We’re exactly six weeks away from The Batman coming to theaters, and it’s been revealed that Matt Reeves’ reboot for the Caped Crusader will clock in at an epic 167 minutes, and that’s not even including credits.
That means we’ve got plenty of story to get through, even though plot specifics are being kept tightly under lock and key outside of the bare bones we’ve already been made privy to. Looking at the footage we’ve seen, it would be fair to say we could be talking about the darkest, grittiest Batman movie we’ve ever seen.
Paul Dano’s Riddler is heavily indebted to the infamous Zodiac Killer, so it’s no surprise The Batman has been touted as existing somewhere in between a psychological thriller and outright horror, albeit one swathed in the trappings of the superhero genre. Speaking to MovieMaker, Reeves opened up a little more on how close to the borders of horror his hotly-anticipated DC blockbuster skirts.
“This idea of a place that is corrupt, and you try to swim against the tide in order to fight against it and make a difference, is quintessential Batman. And at the center of those noir stories is almost always the detective, right? And that’s why he is the world’s greatest detective. And so this story is, in addition to being almost a horror movie, and a thriller, and an action movie, at its core, it’s also very much a detective story. It’s very narrative.”
From the sound of things, striking the delicate tonal balance between so many disparate elements is going to be the key to ensuring The Batman equals the sum of its own parts, but we’ve got no reason to doubt Reeves and his team. Robert Pattinson’s debut under the cape and cowl has all the potential in the world, and we can’t wait to see how it all shakes out in the end.
