Just in time for the awesome news we’re getting a sequel. No date announced but Robert Pattinson, Matt Reeves and the whole creative team are coming back. I’m excited! But hopefully Reeves can bring this one in at a swift two and a half hours and maybe make even more money.
SPOILERS FOR THE BATMAN!
Also no Joker!
I mean Barry Keoghan would be fine I’m sure. He was fine in the deleted scene I think we just need to let that character rest. I’d say do Poison Ivy but I have no doubt that would just disappoint me more than pretty much any other character they can and would screw up. Reeves apparently said somewhere he’d be down for Mr. Freeze and that could be interesting.
I actually liked the movie and thought it went by rather fast despite my whining about the time. That being said it’s far faster and better when you can pause it if you need to and get comfortable.
Also I think less would have been more for the Riddler. Appropriately enough for this movie when we were in the dark about him he was far more terrifying. Once in the light he was kind of pathetic. And frankly the world’s greatest Detective and the Gotham PD (never mind the PD I should know by now outside of Gordon they are hopeless) should be ashamed he got that far.
Also that he knew who Batman was.
Otherwise I was actually intrigued by the story. Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz did a good job and had nice chemistry they can build on.
Thank you Matt Reeves a million times for not making me sit through the Wayne’s death again and actually I’d love to see more exploration of his Arkham connection and the stuff about his mother. Is it just me or does she often get totally lost in other films if not completely forgotten? I mean I wouldn’t say this was a shining look at her or even a deep look at her but at least they threw us a bone.
But it probably wouldn’t hurt to know what the green shit he was injecting into himself was. Did I miss something?
This movie was also too dark (I know I picked one of the least dark pics) but I did think it was interesting that there was actually more light as the film wound to it’s conclusion and Batman seemed to pick up on the fact, through the Riddler’s followers, that the way he was going about his persona was not at all helping.
Of course we were also getting a lot of bright shining dawn light on the Penguin…
But it will be interesting to see if Batman/Bruce Wayne finds a bit more balance in the next movie. One can hope.
Maybe in his (and Alfred’s) quest to take back control of the Renewal Fund that was so badly misused in this one we could upset the Court of OWLS or something. Also they could lay some groundwork as this Batman is relatively young how about introducing a young Harvey Dent? Who could also have something to do with the Renewal Fund and rebuilding Gotham…
Anyway there’s a lot of choices and I’m looking forward to seeing what Reeves and company decide!
I agree that it could’ve been shorter, but I didn’t mind it even in the theater. I also hope they bring us a villain we haven’t seen depicted as much. Joker is a necessary evil, but he is done to death.
P.S. I love that you’re using Barbie as your profile picture.
I needed happy things 🙂 And it’s still kind of Harley!
i thought whatever future portrayal of the joker we have, will be hella scary. that deleted scene alone was already disturbing enough lol. i really enjoyed the batman, but it can be quite hard to follow at times. i remember being on theaters, very confused about who they were talking about because all the different names start blurring together lmao it didn’t help that i wasn’t super familiar with the original storyline at all. but i really do hope this isn’t the last we saw of cat woman. she isn’t fully in her cat woman vibes in this first movie, and i hope this is a sign we’ll see more of her in future movies!
Me to! She was way to popular for them not to bring her back 🙂
I’ve had lots of interesting conversations about this film and I had two friends raise points that I wanted to get your thoughts on as I’ve been turning them over in my mind since I saw the film:
1) Matt Reeves’ universe is too “grounded” and/or “real” to accommodate superpowers. This friend thought there was no way Wonder Woman or Superman could ever show up and feel like they “fit” in this world or even Batman’s superpowered foes.
2) The next friend felt this depiction of Bruce Wayne was the most anchored in mental illness and unresolved trauma that we’ve yet see on screen and to make sequels we’ll need to see Bruce grow and heal in someway, otherwise it will feel too sad and/or feel like it’s making the refusal of getting help seem heroic.
Given your love and knowledge of the Batman world, I was eager to ask what you thought about these! And you had this post happily waiting for me to leave the comment on :). Yay!
You know? That’s a really good question. I was writing about how a good writer could make it work but I also think it depends on how you like your Superman and how said filmmaker and writer does. I think a version of Superman (or Wonder Woman) along the Snyder lines could work in a Matt Reeves film. But I’ve heard a couple of filmmakers over the years talk about their interest in the project and taking him back closer to a Richard Donner version which probably wouldn’t work in a Matt Reeves film.
I’d love to see the next film explore his mental health more especially Alfred’s potential role in helping him move forward. I don’t know why because all Alfred’s are great but I kind of feel Pattinson and Serkis could make it more of a partnership.
You know what? I’d not thought of it before reading your comment but you’re right. There is something about the Pattinson/Serkis relationship that seems like it would be a very comfortable home for that sort of intimacy. And they certainly developed the parental connection in the first film in such a way that I could see this being an added dimension to it.
