The Batman

Une belle façon de prendre un nouveau chemin et de ne pas décevoir le public, gâté par Nolan. Matt Reeves est un combattant, qui a réussi à créer une histoire captivante en seulement trois heures, avec un scénario très simple. Chaque scène est un spectacle envoûtant. La lenteur délibérée de nombreuses scènes, avec leur mise en scène soignée, stylise les personnages et crée une atmosphère sombre d'un environnement sans issue, corrompu et sale. Giacchino est méconnaissable et dépasse particulièrement l'ombre de sa propre créativité dans les scènes de suspense. Les acteurs sont excellemment choisis et dirigés (Farrell à nouveau le plus remarquable) et la superbe entrée de la nouvelle Batmobile n'est pas en reste non plus. Le seul point faible du film est son accessibilité au jeune public - son âme si sombre, combinée au concept narratif de la recherche d'un tueur psychopathe, fortement inspiré du film Seven de Fincher, nécessitait un minimum de violence graphique. Ici, Batman frappe férocement le méchant au visage sans que celui-ci ne saigne. Et le film contient d'autres absurdités similaires, parfois même purement logiques, qui contrastent grossièrement avec des détails cinématographiques fantastiquement soignés. (13/03/2022)

Les créateurs se sont inspirés de certains des meilleurs comics, donc le succès était garanti d'avance – du moins, pour les fans qui aiment les déclinaisons sombres et policières des aventures de Batman. Car en matière d'ambiance sombre, on peut dire que c'est réussi. Au rayon des points positifs, citons les méchants : Paul Dano est épatant et Colin Farrell est méconnaissable, avec une version du Pingouin qui diffère radicalement de celle incarnée par Danny DeVito et à laquelle certains spectateurs auront du mal à s'accommoder. Ce que j'ai moins aimé, c'est le choix de Jeffrey Wright, même s'il fait partie des grands, et surtout celui de Robert Pattinson, lequel m'agaçait en tant que vampire et continue de m'agacer en tant qu'homme chauve-souris. Mais ce n'est là qu'une opinion purement subjective, car Pattinson a indéniablement ses fans et bénéficiera toujours de Twilight. Il sera intéressant de voir où nous emmènera le nouveau Batman. La fin laisse une indication sur ses futures aventures… (10/09/2022)

It's impossible not to see a hundred or more sources of inspiration; from 1970s Lumet to thriller Fincher to early Proyas. Ditto when it comes to the inspiration for specific comics, games and cartoons featuring the Dark Knight. And yet, it's purely Reeves's singular vision that doesn't go for traditional blockbuster gilding. It builds on atmosphere, grime, big city corruption, style (just the camera and lighting work), subliminal tension and pacing (or lack thereof). Gotham is more of a character than most of the ensemble. Pattinson plays Batman purely through stubborn silences and penetrating glances as a "voyeuristic inexperienced weirdo in a costume" instead of a traditional (super)hero. What Reeves didn't manage well, however, is the running time. Not that there's anything that feels out of place, and not that it drags, but several of the themes and characters (including Bruce) are so far down the road that they could (and should) be in the eventual sequel. That said, as an origin story of a grounded Bat-universe, it’s flawless. (02/03/2022)

This is an intimate, depressing, gothic noir emo that at times looks like a nightmare of a light-headed sociopath, on the one hand lonely, on the other thrown into a claustrophobic space where law and crime embrace each other so tightly that it is impossible to distinguish them. A cleverly adapted origin story and a tale of a man consumed by revenge are superimposed on an almost Fincher-esque thriller. It's slow, sometimes driven to maximum effect, backed by the famous Riddler... three hours doesn't seem like a problem to me, because Reeves does it with precision, heavy-handedly, and unlike Snyder, it's not a masquerade at the bottom of dead mannequins, but still a human drama - even if simplified compared to Nolan. Pattinson fits the role perfectly, but the main asset is Paul Dano as the king of the incels. Reeves has delivered his own similarly willful project like Villeneuve recently did. For me, it's a hundred times better than the comically depressing Joker charade and several levels above the DC duds of the last decade. Finally the darkness breathes, the scars don't heal and the rats gnaw at the flesh. (28/02/2022)

Matt Reeves delivers a confident vision of the world of Batman, going in a completely different direction than his predecessors. As he sees it, Gotham is an ugly and dirty city, and its inhabitants are tired of corruption and crime. So it's no surprise that Reeves’s and Pattinson's Batman is no pushover. The new Batman doesn't gloss over the inspiration in crime dramas from the 1990s and thrillers from the 1970s, recalling Se7en, Serpico and Death Wish. And there's a lot more talking and investigating, as Reeves made a primarily crime thriller set in a much more realistic and believable world than his predecessors. It looks nice, it sounds great, and Robert Pattinson is very good as Batman. Unfortunately, he's not very good as Bruce Wayne, and overall the work with his “civilian hero” is a bit jarring. Mainly because despite the three-hour running time, they ultimately didn't quite manage to pull all the motives, storylines and twists to a satisfying conclusion, making some elements of The Batman feel sort of half-hearted. In short, there's an awful lot to deal with, and Reeves doesn't always manage to pull it off to a satisfying conclusion. Less is sometimes more, on the other hand it all still works enough to make a good film. (28/02/2022)