March sees growing excitement for movie-lovers. Yes, there’s the Oscars on March 27th. But March also sees the release of the much-anticipated new Batman film – “The Batman”.
“Kids – don’t copy me”
As a child, brought up on the camp TV and movie antics of Adam West’s caped crusader in the ‘60s, I’ve followed Batman’s variants with interest.
The first serious set
The first movie reincarnation, after Adam West’s joke-a-minute version, was Tim Burton’s “Batman” in 1989. Michael Keaton’s worthy version of Bruce Wayne was utterly upstaged by Jack Nicholson’s demented Joker. “Never mess with another man’s rhubarb!” he cackled.
“Batman Returns” saw Keaton return to the role before Val Kilmer took over the role (less successfully) with “Batman Forever” and George Clooney (disastrously so) with “Batman and Robin”. This poorly-judged 1997 film by Joel Schumacher effectively killed the franchise.
The Nolan era
It was to be another 8 years before Christopher Nolan rebooted Batman with “Batman Begins” – a darker and grittier take on the angst-ridden hero with the suitably dark and angst-ridden Christian Bale in the lead role. While this movie won new fans, it was the sequel – “The Dark Knight” – that set a new standard for action fantasy films. Heath Ledger’s Joker was memorably maniacal. Nolan ended his trilogy with the almost equally impressive “The Dark Knight Rises”.
Justice for All.
We’ve since seen Batman in the form of Ben Affleck – a less than popular choice with fans – in the highly variable DC-Universe movies. Most recently, this was in last year’s re-imagined Zac Snyder version of “Justice League”.
Do we really need another?
Now we get yet another version, with Robert Pattinson donning the triple-weave Kevlar suit. Why should we be excited about yet another incarnation? Well, for a start, Matt Reeves – he of the recent “Planet of the Apes” trilogy – is at the helm. And Reeves has said that he’s drawn inspiration from the classics of “Chinatown” and “Taxi Driver”. If Nolan’s vision was dark, prepare to go darker still!
Reeves seems to have stayed away from doing YET another origin story: the new movie is set two years into Wayne’s ‘career’ as the righter of Gotham’s wrongs. As far as I’m concerned, this is a sensible choice. I don’t need to see Mr and Mrs Wayne Snr. murdered YET again!
A surfeit of villains?
But the staples of Batman look to be all there, with some interesting casting. Wayne’s housekeeper Alfred is played by Andy Serkis. And Jeffrey Wright, most recently seen as Felix Leiter in “No Time to Die”, plays Commissioner Gordon. In terms of villains, we have Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot (aka “The Penguin”); Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle (aka “Catwoman”) and the fabulous Paul Dano as Edward Nashton (aka “The Riddler”).
It’s a slight red flag for me that we seem to have a surfeit of villains involved. This can be the kiss of death for an action film (“M’Lud, I give in evidence “Spider-Man 3”!”). But I’m willing to give Reeves the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see!
One thing’s for damn sure. At nearly 3 hours long, it’s set to be a bladder-testing thrill ride!
Trailer
The trailer for “The Batman” is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqqft2x_Aa4 .
