The Batman (2021)

[DigModiFicaTion]

Ah, so you are requesting campiness?

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Didn’t Schumacher go in that direction and get absolutely crucified for it?

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

Didn’t Schumacher go in that direction and get absolutely crucified for it?

 

[Editzilla]

Didn’t Schumacher go in that direction and get absolutely crucified for it?

That was back when people kept going gaga for Burton's films while ignoring those were campy AF too....(also, film critics are typically full of it a lot of the time)

Heck if you look at responses towards them nowadays, their reception have gotten better over time. And there are even people who come to love ones like Forever (me included admittingly, though I know it has faults).

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I was 18 when Burton’s first Batman came out. I liked it but it didn’t live up to the hype. I’ve got little investment in the character(s), but I liked the gothic nature of the production design. At the time, it seemed very dark for a superhero movie. I liked future installments less and less and I admit I don’t think I’ve ever even seen Batman and Robin.

 

[Jrzag42]

I Don't see The Batman as realistic at all, at least not moreso than Burton's.

 

[Sloid]

Despite my disappointment in this project from the outset due to Affleck being replaced, I was hugely hyped for the movie after the second trailer. I sat through the whole DC Fandome just to see it. But the more footage came out, the less I liked what I saw. As far as Batman adaptations go, this one is less watchable than Batman & Robin for me. There's something redeeming in almost every previous incarnation, but this one was the first where I felt I was watching a cosplayer in a bat costume instead of Batman.

 

[addiesin]

I didn't like how it reminded me so much of Nolan.

I did like that the world, while similar to what we've seen before, feels lived in and complete, like the things we'll see later already exist. Whereas, not only most Batman movies, but most superhero movies, it usually feels like the tracks are being laid right before/just as the train arrives.

 

[Ender]

Concerning Snyder, his stuff was not realistic, but it was still just as gritty as Nolan or Reeves. I long for a return to the look of the Burton films (just this time let Batman turn his neck). Reeves is certainly on the right track compared to Nolan, but its look is still more Arkham than BTAS if you catch my drift.

I Don't see The Batman as realistic at all, at least not moreso than Burton's.

It absolutely is though. Burton's Batman sleeps upside-down like a bat. Reeves's Batman is just kinda emo. Burton had the Joker's skin bleached by acid. Reeves gave him birth defects (seriously, that's literally what he said, no acid bath). Burton's Catwoman was spiritually reborn into a weird BDSM burglar after a near-death experience. Reeves's Catwoman might as well just be called woman 'cuz there's nothing cat about her. Burton's Penguin is a deformed freak who drools black bile and was raised by penguins in the sewer. Reeves's Penguin is just some generic gangster. See what I mean? The Burton takes are far less grounded in reality and it makes them a thousand times more interesting.

 

[Jrzag42]

Concerning Snyder, his stuff was not realistic, but it was still just as gritty as Nolan or Reeves. I long for a return to the look of the Burton films (just this time let Batman turn his neck). Reeves is certainly on the right track compared to Nolan, but its look is still more Arkham than BTAS if you catch my drift.

It absolutely is though. Burton's Batman sleeps upside-down like a bat. Reeves's Batman is just kinda emo. Burton had the Joker's skin bleached by acid. Reeves gave him birth defects (seriously, that's literally what he said, no acid bath). Burton's Catwoman was spiritually reborn into a weird BDSM burglar after a near-death experience. Reeves's Catwoman might as well just be called woman 'cuz there's nothing cat about her. Burton's Penguin is a deformed freak who drools black bile and was raised by penguins in the sewer. Reeves's Penguin is just some generic gangster. See what I mean? The Burton takes are far less grounded in reality and it makes them a thousand times more interesting.

Okay, fair. I was specifically thinking of 89, but still you're not wrong. I guess what I really mean is just that it's leagues better than Nolan in terms of realism. To compare it to Burton was definitely a stretch.

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

Okay, fair. I was specifically thinking of 89, but still you're not wrong. I guess what I really mean is just that it's leagues better than Nolan in terms of realism. To compare it to Burton was definitely a stretch.

Batman wears a leather wrapped mask, metal armor and cargo pants and gets shot point blank range and keeps going.....that doesn't seem realistic to me.

 

[Ender]

When people say realistic, they're not talking about the logistics of all the things happening in the plot, i.e. realism in the Mythbusters sense. They mean realism as in visual realism. The Nolan films may have elements that aren't realistic but the films look realistic.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

When people say realistic, they're not talking about the logistics of all the things happening in the plot, i.e. realism in the Mythbusters sense. They mean realism as in visual realism. The Nolan films may have elements that aren't realistic but the films look realistic.