I hadn’t heard that they were planning to do a more Donner-esque Superman but I’m certainly intrigued to see how that would go. I rented the first two Superman movies ALL THE TIME from the video store up the road from my parents’ house when I was little. However, I remember ‘Superman Returns’ was supposed to follow that sort of mold/vibe and it was not well received. But the darker/brooding Superman is divisive, too. I wonder what sort of Superman would land (heh…no pun intended) with audiences in the way RDJ’s Tony Stark did? And I agree, a grittier Superman would feel a lot more authentic in style/feel Reeves gave the film.
I remember I liked Superman returns watching it but don’t think I’ve ever bothered since (strange thing is I find Man of Steel pretty divisive in my own mind but still rewatch could be the Henry love but I guess divisive is still better than eh boring) Routh was adequate but perhaps not a choice that was ever going to light anyone’s imagination on fire. Same honestly with Kate Bosworth. And considering what we know now about Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey yikes.
There’s been all kinds of rumors the last month about Warner Brothers new guard wanting to give Henry another go which would make me very happy 😉 But aside from that I think you get the right actor who melds with a good director and script I think it could work. Let Christopher McQuarrie do it and cast Tom Cruise as the baddie? Ah dreams!
I do think it will be interesting to see what direction they go with Supergirl in the Flash that could be telling moving forward. It’s hard to tell with the director of that though since I only know his horror films but I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with her!
I would love to see Henry Cavill have another go at being Superman! I don’t think he ever got a fair shot. The movies were divisive but his performance of the material was always great. And it isn’t his fault the early days of the DCEU was a string of films struggling to find and define the tone/vision/voice for the universe. And then they went “Death of Superman” in his second movie!! What??!! But to see him as an actor and his presence opposite the other heroes…yeah, I’d be all in for him getting another shot at the character.
Heck, maybe they could make Superman the center of the DCEU. I know it’s a long shot! But Batman is always the core. What if they bring Henry Cavill back (or cast a new Superman), develop Supergirl, and go from there. They still have Gal Gadot for now and I would LOVE to see them begin to adapt Yara Flor, too. Not that I think they should ignore Batman. But I’d like to see the other areas of the DC Trinity built up in a similar way.
And you’re right – with all we know about Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey now, DC and WB dodged a bullet with ‘Superman Returns’ not developing into a universe. And I completely forgot Kate Bosworth was Lois Lane! I enjoyed her when I saw the film but I guess her performance wasn’t that memorable. The whole surprise son was an interesting take…and well ahead of time with what they’re doing with Jon Kent now. But it could’ve been developed in an interesting way. I think the biggest reason I always felt sad it didn’t work was I felt bad for Brandon Routh. I’m not sure why, as I hadn’t seen him in anything before. But I remember just really wanting it to work for him specifically which, in retrospect, seems odd as I don’t know him personally nor did I have any experience of him as an actor before the film.
Snyder in everything I’ve heard seemed hellbent on doing the evil superman route along with a Batman/Lois Lane thing on the side which is probably why he killed him so early. I actually like Snyder most of the time but honestly I don’t think he could provide the nuance to make that work especially now when “bad superman” has been basically stealing the show on the boys for the last couple of years.
I kind of feel about Routh like I do with poor Alden Ehrenrich from the Solo movie like it wasn’t your fault buddy but neither one ever really caught on.
I think the best chance of seeing Henry as Superman again is going to be in Black Adam considering the behind the scenes personal connections and then I can start dreaming up another film 🙂 But if the people pulling the strings on that movie couldn’t get him back than no chance 🙁
Well my fingers are now crossed for ‘Black Adam’! I was already intrigued from the trailers I’ve seen but now I’m extra excited :).
To be heading towards the evil Superman route so early seems…odd to me. It feels like what the X-Men movies keep doing with the Dark Phoenix. They’ve told the story twice already in two film series and they’ve never taken the time to build Jean up as a character, show us her as the Phoenix as a cosmic force for good, and then break out heart with the fall. I feel like maybe an evil Superman story would need a similar build-up/trajectory. Maybe even more? Because, while Jean’s time as Phoenix is so important (even though filmmakers never seem to care about it), Superman’s moral compass/conduct/code is arguably as iconic as his cape and “S” shield.
And yeah, like you said, with ‘The Boys’ the whole point may be moot now.
Also, “moot” is a fun word and I may try to say it more often now, XD.
Credit where credit is due with Marvel while the details in Multiverse of Madness could have been a lot better they took their time with Wanda getting to that point.
But arguably going to fast has always been a DCEU problem!
They did take their time with Wanda and I think I’d argue, at this point in time, Wanda and Kamala Khan are the most interesting characters in the MCU.
Also, I sometimes wonder what the DCEU looks like in another universe where they didn’t try to rush to the Justice League so quickly and spent time building up to it like Marvel did.