10 Best The Batman Moments
8. The Sins of Your Father
“Jesus, his next victim is Bruce Wayne.”
After following a clue from The Riddler, Batman and Commissioner Gordon wind up in an abandoned orphanage on the Wayne Estate. They find themselves in a large room where a video about the history of the Wayne family and the Arkham family is being projected onto the wall. “Bruce Wayne is the next victim.”
The words haven’t finished echoing off the crumbling walls before Batman is in the Batmobile and racing towards Wayne Manor. The film cuts between Batman desperately trying to get in touch with his staff at home, and Alfred carefully sorting through the post whilst the phone rings in the background, painfully unanswered. When Bruce’s maid finally picks up, Batman yells out “Something terrible is gonna happen!”, his words blurring and smudging together in a moment of panic, losing his stone-faced demeanour for the first time in the film. “I’m afraid it already has, sir,” his maid replies. As the Batmobile emerges from under a bridge, Wayne Manor comes into view, engulfed in flames. The film cuts back to Alfred, turning over a parcel in his hands which is addressed to Bruce Wayne. A look of panic spreads across his features as he tosses the parcel away from himself, but it barely makes it two metres before exploding into a great fiery mass, knocking Alfred back.
There is so much urgency in this scene, played cleverly against the mundanity of sorting through the post. The racing of the Batmobile against the stillness of the paper on the table elevates the urgency for us, and right after the bomb goes off the film cuts to a view of the table where Bruce and Alfred had breakfast together earlier in the movie. The impact of the blast knocks the table out of place and sends the chairs flying, along with the fluttering pieces of mail. There is a great chandelier hanging above, its many beads rippling from the shock. There is so much talk of legacy in this movie – earlier in the film, Bruce declares that The Batman is his family’s legacy when Alfred warns Bruce that he will lose everything is he’s not careful, reminding us of the value of the Wayne name in his universe – but as we watch the chandelier swinging and the chairs flying, we become painfully aware of how this is also Alfred’s legacy. This is the house Alfred has kept for years, and the boy that he has raised.
This is an important moment of realisation for Bruce, but also a pointed reminder for us. Bruce spends so much of the movie being rude or unappreciative towards Alfred; actions that reflect how young this Batman is. He almost sneers at Alfred for wearing cufflinks with the Wayne crest on them, until he learns that they were a gift from his father. It’s clear how hurt this Batman is, but also clear that he is very involved in himself and doesn’t take the time to think about who Alfred is to him. It is no mistake that Matt Reeves presents Bruce as watching a video about his father in one moment, and in the next shows us Bruce racing to save the man who raised him. When Bruce visits Alfred at the hospital just seconds later, he is asked by a member of staff if Alfred has any next of kin. Bruce replies, “No, just me.”
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7. The Batmobile
“This guy’s crazy!”
The introduction of the Batmobile is an important moment for any longstanding fans of the Caped Crusader and all first-time viewers alike. The Batmobile is like a character of its own in The Batman, screaming and revving with no sign of its driver at first. The car’s exterior is very stripped back in comparison to regular portrayals, with an almost industrial feel to it. The car, in this respect, reflects how reserved this version of Bruce Wayne is, exemplifying his dismissal of the life of luxury he was brought up in.
We hear the vehicle before we see it. It screeches into life, freezing The Penguin and his men in their tracks. Penguin stares down the car, almost as if to offer it a challenge, until it lurches forward and he darts away, well aware the danger he’s in. A chase ensues – The Penguin in a car of his own, racing away from Batman in the Batmobile. We see the chase from Penguin’s perspective, placing us with him as the Batmobile follows behind like a horror movie villain. This subversion of the usual trope of the bad guy pursuing the good guy leans into the horror that Batman represents for all the villains in Gotham. Penguin’s reckless driving catches up to him as his car spins through the air. Out of the window, we see The Batman approach Penguin’s upturned car on foot, the camera upside down. The Bat is literally hanging from the top of the screen, the fire behind him colouring everything with a hot orange hue. In a film that explores the morally grey version of Batman, presenting him as a kind of angel of death descending from the sky offers thematic depth and general importance to this scene.
Michael Giacchino’s score in this moment is magnificent, the fragmented Batman motif scattered amongst the angry revving of the cars. It dips in and out until it rises into a full crescendo as Batman walks towards Penguin in this moment’s conclusion.
Whether or not you consider yourself to be a fan of the Caped Crusader, it is undeniable that the Batmobile chase is a thrill not to be missed. Robert Pattinson even did some of his own stunt work in the vehicle, reaching top speeds of 100 miles-per-hour. That’s the kind of danger one might come to expect from Batman, and knowledge of this makes this scene so much more thrilling.
6. A Light in the Darkness
“I have had an effect here, but not the one I intended.”
Seven vans planted by The Riddler along the Gotham sea wall have exploded, instantly flooding the city. It is The Riddler’s great final act, a plan revealed just too late to stop it. As water comes flooding into Gotham Square Garden, the venue of last resort, Batman does the greatest thing a hero can do: he makes the right choice.
Electrical cables are spluttering out sparks into the water where the people of Gotham are desperately trying to swim to safety. Batman has been beaten, he is exhausted, and he has had to inject himself with something just to keep going. He jumps out onto the cluster of cables and severs them, dropping into the rushing water below. He lifts up a flare and lights it, red flames illuminating the surroundings with crimson, and he begins to lift rubble to save the people underneath.
Just before he slices the cord and drops into the water, the score drops out until it is just the bell chiming, representing death, but also representing birth. He is physically shown falling from his relative ambiguity. For so long he has blended in with the villainy and corruption in Gotham, never quite assuming the role of hero for the people. But now he falls into the water, mixing in with the people and the danger – he lights the fuse and quite literally becomes their light in the dark. He shifts some rubble out of the way and stretches his hand out to help, and even then there is hesitation, the people unsure of whether to trust this dark figure or to succumb to the waters. One tiny hand reaches out from under the rubble – the hand of the son of the murdered Mayor. He is a boy who lost a father just as Bruce did, but one who was saved by The Batman. Together, the boy and The Batman teach everyone something that Gotham has been missing for a long time: trust.
This moment is like the beginning of this version of Bruce Wayne becoming the version of The Batman we’ve seen in other iterations. His journey from shadow-lurking justice to light in the darkness has been completed.
Whilst The Batman was nominated at the Oscars for sound, visual effects, and makeup and hairstyling, many people believed it was snubbed for a nomination in cinematography. The visual world-building of Gotham by director of photography Greig Fraser, with its dark palette and soft glowing lights, should have been honoured by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But the stunning shots in this film (and there are many) would leave any viewer amazed. This scene in particular was hailed as one of the most visually important in terms of cinematography, and when you see it for yourself it’s not hard to tell why.
