The Batman director Matt Reeves has been promoting his current project, War of the Planet of the Apes – only you wouldn’t really know it given the amount of Batman questions he’s had to field. While I’m sure this must be frustrating for him and Planet of the Apes fans alike, their loss is this DCEU fan’s gain!
Here are the most exciting takeaways so far about the upcoming Batman film:
He was inspired by Christopher Nolan’s approach to genre filmmaking
While there are a variety of things to emulate from Christopher Nolan’s approach to Dark Knight Trilogy, it sounds as though Matt Reeves is seeking to imitate what I think is the most important: telling a serious story that clearly displays the director’s perspective and vision.
Reeves believes that the superhero genre has “the potential to be about something more. You can use the metaphors of the genre to talk about [a lot].”
And despite the fact that these kind of big studio films can often “fall into that sense of committee filmmaking where there’s an anonymity to the point of view of the film,” his entire goal is — like Nolan — to create a film that clearly shows the director’s perspective.
As I’ve mentioned before, it really seems like the DCEU is positioning itself as being a director-led universe, so it’s no wonder that Reeves was drawn into helming The Batman.
From all he’s said about his vision for the film, it sounds like the DCEU has hired a director who’s passionate about both the character of Batman and about the art of visual storytelling.
We’re getting a noir-driven, detective version of Batman
Out of everything we’ve heard so far, this little tidbit is what excites me the most. In the comics, Batman is known as many things: the ultimate billionaire playboy, the caped crusador, and the world’s greatest detective.
And while we’ve seen Batman brood and kick ass and play at the billionaire playboy lifestyle on the big screen, we haven’t ever really seen him live up to the title of being the world’s greatest detective.
What excites me about this approach is the fact that one of my favorite Batman adaptations is Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series, which combined a noir setting with both Batman’s detective skills and ability to punch out ten criminals at once. It’s commonly regarded as one of the finest, most well-respected portrayals of Batman and it sounds exactly like what Reeves wants to bring to the big screen.
Having this noir-driven, detective version of Batman in a movie that would be — in Reeves words — in the style of an Alfred Hitchcock likewise sounds like the perfect way to differentiate this movie from previous Batman adaptations. It would also highlight a side of Batman that comics fans know well and have wanted to see on the big screen for years.
He can see himself making a series of Batman stories…
While Reeves has just finished up his Planet of the Apes trilogy, he did hint at being open to jumping into another trilogy, stating that he had an “ambition for a series of stories.”
Since Reeves is already hoping to give us a new variation of the character by focusing on the noir elements of his story and emphasizing his detective skills, it’d be great to see him highlight yet another facet of Batman’s character that often gets downplayed in the films — his extensive network of partners and sidekicks.
In fact, for a hero who often gets branded as a brooding loner, Batman has canonically had four different robins (three of whom are his adopted sons and one who is his actual son), three different batgirls (one of whom is his adopted daughter) and even basically franchised himself at one point.
With WB confirming both a Nightwing and a Batgirl film, I’d love to see Reeves incorporate Batman’s wider network and family into future storylines.
…but right now he wants to focus on getting the first one right
Of course, before I get too ahead of myself, Reeves likewise went on to say that “really the most important thing is gonna be to tell a vital first story.” This is an approach to movie-making that I really enjoy and respect.
One of the many things that made Wonder Woman such a successful film was that the story was allowed to exist on its own. While it was bookended by a connection to the broader DCEU, the story itself didn’t rely on an interconnected universe, nor was it used to setup future films in the franchise. Its main purpose was to tell an engaging, interesting story about its title character and for the audience to enjoy that story on its own merits.
While I’d love to have another trilogy of Batman films to look forward to, having Matt Reeves focus on getting this first story right is absolutely the best approach to take. And from everything we’ve heard so far, I’m incredibly excited to see just how he does it.