Not a chance. I think Matt Reeves is a pretty flat, uninteresting director. His films tend to be unengaging.

Say what you like about Nolan's Batman films but you can't deny the guy has his own unique vision.

Don't know but it's going to be interesting watching the fall out.

I was never that bothered by the Nolan films (thought Begins was ok, Dark Knight good but nothing amazing / over-hyped, Rises pretty poor) but there's no denying they have a huge fan base.

And now that generation of fans is having to deal with one of the emo tweeny baiting Twilight kids coming along ruin their childhood!

I think it could well play out like the Star Wars OT fans' hatred of the prequels.

@JustinJackFlash said:

Not a chance. I think Matt Reeves is a pretty flat, uninteresting director. His films tend to be unengaging.

Say what you like about Nolan's Batman films but you can't deny the guy has his own unique vision.

Disagree with Matt Reeves being a flat director. His work on the planet of the apes films was great.

@Nygma-0999 said:

just curious

The thing is it doesn't have to. Rather than concerning themselves with topping it they need to focus on making the best movie they can. If they focus on doing new things with the character and make a good film they will be in great shape. That being said I do think there are areas they can improve on. I say this and I'm a huge Nolan fan.

@Tectash said:

@JustinJackFlash said:

Not a chance. I think Matt Reeves is a pretty flat, uninteresting director. His films tend to be unengaging.

Say what you like about Nolan's Batman films but you can't deny the guy has his own unique vision.

Disagree with Matt Reeves being a flat director. His work on the planet of the apes films was great.

Thought Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was ok but the human characters were very undeveloped and felt like they were just there to move certain elements of the plot along. Thus I found them unengaging. I did really like War though. Probably because it focused more on the apes. But I found both films inferior to Rise which wasn't directed by him.

If you look at his Apes films though, despite whether you enjoy them or not, there is very little individuality to them. Not much of a unique style.

Cloverfield was technically impressive. I think it was a good film. But I felt distanced from it. Again possibly because the human characters were just very vacuous.

Let Me In was ok but was an unnecessary and inferior remake. Again it lacked an auteurish stamp that the original had in abundance.

I just found that (other than War for the Planet of the Apes) I've never been absorbed by one of his films. And I wish he wasn't directing The Batman. As Mecha referenced above, Darren Aronofsky would have been a superb choice.

Funny I guess we are on the opposite ends of the spectrum on the apes films. I find Dawn and War to be superior to Rise. I found the acting, cinematography and casting to be way more inspired in the two sequels. Rupert Wyatt the director of Rise has done nothing but mediocre movies outside of that. Matt Reeves has done several good films outside of Apes. Let Me in while not as good as the original I felt was still a good film.

I guess I do not get your point about not having a unique style. Animation as well as cinematography for his apes films are pristine.

Darren Aronofsky is a talented film maker but to be honest there are a few of his films I do not like. I also do not see him doing multiple installments, he does not seem like that type of director to me. He also at times to me feels like he is trying so hard to be artsy that there is a disconnect. I get it you can make cool visuals and symbolize things, that does not always make things engaging. I prefer Matt Reeves because he isn't as overly pretentious. I for one think this film looks promising. I felt his apes films completed the story and made for one fine trilogy. I think he is a perfect fit to direct Batman.

@Tectash said:

Funny I guess we are on the opposite ends of the spectrum on the apes films. I find Dawn and War to be superior to Rise. I found the acting, cinematography and casting to be way more inspired in the two sequels. Rupert Wyatt the director of Rise has done nothing but mediocre movies outside of that. Matt Reeves has done several good films outside of Apes. Let Me in while not as good as the original I felt was still a good film.

Well we can't all agree. And for some reason Reeves films rarely seem to click for me. Rupert Wyatt did do The Escapist. Which was critically acclaimed and well regarded even though I didn't actually like it much myself.

I guess I do not get your point about not having a unique style. Animation as well as cinematography for his apes films are pristine.

