Days pass by and we witness an outro where he describes how people like Penguin will see this as an opportunity and how the city has its physical and emotional scars just like him. A final perspective of Catwoman is shown where she is neither consuming the city with crime, nor is trying to be a ray of hope but rather chooses to escape losing hopes on this city of Gotham. When the paths separate Batman looks at her through the rear-view mirror and then starts looking forward choosing to be the ray of hope that scars need while they are getting healed.
The red and black painting by Matt Reeves ends on a positive note developing the character that started as a masked vigilante to a symbol of hope.
