on The Batman

I’m still plugging away on the fourth Dishonored story. Right now I’ve completed four chapters and am working on the fifth (out of 29), so it’ll be a while yet before it’s done.

In the meantime, I saw THE BATMAN last night and I have much praise for it. The following is spoiler-filled however, so be warned:

SPOILER ALERT

I have a long list of things I loved, from the cinematography to the plot, to the acting, to Colin Farrell’s performance as Penguin, to the incredible score by Michael Giacchino. It’s all so wonderful.

All that said, I think the one thing that will stick with me the longest is the idea that Riddler did what he did, leaving messages to Batman at his crime scenes, because he believed Batman was just like him, a psycho looking to hurt the people responsible for Gotham’s misery.

And, in a sense, that’s exactly how Batman started out in the movie. His one and only motivation was to be “vengeance.” He just didn’t know that the real problem in Gotham wasn’t the petty criminals, but the conspiracy of crime and corruption bubbling under the surface. Riddler did what Batman did, albeit with murder. So, in the end, when the Riddler’s thug says he (and his fellow murderers) is “vengeance” it resonates with Bruce, who realizes his masked persona needs to be more than that. He needs to be an inspiring symbol.

Those are the bookends of the story and it’s a masterfully told bit of storytelling. It’s also something I was completely unprepared for. Everything in the advertising and everything contained within 80 years of history with the Riddler would lead fans to think that the secret messages “to the Batman” were nothing more than Zodiac-esque messages designed to taunt and play games with the good guys hunting for him. Instead, they were—in the mind of the very obviously demented Riddler—clues and aides to help the Batman do his part in “their” mission to save Gotham. What an incredible way to illustrate one of the timeless ideas about Batman, which is that he is not only the solution to Gotham’s many criminals, but also frequently he is the cause of them, too.

In between those bookends is one of the best Riddler stories I’ve ever experienced, either in comics/graphic novels, TV episodes, video games, and certainly on film. It gives us a look at “the world’s greatest detective” to an extent we’ve not been afforded on film before.

10/10 movie for me and I can’t wait to see it again.