By Panos Liakos
Over the last few weeks, while reading Peter Decherney’s Short Introduction to Hollywood and respectively auditing some of the lectures of Dana Polan in the Cinema Studies Department of NYU, I realized that the Hollywood industry demonstrates this certain propensity from period to period to re-establish the popular genres it created. Peter Decherney very concisely suggests that even if the audiences and/or the scholars feel sometimes that some genres are dying out, there is a certain possibility “to see them return in new cycles that reimagine the genres for a new time” (Decherney 35).
The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, gave me some good reasons on thinking about the cycle of some specific cinematic genres. First, I should emphasize the importance of Todd Phillips’s Joker, a film that changed the perception of the comic book film. With Joaquin Phoenix incarnating the Joker as if he was a psychologically disordered and completely neglected from social norms human being, the film made a great impact to the modern audiences. Simultaneously the film’s overall directorial design and the arc of the protagonist reminded to the cinephiles of the social critique films of Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver).
Warner Bros., as an integral part of the Hollywood industry, cannot but continue to expand this notion of the rebirth of the cinematic genre of the superhero movie. In The Batman (2021), written by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig, the audience has to deal with even darker modes and an amalgamation of genres, from film noir, to romance, and gangster film. I could not but feel the noirish vibes of the film from the very prologue of it, in which Bruce Wayne/ Batman himself narrates in voice over his destiny, his life story. “Destiny” is a word that follows the protagonist of a film noir till the climax of his story. In this specific Batman story, the billionaire superhero is trying to save New York…eh…excuse me…Gotham City from The Riddler, a villain who is trying to cleanse the city from political corruption. I haven’t visited any other of the previous Batman films for years, still Gotham City in the Matt Reeves film seemed to me more realistic (NY) than ever before. I also admired the psychological portrayal of The Riddler. Rather than presenting him as an all-over-the-place twisted comedian (Jim Carrey in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever), he is revealed to be another problematic creation of the corrupt system in which he was raised. Paul Dano, an actor of infinitive possibilities, steals the show in the final part of the film. By looking at his performance I could not but ruminate on the impact of Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) to the modern cinema.
Still the surprises do not end in here. I will try to have a closer look at the gangster film aspect of The Batman. That is something of paramount importance, especially if we take into consideration the fact that during the Classical Hollywood Era (especially till the mid-40s) Warner Bros. was linked to some of the most significant gangster films of their time (The Public Enemy, White Heat, Little Caesar). Following the delineation of the crime lords played by Colin Farrell and John Turturo, Penguin and Carmine Falcone respectively, the audience can understand the aesthetic and thematic references to the classical gangster film genre. Even more, the spectatorship can spot even a homage to the New Hollywood perception of the classical gangster film (so many layers of adaptation in here), as the new Batman film contains direct references to The Godfather and Chinatown (John Turturo as a maleficent patriarchal figure). From the two above-mentioned actors, I should praise Colin Farrell’s performance as Penguin. It is the epitome of a cinematic, genre-oriented performance which is totally supported by the direction of photography (Greig Fraser) and the make-up department. It would be no surprise to me if we saw The Batman in some prestigious Oscar nominations for the 2023 ceremony.
If the film noir aspect of the new Batman is used to launch the narrative and establish the protagonist, the gangster film genre is here to provide the socio-political context of the film. It is within this context that Batman is going to meet Catwoman. It is this socio-political background that traumatized both of them. Hence, they share a common trauma. They are trying to go on despite their losses. They are trying to emancipate from toxic environments, and to discover who they really are (we are coming back to the popular notion of Robert McKee who contends the view that a successful screenplay contains both actual action and an internal journey for the protagonist to take). Here it comes the romance genre, which interferes so lyrically to the main plot of the film. I believe that Matt Reeves once declared that he tried to depict the dynamics of the Batman/ Catwoman relationship like Alan J. Pakula did with the Jane Fonda/ Donald Sutherland relationship in Klute. It was also a story of a woman trying to emancipate from an environment full of toxic masculinity. At the same time, she was the one that tried to approach the reclusive young man (while watching the film a friend of mine observed that Batman never took the responsibility to kiss Catwoman, instead she was constantly trying to have physical contact with him).
Even though this is not a dialogue-driven film, Robert Pattinson seems from film to film to put his best effort into play. Even in the Batman attire, you can tell about the devotion to his role by looking right on his eyes. The sequence with Alfred at the hospital proves that Robert Pattinson is becoming a laconic, and right-to-the-essence actor of his generation. As far as his hero is concerned, following fatalistically his destiny he takes a lonely turn, devoting himself into duty. The superb music of Michael Giacchino is in there not to support the visual effects in the action sequences of the film, but also as a melancholic indicator of the inevitable route of a hero’s (?) life.
