Batman returns to the big screen. For the occasion, Matt Reeves makes a film so symbolic in its all-encompassing depiction of the DC Comics character myth that it looks like a manifesto of architecture, design and gothic aesthetics. In three hours of film, the director blends the last forty years of the character’s filmic life, adding his own personal signature to the mix, making The Batman a unique work in the cine-comic field.
The Dark Knight is Night, Revenge, an idea capable of instilling fear at the mere suspicion of his presence. Similarly, the Gotham that welcomes him into its rotting arms represents a very clear status. A dark, corrupt and ruined city, one of the most convincing and alive cities portrayed in contemporary cinema. The city immediately transcends the simple animated backdrop protagonists and villains act against. Indeed, as the basics of the procedural genre teach us, in this film the investigation is the focus of the story, and as it takes place in several of the city’s characteristic locations, it involves many of its most famous sons and iconic sites, starting with the Wayne scion and his tower house.
Opening image: The Batman, Matt Reeves, 2022. Photo film frame