Back in April, in my Marty Was Right post, I briefly mentioned Matt Reeve’s The Batman (2022). My thoughts on the film, overall, haven’t changed, but I wanted to do a deeper dive into them. Because now that I’ve come into contact with a few more big franchise properties, I’ve realised that what I didn’t like about The Batman was present in all of the big franchise medias I was consuming. Which is this strange pattern where the films are side-stepping, or not fully exploring, the potentially most interesting dramatic questions the plot reveals about their characters. Now in my previous post, I mentioned this as an issue I had with Nobody (2021), but I let it slide. It was an action movie. It wasn’t trying to be anything that it wasn’t. I wanted it to be different, I wanted a different film than the filmmakers made. And that’s OK. But with The Batman, it felt like they really wanted to make a film that subverted expectations, but ultimately, decided not to.
Now, I should love Matt Reeve’s The Batman. A narrative that predominantly focuses on Batman as a detective? Check. An all-star cast that can reflect their respective character’s personal and psycho-geographic traumas? Check. Fight scenes that convey the troubling brutality which batman wages his war on crime with? Also check. But there’s something that Reeve’s Batman lacks. The thing that makes up any true great Batman story: the socio-political effect.
Now, for people who have seen the film, I can understand why they might be puzzled by my statement. The first two thirds of the film definitely wears its socio-political devices on its sleeve. Not to go into too many spoilers, but the films main antagonist, at least for the first two acts, is particularly motivated by the socio-politics of Gotham city. Only through Batman diving into those politics can he, and his other companions (Selina Kyle, Jim Gordon), can he begin to put together a puzzle which does not reflect too kindly on those in power in the city of Gotham. This works superbly well, and is immensely engaging to see Batman align more closely with some of his finest comic narratives. But in the films third act, this perspective is ultimately dropped in service of franchising this iteration of the Batman narrative, delineating into nothing more than a superhero-punch-‘em-up. And that’s a shame, because those first two acts do an excellent job of laying the ground work for a potentially fascinating exploration of the Batman mythos.
The first two acts of the film setup a unique subversion of the Batman ideology, that of his origin. It’s a story that is well told and well known – the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents leads to him taking on the mantle of Batman. He wages his war on crime for the sake of the innocents of Gotham city – like his parents – so no one has to go through what he did ever again. But then the film asks a potentially shattering question: what if Bruce Wayne’s parents weren’t innocent? A key detail comes to light that casts doubt on Batman’s crusade, an interesting turn which highlights just how thin the line is between Batman and the villains he faces. Parallels are continuously drawn between Batman, and the main antagonists of the film, and with this question introduced, as to the real innocence of the Wayne family, it seems that the film is going to demonstrate how Batman is no different to the villains he faces. He’s just the hero of his own tale.
But this interesting question is never fully realised. Because why would you want to watch a film about how Batman is potentially just another mentally ill person that a municipality has let fall through the cracks? That it is a systemic issue the bureaucracy of a city has caused itself, and not because it just happens to be a place where loads of crime happens. While this is hinted at throughout, and highlighted briefly when a goon in the third act mutters to Batman that he sees himself as vengeance, a call back to one of Batman’s earlier lines, it ultimately isn’t the main focus of the film. Or even the final third act, because rather than have Batman grapple with this question of the Wayne’s innocence, and his own motivations for kitting up to go beat the snot out of people in the night, the film chocks it up to ‘oh, the bad guys are just messing with you, of course your family is sound. Now get out there and beat up some people for a flashy finisher.’ It’s just frustrating to see a good film and great filmmaking hindered by a lack of investment in the themes and potential narrative threads that are already there.
For instance, if the film wanted to go deeper, interrogate the idea of how close Batman is to the people he has sworn to fight, then the most excellent Batmobile chase scene splattered all over the marketing is a great opportunity for them to do so. And it would have just been a simple matter to introduce consequences to Batman’s actions. The film is touted as being very grounded, nitty gritty, so why not explore what happens when Batman destroys a motorway? With people actively driving on it, being thrown left and right in their cars and explosions roaring at every corner. Sure, if a goon gets thrown around a night club, damaging property, bill the shady owner, I get that, but when Batman does such obvious harm to people, in the pursuit of his crusade, then why not highlight that? The overarching arc of the film seems like it wants to go towards this angle, to try and ask what a young Batman can learn from a truly difficult event in order for him to become the hero we know him to be, but to have it all come out in a series of fisty-cuffs really does feel like a wasted opportunity. There’s no dramatic question powering the fight, until the very end with the aforementioned muttering of Batman’s line back at him, but by that moment, the fight is over. And there is no clear dramatic pinwheel to ground oneself in. Because the final heroic action that Batman performs, isn’t linked to the question that was just asked. It makes the gesture, while important, feel like it wasn’t earned.