Yeah, both are good but I think you can have good cinematography and not have a unique style while I attribute the excellent animation more to the special effects team than the director. When I say unique style I mean like Tim Burton has. You can see the German Expressionism in his films. Robert Altman used wide distanced shots or Nolan uses fractured narratives and muted colours. Reeves doesn't have to use the same style in every film but just some indication that creative choices are made or that the language of cinema is experimented with in some way will make him more memorable as a filmmaker.

Darren Aronofsky is a talented film maker but to be honest there are a few of his films I do not like. I also do not see him doing multiple installments, he does not seem like that type of director to me. He also at times to me feels like he is trying so hard to be artsy that there is a disconnect. I get it you can make cool visuals and symbolize things, that does not always make things engaging. I prefer Matt Reeves because he isn't as overly pretentious. I for one think this film looks promising. I felt his apes films completed the story and made for one fine trilogy. I think he is a perfect fit to direct Batman.

I do agree the film looks fairly good from the trailer and I see more in the way of stylistic choices than I'm used to from Reeves. And it may turn out well, but I still would be a lot more excited if I knew someone like Aronofsky was doing it.

I love Darren Aronofsky but the idea of him making a Batman film makes me laugh as much as considering what a Wes Anderson Batman film would look like.

@mechajutaro said:

Jim Gordon being played by Jefferey Wright(phenomenal actor, who's been slumming it in recent roles), and Bruce Wayne/Batman looking less like a human weapon and more like a newly dried-out dope fiend may be the closest we ever get to Aronofsky's version of Year One. Which re-imagined Alfred as tattooed, and muscle-bound mechanic who's was barely above the poverty line, taking in a recently orphaned Bruce Wayne. Nope; I'm not kidding, for once. The script for this project is still laying around the web somewhere. Go see for yourselves

I just had a browse at other people's responses to it and they don't sound too enthusiastic actually. They say it re-imagines Bruce Wayne as a poor person who's lost his fortune and it deviates a lot from the Batman mythos. I'll probably give it a read out of curiosity.

I'd imagine that would have more chance of success and being interesting if it was released today rather than back then. Seen as we've now seen so many versions of Batman on screen people would probably be more open to a more alternate dimension version of him.

@Midi-chlorian_Count said:

I love Darren Aronofsky but the idea of him making a Batman film makes me laugh as much as considering what a Wes Anderson Batman film would look like.

Is it... weird that I'd watch that too?

Ha ha - I just started imaging it after I'd written that!

A long side on cut out of Wayne Manor. Extreme close up of Bruce staring at some Thomas and Martha portraits. Tracking shot of Bruce walking horizontally across the room into a cupboard and sliding down a pole to the Batcave. A cross armed, angry looking Dick Grayson awaits.

I think it'd be an absolute certainty that Wes Anderson's Batman would also feature the return of cravats for Bruce and Dick.

@Midi-chlorian_Count said:

Ha ha - I just started imaging it after I'd written that!

A long side on cut out of Wayne Manor. Extreme close up of Bruce staring at some Thomas and Martha portraits. Tracking shot of Bruce walking horizontally across the room into a cupboard and sliding down a pole to the Batcave. A cross armed, angry looking Dick Grayson awaits.

I think it'd be an absolute certainty that Wes Anderson's Batman would also feature the return of cravats for Bruce and Dick.

That sounds great. We don't even need Wes Anderson. I think you should go ahead and make that.

@mechajutaro said:

@Midi-chlorian_Count said:

I love Darren Aronofsky but the idea of him making a Batman film makes me laugh as much as considering what a Wes Anderson Batman film would look like.

Imagine Takashi Miike making a Dark Knight story

Or Lars Von Trier?

To be fair they're going through so many incarnations so quickly that they'll get around to all these directors eventually. Hell, I bet everyone on this board will get a turn at some point. I'm just gonna take a wild guess that you're version will have lots of boobs in it.

For some reason I dont think it will be.

It turned out to be at least as good as them IMO.

The Batman (2022) - 8 outta 10 stars