It takes a lot of things to make a movie like The Batman, like an immensely talented cast, a clever script, stellar camerawork, and someone who can ensure it all looks fantastic. Leave that to The Batman cinematographer Greig Fraser though, who according to Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright is largely responsible for so many gorgeous shots.
Director Matt Reeves and the rest of The Batman team have not been shy of their attempt to one-up Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, especially in terms of realism and the rough vibes those films tend to give off. Even Bruce Wayne himself has called The Batman's opening scene “jarring,” which is the word Robert Pattinson used in recent interviews to describe the kind of visual artistry fans should expect come this week.
Ask Dano and Wright about that and both men will gladly point to Fraser being at the helm of transforming Reeves' incredible script. The duo would point out how The Batman's use of light and shadows breathes life into something that's definitely different from other superhero movies. When asked to differentiate between their movie and others during an interview with Collider, Dano agrees that The Batman is a fantastic piece of cinema, “a real film” worthy of watching in theaters, whereas Wright sees it as "plot-driven, emotional and psychological."
Wright goes further on, explaining that younger audiences particularly might benefit from watching this type of movie, one that doesn't rely so much on bell and whistles. Wright argues that in doing so, they might see a type of film they’re not quite used to experiencing. If one thing is for sure, it's that The Batman will be best enjoyed in a movie theater where viewers can appreciate Fraser's work to its full extent.
All the stars of the film have addressed The Batman's tone and setting, with Dano saying he’s even had trouble sleeping properly after spending months playing Reeves Zodiac-inspired Riddler and Pattinson outright labeling it as a sad movie. In any case, if The Batman proves to be successful, fans won’t have to wait so long to immerse themselves in Gotham again, because Reeves will also work a Penguin spinoff series.
With this kind of attention to detail, it’s no wonder The Batman is staying clear of the DCEU, because Reeves has been the first one to single out the movie as simply cinema that happens to star the world’s greatest detective. This is one of the sides to the superhero he was most eager to explore, it's just not R-rated Batman type of cinema.
The Batman will be released exclusively in theaters on March 4, 2022.
Source: Collider