Why This Scene In THE BATMAN Is PERFECT!

Ok, so The Batman has one of my favourite opening half hours in a comic book movie ever.

That’s some high praise and you only have to look at some of the opening scenes in The Dark Knight trilogy to know that Reeves had very some steep competition.

Christopher Nolan was an expert at introducing the villains and though Reeves does that brilliantly with the Riddler too, the scene in which he brings in his version of Batman is a whole nother level.

But why is it so captivating and what does the director do to give us the best introduction to Batman that we’ve ever had?

Well, that’s what we’re gonna be breaking down in this video so hold onto your batts, hit that thumbs up baton and make sure you subscribe for videos like this every day.

With that out the way, I’m your host Paul aka the guy who’s bat to the bone, now let’s get into the breakdown.

Gothams Criminal Night Life

Ok so after we watch the horrifying scene in which The Riddler murders the Mayor in his own home we cut to the cityscape of Gotham to see the cesspool that it’s devolved into. Criminals occupy every corner and we very much get the impression that they’ve used the night as a weapon for decades in order to terrorise the good people of the city.

Darkness clouds the entire landscape but this is cracked open by the bat signal which pierces the skyline. After Gordon activates it we see it cut through the clouds and hover over the landscape, standing as a beacon in the darkness. This is where we hear Bruce’s voice come over the top of the scene and here he introduces us to the city.

Narration is something that’s often used in films to set the tone and it’s a staple that’s appeared in several detective noir stories. Through it, we very much get Bruce’s inner thoughts and how he sees not only Gotham but also The Batman.

It’s a very effective technique and it was used expertly in Frank Millers Dark Knight Returns before he brought it over to Batman Year One. We even get a shot in the introduction where we catch Bruce in civilian clothes walking through a crowd of people and this is very much taken from Year One when he went out on his first night downtown.

In the movie it’s Halloween and we see that the streets are crowded with people in costumes as the rain beats down on them. The only person who doesn’t appear to be in one is Bruce who’s wearing just a cap, raincoat and a cloth to cover his face.

However, as we see throughout the film, Batman is the true face of Bruce with the public persona that he has, being somewhat of an afterthought. The man even says ‘f***k Bruce Wayne’ at one point and even when he goes to the funeral it’s clear he’s completely checked out and only in attendance because he thinks that The Riddler might be there.

He is very much the mask that Batman puts on to go out in the daylight and just in the same way that these people that surround Bruce all wear costumes, this is his costume too.

Bruce utters the line that he’s had two years of nights which has turned him into a nocturnal animal and when we later see him return to the cave, he’s very much a broken man. The Batman in this movie pretty much shows what happens when you have no work-life balance but this dedication to his job has also made him the most intimidating figure in the film. Bruce is very much like the Terminator throughout and I love how there are scenes in which he just slowly walks towards people because he knows there’s no escape for them. This is very much done to put the fear of God into his enemies and to let them know that no matter what, they can’t get away.

The guy will hunt you no matter what and he’s very much embodying what it’s like to be a nightmare. Horror movies for decades have had slow lumbering villains personified in the likes of Michael Myers, Jason and It Follows because there’s something far more intimidating about a shadow that moves towards you slowly because it doesn’t need to run or break a sweat. It knows it will get you and no matter how much effort you put into trying to escape, you’ve got no chance of outrunning it.

Expertly shown at the end of the car chase scene it’s a motif that is first brought up in this introduction, which we’ll talk about in just a bit.

Batman Through The Eyes of The Criminals

Now whereas in the past we’ve tended to see the streets through the eyes of the citizens and Batman himself, what Reeves does brilliantly here is that he shows us it through the eyes of the criminals. In this, we get several perspectives including a drop head who robs a convenience store, a group of vandals spray painting what I believe are the halls of justice and a gang that are about to initiate a new member into their ranks.

It’s clear Gotham is teetering on the edge of the abyss and in this darkness, something new has come forth.

