Although Batman’s on-screen journey began with the wacky and colorful hypercamp adventures of Adam West’s Bruce Wayne, Caped Crusader’s stories are traditionally dark. Tim Burton brought to life a dark and expressionist Gotham City; Christopher Nolan approached stories 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 BatmanMatt Reeves managed to imagine an even darker version of the Dark Knight than Burton, Nolan or Snyder. The Batman is arguably the darkest and most edgy Batman film to date.
ten This Batman Might Have The Most Brutal Fighting Style Of All
Reeves’ Batman isn’t the seasoned crime fighter audiences are used to. The BatmanThe story of “Year Two” follows an inexperienced dark knight who takes as many hits as he lands. Instead of a polished fighting style, this Batman makes great use of the character’s signature raw strength.
From the fast-paced brawls of Christian Bale to the relentless clashes of Ben Affleck, nearly every previous incarnation of Batman has been a formidable brute. But Pattinson’s bat is perhaps the most brutal of them all.
9 It’s a “Black Horror” in the vein of Se7en
Since Marvel Studios started branching out into different genres, superhero movies have branched out into other genre frameworks that best suit their characters, story, and tone. Batman is the ultimate noir anti-hero, so his big-screen adventures tend to be dark-tinged mysteries.
But Reeves went further with The Batman‘s black elements. Not only is it a simple detective story using bat detective skills; Reeves drew on his horrifying past to make it gruesome and terrifying. The film has been compared to a similar “horror noir” Se7frwith Batman and Jim Gordon filling the roles of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.
8 The Riddler is based on a real-world serial killer
Traditionally, the Riddler is one of Batman’s dumbest villains. He wears green spandex covered in question marks and bombards the bat with wacky puzzles. But Reeves’ adaptation of the character is inspired by the real-world Zodiac Killer.
Much like Paul Dano’s deeply disturbed Riddler in the film, Zodiac left numbers and riddles at the scenes of his unsolved murders. Thanks to the chilling murders of the Riddler, The Batman is as much a serial killer thriller as he is a superhero actor.
seven Most cops in Gotham are corrupt
The GCPD was never able to contain Gotham’s underworld, but at least previous incarnations of the GCPD tried. In the other films, the GCPD is portrayed as a simple police department with mostly good cops and a few bad eggs.
In The Batmanof seedy and criminal Gotham, Jim Gordon is the GCPD’s only incorruptible officer. Almost every other cop in Gotham is on Carmine Falcone’s payroll, following the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” principle.
6 There’s a morbid pun involving a severed thumb
While the version of the Riddler depicted in The Batman isn’t particularly faithful to any comic book incarnation, he has the character’s signature sense of humor – except this Riddler’s comedic sensibility is much darker than his peers.
As Batman and Gordon struggle to solve the mayor’s murder, they come across a morbid pun involving his severed thumb. The bloody fingerprint is used to unlock a USB drive full of incriminating evidence.
5 Carmine Falcone is a cold-blooded murderer
Carmine Falcone has always been portrayed as a sleazy and morally bankrupt mob boss. But the version played by John Turturro in The Batman is arguably the most sinister and ruthless version of Falcone to date.
After killing Selina Kyle’s mother and roommate without remorse off-screen, he shows the same relentlessness as he attempts to kill Selina herself with a pool cue.
4 This Batman is a shameless voyeur
With jaw-dropping plot twists, a bombshell under the table (or, technically, around a guy’s neck), and a subversively likable femme fatale, Reeves set out to make a Hitchcockian Batman movie. The Batman also exposes one of Hitch’s defining stylistic characteristics: voyeuristic cinematography.
This version of the Dark Knight is a shameless voyeur. When he spies on Catwoman in her apartment, he continues to watch her change.
3 Penguin and his pals act like Scorsese gangsters
The Penguin is generally characterized as one of the more cartoonish Batman villains, complete with a monocle, a top hat, and an army of penguins to do his bidding. But the grip on the ground The Batman is not caricatural at all.
Colin Farrell’s portrayal of Oz as a low-level gangster is closer to Robert De Niro’s hot-headed gangster performances in the Scorsese films than Danny DeVito’s definitive turn from Return of Batman.
2 The Riddler’s deadly traps are reminiscent of the puzzle
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 death of his next victims. The Riddler’s elaborate death traps are reminiscent of the macabre crimes of the jigsaw killer.
The police commissioner is tied to a chair and fed to rats. The district attorney is fitted with an explosive collar and is jokingly told not to “lose your mind”. These scenes are as horrible as a Seen film.
1 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 does not reach the objective of his crusade of vigilantes.
Instead, he scares Gothamites and inspires criminals. The trapped civilians are hesitant to take the bat’s offered hand, while the Riddler’s snipers gleefully repeat his slogan: “I am vengeance!” As a result, he decides to stop depicting revenge and starts depicting hope instead.
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