And yet, while I have these gripes with the film, I still enjoyed it, and it isn’t something that just The Batman seems to be doing. Many big franchise properties seem to have this same issue. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022), these properties and franchises have all of the interesting and dramatic tools and questions at their arsenal, and in the likes of Disney, all of the logistical and fiscal resources too, and yet these films and television series just can’t seem to land their stories. Loki (2021), to me, heralded these issues of uncertain dramatic questions left unanswered or undiscovered for the sake of moving plots along, but I’m still rather surprised that it is happening. But then again, the money is there, people like me are still tuning in to watch, so if there’s money, why change it? Why would you spend more money to really take the time to flesh out the questions that could really impact and subvert expectations with these big franchises if people are just fine with what’s getting put out there?
Perhaps it is only a question of time. Of wanting to get something out, and into the world, when it could have potentially used a few more beats in development phase. I wonder if this is an impact we’re seeing because of the pandemic. That we are now seeing all of the programmes that are coming out and made during the pandemic era, and there was more of an emphasis to catch-up, rather than get it right. Who knows. But I do hope that these big franchise films can at least reclaim some glory of what they once had. The Nolan Trilogy, the final two Avengers films, hell, I’ll even put Joker (2019) down. I didn’t like it as much as other people, but at least it was thematically and dramatically consistent. Spider-man: No Way Home (2021) gave me hope that the pandemic might not have effected too many things, but it might seem that I’ve been proven wrong. Because ultimately, the problem that these films have, and that The Batman ultimately represents, is that the plots of the films do not serve the character.
The character is acting only as a vehicle to deliver a plot which is action packed and full of twists. Loads of people like that type of storytelling, and that’s great. There’s a world of stuff out there for you. But for me, it just all feels a little soulless. And it doesn’t have to be.
And now for something completely different…
While I’ve got your attention, I wanted to share this brief aside with you, dear reader. I think, (mostly), I’ve stuck to my one publication a month on this newsletter. And while this is a bit later in the month, (I mean it’s going to be right down to the wire), I wanted to express how difficult writing this particular piece was.
I saw The Batman a while back, and for this I really wanted to do a deeper dive and even break down particular scenes, but I’ve been unable to find a resource that can allow me to watch the film again legally. So, instead, you get this. Consider it a two-parter in which I give my thoughts and opinions on The Batman in broad strokes, but then follow it up with a little reflective exercise, for the lols. And to see how the piece became the way it is, rather than what I had intended for it to become.
Whenever I write anything for this newsletter, the spark of an idea normally comes in the form of coming into contact with something. A piece of philosophical thought, a work of art, or just whatever is really on my mind. From there I sort of jot down a few ideas to create an overall structure, to try and find the question I really want to ask, before then just cracking on and writing it. For this piece, I was inspired by coming across a not-so-recent Batman graphic novel, Batman White Knight (2018), in which the Joker cures himself. He then goes on to systematically demonstrate how the issues that Gotham has is not with the villains of its city, but the system put in place that not only allows them to continue to flourish, but relies on Batman to fight them. I’m not going to go into any more detail about the plot here, because it really is fantastic, but in reading, I suddenly occurred to me that this graphic novel was the film I was hoping that The Batman would be.
Originally, that’s what I wanted this piece to be about. A pseudo comparison between why one worked and the other didn’t. But the more I tried to draft it, and draw it up, I realised that the dramatic question I wanted to answer wasn’t just about The Batman, but was instead about a common observation I was having about big franchise properties, that The Batman was representative of. And that took a lot of writing to get to. Which to me is a bit of a disappointment because that is sort of what my Marty Was Right post was about. So, in the end I guess my main concern was that overall, this piece would feel repetitive. And that’s a bit frustrating for me.
I’ve been struggling a lot lately with my, well, creative-self, but realistically it’s probably more accurate to just say that I’ve been struggling with myself. Things just don’t seem to be going anywhere (professionally, emotionally, etc.) and I’ve been in this sort of loop where I keep expressing frustrations in a way that isn’t fair to those around me. Or fair to myself, either. I’m not really doing anything wrong but there’s just an expectation in my brain as to what is right and I just can’t seem to shift that expectation as I continue to not meet it. This probably raises more questions than answers, realistically, but I think I need to work towards a place where I can be a bit kinder towards myself. Somehow. Because while I might look at a piece like this and think to myself, oh that’s a bit repetitive, maybe it isn’t so much about covering the same topic, but that I just am not finished with talking about it yet. It’s an ongoing process, one that takes time and commitment before anything positive or satisfying can come to fruition from it.
Now comes the magical moment where I tie all of this up in a wonderful metaphor about how taking care of yourself takes time as creating good art takes time and that no matter how much money or resources one might have, it doesn’t replace the hard work that still needs to be done. But I’m a bit tired, and I need to crack on with other things today, so I’ll just leave it spelled out for you, dear reader, and hope that you have a wonderful day.