The Batman Leaves Behind A Message Of Vengeance In Favour Of Hope

thegamer.com:

Batman is super duper scary. Big bad bat boy will emerge from the darkness and kick the living shit out of whoever dares to rob a local corner shop. Well - that’s the general assumption. The caped crusader is a vigilante who operates more out of symbolism than practical application, seeking to frighten Gotham City into passiveness instead of going after every single petty criminal who calls its streets home.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman cements that fact in the opening moments. A monologue by Robert Pattinson is accompanied by a stylish montage of thieves and bullies stalking throughout the night in search of easy prey. Yet before each of them decides to act, they glance into the sky and witness the Bat Symbol. It’s little more than a spotlight looking over the city, but to millions it is now a representation of fear. We see people running away in a panic, except for a single group of fools who dare assault a helpless commuter. Before the skirmish can begin, Batman steps out of the shadows and wills them to walk away.

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Anyone who doesn’t is subject to a chaotic beatdown, with a single hesitant newcomer glancing up at the sky as he tries in vain to warn his friends of the coming storm. It’s a sensational opening, and one that solidifies the role Batman plays in this city and how he’s become a distilled image of fear that keeps the city in order. Such is true for smaller criminals, but it doesn’t have an effect on the corrupt underworld and political machinations that determine why Gotham is so rotten to the core. It’s broken beyond repair, and no amount of vigilante heroics will change that fact.

Batman isn’t treated as a superhero here, and that’s partly why he’s such an