Channel: ScreenCrush

Category: Film & Animation

Tags: heavy spoilers batmaneaster eggsthe batman easter eggsemergency awesome batmannew rockstars batmanbatman influencesmatt reeves interview

Description: The Batman brilliantly blends several genres and eras of film into a single superhero movie. Much like the Batman himself blends several different myths and genres into one hero. In this video we break down all the films that influenced Matt reeves and the creative team: From The Maltese Falcon, to the French Connection, Chinatown, Zodiac, and more. If you're new, Subscribe! → bit.ly/subscribe-screencrush Go here → screencrush.com Like us → facebook.com/ScreenCrush Follow us → twitter.com/screencrushnews Get our newsletter → screencrush.com/newsletter Written and Hosted by Ryan Arey (twitter.com/ryanarey) Research by Srinidhi Rao Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright, Sean Martin, and Randolf Nombrado Channels Cited: The Ringer - youtube.com/watch?v=48JPzRkgu64 Entertainmentle - youtube.com/watch?v=Ml57r_P7prI Reel Blend Podcast - youtube.com/watch?v=7LhLCXY2pdo 0:00 Batman's Many Mythological Fathers 1:42 Setting and Style - Dirty Harry 3:10 Film and Neo Noir 5:10 The French Connection & Penguin Chase 7:22 Hitchcock POV Shots 8:28 30s Crime Movies, Scarface 9:23 Brian DePalma and Clint Eastwood 9:57 Chinatown 10:51 All The President's Men 11:39 Zodiac 12:35 90s Serial Killer Films, Manhunter 13:47 Se7en 14:49 Penguin and the Godfather 15:34 Batman = Kurt Cobain, Maltese Falcon 17:39 Selina Kyle and Klute 18:39 Taxi Driver #TheBatman #CinematicInfluences #EasterEggs Batman is maybe the most popular comic book character of all time, and he resonates with people for several reasons. He’s dark, he’s cool, the gadgets. But I’ve always been fascinated with how Batman is an amalgam of thousands of years worth of stories and myths. His spiritual ancestor is Odysseus, the hero of the Trojan war who was not blessed with the powers of the gods–but instead, was a man skilled in all means of contending–like the Batman. He also has elements of Hades, because he lives underground, he’s an animal totem–and tribes have worshiped animal toms for thousands of years. You add in a bit of Dracula, pulp heroes like Zorro, and a relatable origin that resonates with a 20th century America that was terrorized by organized crime Now the new movie, THE Batman, also does a brilliant job of combining elements from older movies, to create something both familiar and new We call that the Star Wars trick.The Batman combines the genres of film noir, neo-noir, horror, thrillers, mystery, gangster, silent films–and puts this all into the framework of a modern day, superhero blockbuster. At DC Fandome in 2020, writer-director Matt Reeves mentioned a few inspirations from others films, citing Chinatown and mystery thrillers. But now that we’ve seen the movie, we can go through and cite homages to some of the greatest films of all time. Some of these you may have seen–some you haven’t–but warning–there will be spoilers ahead. For me, the element that makes this Batman film stand apart from any other superhero film is the setting and tone. Most superhero movies are set in New York–even Superman’s metropolis was obviously New York. Tim Burton reimagined a Gotham ripped straight from the funny papers, littered with looming towers and decaying cathedrals. While Joel Schumacher reimagined Gotham as a bizarre cartoon filled with enormous statues you could drive your car onto. And Nolan’s Gotham was Chicago. Whereas Matt Reeves filmed on location in several cities like London, Glasgow, New York, Chicago–to give his Gotham City a lived-in feel. More than any other setting in a comic book movie, this Gotham feels real to me. It feels alive. Sam Raimi’s New York was a brightly colored pop experience, inhabited by citizens with a heart of Gold. But Reeves’ Gotham owes way more to the crime films of the 1970s and the genre neo-noir. You’ve probably heard of film noir. That’s the 1930s genre of the hard boiled detective on the outskirts of society–it’s been parodied countless times. There was a revival of film noir after world war 2 called neo noir, which was…very much like film noir, but shot way better. In the 1970s neo-noir detective films became famous for this rough aesthetic. For decades, crime movies were filmed in controlled environments, often on set, with precise lighting. In the 70s, directors used lighter cameras to take to the streets and take advantage of shooting on location in New York. Which was, in the 1970s, considered to be something of.. So these 70s crime and neo-noir films felt tactile–they felt real. Like you could be pushing your baby in a stroller and suddenly your life's in danger by a rogue cop who plays by his own rules. Batman opens the movie with narration, which we later see is his journal. This immediately calls to mind the journal of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.