I usually use the word grounded. My mother was just here visiting and she was curious about Game of Thrones since I’m reading the novels and watching HotD. I explained that Game of Thrones is a more grounded fantasy world than LotR. That’s not to say it is realistic (there are dragons for example), but it feels more like a real world as opposed to a fantasy world. Nolan’s Gotham feels more like Chicago whereas Burton’s doesn’t resemble anything in reality at all. And clearly both are intentional choices.

 

[tmihai20]

I see people are judging The Batman based on all sorts of ideas, but that is the beauty of it. I love Burton's movies and of course Nolan's trilogy, but I still like the 4 in-between movies. I simply like Val Kilmer's Batman, Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl because these are how I pictured them in my own head (Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, Arnold as Mr Freeze, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Heath Ledger as Joker). Batman Forever had one of the best soundtracks I ever listened to, I've had it on cassette and listened to it many, many time. My only issue with The Batman is that was maybe a little too long, but I do understand why (there are a lot of cinematic shots there that are absolutely gorgeous). I will be watching the sequel in cinema when it comes out.

Sidenote: sometimes we get so tangled in our own ideas that we judge everything about a movie, only to dial that down later in time. For instance I used to barely watch the movies between Burton and Nolan movies, but now I like them for what they are. When I saw Spider-Man No Way Home in the cinema I had one of the greatest experiences in the cinema with the right people there. I realized then that I was judging Garfield and Maguire Spideys very, very harsh and that I will give them another chance.

 

[Ender]

I love Burton's movies and of course Nolan's trilogy, but I still like the 4 in-between movies.

There were only two in-between movies. Or are you counting BvS and JL?

 

[tmihai20]

There were only two in-between movies. Or are you counting BvS and JL?

You are correct, there are only 2. I did not think of BvS or Justice League.

 

[Dwight Fry]

This is a few months old already. But I had a good laugh.

 

[Ender]

I didn't like it. Really didn't help that it was all out of tune (copyright avoidance?).

 

[Gaith]

I think it was definitely a Fincher does Batman in the same way there was Scorsese does Joker. I’d much rather these directors establish their own signature. Everyone borrows, but these seemed excessive to me.

Agreed. My take on The Batman is it's a pretty decent mashup of Seven, Zodiac, and The Dark Knight. It's longer than and lesser than those movies, but it's also shorter than watching any two of them (let alone all three), so, if you want Fincher-flavored Batman, it's certainly the movie for you.

Myself, I was frustrated at how the film seemed to constantly do things halfway. It was a story about corruption amongst Gotham City's elites... who all seemed to only frequent the same grungy, gross nightclub (because it wouldn't be cool if Batman skulked around a country club once in a while??). It was a story about how Bruce's parents weren't really very good people or responsible citizens... except they mostly were, and the real problem was the mismanagement of their fiscal legacy. It was a gritty, grounded story in which people get hurt, and that actually hurts... but an explosion that blows a whole in a skyscraper only sends Alfred to a few days' worth of hospital bed rest. Finally, it's a story about Bruce realizing that his Batman project, in which he uses a billionaire's resources to beat up common thugs, is fundamentally misguided and corrupt... but ends with the conclusion that nah, the project's fine, actually, so long as he takes care to be the ̶F̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶l̶y̶ - well, the Responsible Neighborhood Bat-Man. And three hours is a long time for that much halfway work.

Conclusion: it's... fine. But I definitely liked Joker more, because, as derivative as it may be, it didn't feel like it went halfway with anything, and told a coherent, finely tuned story in an appropriate run time.

The Batman: B-

I think you mean it needed something like the scene in 'Se7en' (which has got to be another influence on The Batman), where Somerset pulls the illegal library info, to get ahead of John Doe's games and they nearly catch him at his apartment (a scene that is almost replicated, at least stylistically, in TB).

Quite. I forget if he was supposed to find that clue he found when he used that trowel in The Riddler's apartment? But even if he wasn't, by that point in the story, Bruce finally accomplishing a legit feat of detection was too little, too late.

 

[Ender]

Zhao's snoozefest

I haven't seen The Eternals but her other film The Rider is literally the worst movie I've ever seen. That movie is not just a snoozefest, it's a depressing snoozefest.

This is a few months old already. But I had a good laugh.

I didn't like it, and it's all out of key, like some weird copyright evasion maneuver.