All Batman movies are film noirs on some level. A masked vigilante who spends his nights walking the line between criminal and crimefighter in a city teeming with crime and corruption is the quintessential noir antihero.
But the most recent cinematic take on the Caped Crusader, The Batman, is particularly influenced by the neo-noir subgenre. It’s not a superhero movie with neo-noir overtones; it’s a neo-noir first and a superhero movie second. From voiceover narration to constant rainfall to a subversively sympathetic femme fatale, The Batman adheres to many familiar tropes and hallmarks from classic film noirs.
Hard-Boiled Detective Story
In The Batman, Matt Reeves finally shed a spotlight on the one crucial aspect of Bruce Wayne’s characterization that the other movies have either sidelined or ignored altogether: his detective skills. In the comics, Batman is known as the “World’s Greatest Detective,” a nickname applied sarcastically by the Penguin in this movie.
Above all, The Batman is a detective story about a pair of hard-boiled crimefighters on the trail of a serial killer committing a series of politically motivated murders around the city.
Gloomy, Atmospheric Visuals
Greig Fraser has quickly become one of the world’s most renowned cinematographers. He recently won a much-deserved Oscar for his work on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and he’s due for another nomination next year for his work on The Batman.
Just as Fraser brought the psychedelic sand-world of Arrakis to life with immersive visuals and atmospheric lensing in Dune, he did the same for the gloomy, neon-drenched metropolis of Gotham City in The Batman.
Crooked Cops
One of the most powerful tone-setting moments early in The Batman sees Jim Gordon bringing the Dark Knight to a crime scene and facing icy glares from every cop in the room. As it turns out, half of these cops are on Carmine Falcone’s payroll and the G.C.P.D. is a festering hive of corruption.
Crooked cops are a staple of the film noir genre, exploring the gray area concealed by the clear-cut black-and-white morals of classical Hollywood storytelling.
Constant Rainfall
Just like in every classic noir, there’s a ton of rain in The Batman. Rain pours continuously throughout the movie. It even rains during the high-speed car chase, which must’ve been a nightmare for the stunt team.
The role of rainfall in the noir genre is largely based on the fact that wet pavement looks a lot more cinematic at night than dry pavement, but it also explains why there’s no one else around when shady underworld figures meet on dark street corners.
Urban Decay
Film noirs often explore urban decay by portraying cities with absurd crime rates being run by corrupt politicians. The Batman’s portrayal of rampant crime on the rain-soaked streets of Gotham fits this bill perfectly.
The renewal project started by Thomas Wayne became a piggy bank for the rich and powerful, and the district attorney works side-by-side with the most powerful crime lord in Gotham.
Intense Interrogation Scenes
Intense interrogations are a staple of film noir. In The Batman, Batman and Gordon question the Penguin at an abandoned building and force him to look at gruesome crime scene photos. Later, Batman questions the Riddler behind bars at Arkham Asylum. Batman is expecting answers, but the Riddler is expecting the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
None of these scenes top the iconic Joker interrogation from The Dark Knight, but they’re a pair of exciting sequences that reveal as much about Batman himself as they reveal about the perps he’s questioning.
Nightclub Full Of Shady Clientele
Matt Reeves’ Bat-reboot had a lot of fun with the trope of the underworld nightclub full of shady clientele. Dubbed a “Den of Iniquity” or a “house of ill repute” by L.A. Confidential.
Throughout The Batman, the Dark Knight frequents Carmine Falcone’s club, the Iceberg Lounge, full of mobsters, corrupt local officials, and drug-dealing waitresses.
Femme Fatale
Just as Batman is the ultimate noir antihero, Catwoman is the ultimate femme fatale. But the version of Catwoman played by Zoë Kravitz in The Batman is much more sympathetic and vulnerable than the average take on this well-worn archetype.
The femme fatales of film noirs – and traditional incarnations of Catwoman herself – usually turn out to be straightforward villains, but Kravitz’s Selina Kyle is an ally of the Bat’s who has a relatable motivation and a tragic backstory. She adheres to the trope but subverts the clichés.
Voiceover Narration
Voiceover narration has been heavily used throughout the film noir genre since the beginning. It’s either used to round out the lead character with telling internal monologues or to explain the plot more efficiently than visual storytelling could. Narration is often used to take the audience back to the start if the movie opens with the ending.
The Batman utilizes voiceover for the purpose of developing the character. Like Travis Bickle’s journals in Taxi Driver, The Batman’s narrated diary entries offer a glimpse into the vigilante’s darkening mindset.
Antihero
Film noirs rarely revolve around traditionally likable, ethical protagonists. The lead characters are usually private investigators with one foot on either side of the law. In this sense, Batman is the ultimate noir antihero. He’s a vigilante who takes the law into his own hands to clean up the streets of Gotham. His moral code has just two rules: no guns and no killing.
In The Batman, the titular antihero is despised by every cop in the city except for one. He spends the movie representing vengeance before realizing he inspires the crooks he’s trying to bring down and strikes fear into the innocent civilians he wants to protect, at which point he retools his image to become a symbol of hope for the people of Gotham.
