Still in Gotham

I think at this point we can say Batman "trailers well." Seeing the new trailer for The Batman, I was reminded of the crowd going wild on first seeing The Dark Knight's trailer at a showing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That's probably no accident. The music almost sounds like Hans Zimmer and, in general, there's a Batman Begins vibe about the visuals. And yet Matt Reeves' take is supposedly less interested in the realism of the Nolan films. Certainly the way bullets bounce off Batman's chest without even causing him to break stride is much further from reality. But Robert Pattinson's Batman seems enough like Christian Bale's that the differences stand out distinctly. The fact that Pattinson's smaller and less macho, almost feminine, certainly boyish, stands out. Yet at the same time, there's a definite sense of tenacity you don't get from the Nolan trailers. More than any other Batman, this trailer makes me think he's a guy who won't let anything stand in his way.

Colin Farrell is unrecognisable as Penguin. In fact he sounds a lot like Robert DeNiro. I'm reminded of how Nolan didn't want to use the Penguin in his films because he considered him too unrealistic. What's so unrealistic about a fat gangster? I suspect it's a sign that Nolan's familiarity with the source material is drawn more from Tim Burton's films than from the comics. Well, however he got there, he made at least one masterpiece with The Dark Knight. The odds of The Batman being anywhere on that level seem slim but I never would've thought Joaquin Phoenix could distinguish himself in Health ledger's shadow.

I feel like they decided not to disguise Batman's voice the way Christian Bale did and yet I still can't make out what Pattinson says when he punches the glass in the trailer. Maybe I'm the only one. Anyway, I want to see this movie.