Now there are several fakeouts in this scene and we see how the criminals very much live in fear that Batman is hiding in the shadows.

However, as he says, he isn’t hiding in the shadows, he is the shadows.

(I am weed)

Because of this, the criminals feel like he could be around every corner and he’s very much become a part of Gotham. It’s a big city and as Batman says, he can’t be everywhere, but the bat signal does a lot of the job for him as it plants the idea in criminals’ minds that he’s out there and that he could be coming for them.

(fear its a tool)

Now this line gives me chills and it shows how Batman has very much weaponised the Bat-signal to creep out criminals so that they fear committing crimes in case they run into the man known as Vengeance.

I love how we get several fake-out scenes such as the drop head who looks down the dark alleyway and stops what he’s doing. This is a guy who has just robbed a convenience store at gunpoint and in most instances, you’d think that a thief would want to head to the darkest place that they could in order to hide. They want a quick getaway which this would provide but he stops in his footsteps and decides not to do it just because Batman might be there.

It’s expert storytelling and it’s something that we can all relate to on some level.

I’m guessing all of us at one point in our lives have had to travel home at night and we’ve ended up going the long way round so that we don’t have to pass through a dark area. That alleyway or shortcut in the daytime might be well lit and easy to go through, but come night it takes on a life of its own and it’s the fear that something could be lurking down there that makes us stop what we’re doing and go the other way.

Now luckily for this guy, Batman isn’t there and we discover that he’s been stalking the gang. Watching them through a darkened train car he lets them go out onto the platform so that they can initiate their new member. Happy attacking the public they want him to beat someone up but their demeanour changes when they hear slow footsteps coming from the shadows.

Much like the ticking clock of the crocodile in Halloween or the revving of the Batmobile, later on, there’s something so intimidating about hearing someone coming before they appear. Your mind starts to race as you wonder what could be making the sound and it’s something that was used expertly in the Resident Evil 2 remake with Mr X.

Fear The Bat

As you moved through the RPD you could hear his footsteps pounding away and it let you know that he was out there, you just didn’t know where.

Matt Reeves clearly studied horror films in order to determine what elements make us the most afraid and it’s a stroke of genius to film a character so steeped in fear this way.

At this moment Batman slowly steps out of the shadows and it’s a moment that had people in theatres doing this.

Now at this point, Batman does what you should do if you ever go to prison and that is to beat up the leader.

He completely and brutally kicks the crap out of the gang’s boss and much like a prison lets everyone know.

• I’m not in here with you, you’re in here with me.

It’s an incredible move and from this point on Batman completely annihilates the gang. He leaves the new recruit and due to this, it’s likely that he’ll ever turn to a life of crime again. Now this actor actually plays Robin in Teen Titans and I think he’d also make for a great one in the future of this franchise, that is if the Mayor’s son doesn’t take the spot.

Getting off-topic there a bit but the idea that Batman is vengeance is first introduced in this scene too and it’s something worth talking about. After the death of his parents, he was very much on a quest for revenge throughout the city and inadvertently we learn that this inspired The Riddler and his goons. Bruce bumps into one at the funeral for the mayor and later when he’s unmasked he says the same thing.

This scene very much sets the arc that The Batman goes on and there are several parallels between himself and The Riddler. The movie opens with Edward spying on the Mayor through binoculars and Bruce later does this with Selina in her apartment.

The two are both going after the corrupt forces of Gotham and they of course wear masks.

If you place the Batman and Riddler one side by side you can even see that the nose pieces are very similar and all this has been done early on so we can see how they mirror each other.

It’s expert filmmaking and it all comes together from this introduction to show us the effect that The Batman has on the city so that we can see how this fear might end up having a negative effect.

All in all, I absolutely love this opening scene and it’s something that can be watched on its own without any context surrounding it to show you why The Batman is such a highly loved character.

I hope you enjoyed our breakdown of it and always remember…

(I am weed)