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nathanb-martin
Reviews
The Batman (2022)
I Relate To This
This review will contain spoilers. The first paragraph will not contain spoilers, but the second paragraph will.
I have heard this movie be described as a coming-of-age movie. This is a common direction for a lot of movies to go, and most involve embracing the trials of life and adopting responsibility. Coming-of-age stories tend to be comedic and light-hearted, but there is room to explore darker elements within the genre. This can be true especially when a younger individual starts out into the world and encounters evil and injustice. The question arises as to how our protagonist will confront evil. Will our protagonist make light of the darkness around them, or will the darkness dim the light within the protagonist? What better character to explore such themes than Batman? In this movie, Batman is in his second year of crime fighting. His lifestyle is not conducive to living two lives, so his persona of Bruce Wayne has fallen by the wayside. He wants to be Batman and feels that that is his only way to deal with the problems within Gotham. It is also clear that he is still new at this, and has not found how to balance his two identities. The most common complaint I have heard for this movie is Robert Pattinson's portrayal of Bruce Wayne. While I do understand the complaints, I can't help but love the direction Matt Reeves is taking the character. I think having Bruce Wayne be a reclusive and distant figure makes so much sense for a man who has suffered as much as he has and is juggling two different identities. While Pattinson's portrayal of Wayne is a topic of controversy, I have not heard one negative review of his portrayal of Batman. Pattinson is my favorite actor to have donned the Batsuit thus far. He conveys so much emotion even under the cowl. This version of Batman is a man torn by rage, revenge, and brutality. One interesting aspect of Battinson is the detective element in this film. While there are some very good fight scenes in this movie, Batman spends most of the movie solving Ridlers puzzles and trying to get one step ahead before more people are killed. But when push comes to shove, Battinson doesn't shove back. He knocks whoever is in front of him down and punches them into the ground. All of the casting was very well done. Some people took issue with the choice for Falcone, but I thought the actor played the role exceptionally well. I think the other major complaint I heard about this movie was the third act. I struggled more with the second act than I did with the third. The middle of the movie mostly involves trying to decipher the Riddler's clues, but it detours kind of drastically into the gangs of Gotham. Falcone and the Penguin are sprinkled perfectly throughout the first act. But the second act shifts focus from the Riddler onto the two gangsters. It is essential to the case, but broke a little bit of the pacing to me. But by the third act, focus reverts back to the Riddler and leads into a conclusion worthy of such an epic movie. If I had any complaints with this film, it would be a couple of corny lines and a messy second act. But none of it was bad enough to break my immersion with the film.
Now into the spoilers. Even here I will not reveal much about the movie, as I want everyone to see this film with an unspoiled mindset. Honestly, there is so much I want to say about this masterpiece of a film, but it would take too long. Bottom line, you should watch it. But what I really want to delve into is the coming-of-age in this film. Whether or not you were sheltered your whole childhood or you faced the cruelty of life at an earlier age, it doesn't matter. At some point we all emerge at the same crossroad in life. We start out into a new world as an adult. Regardless of background, we all come to the point where we encounter evil and injustice in life. A lot of people turn angry and bitter. Others see the good through it and press on. Others give up. Batman in most films has endured the evil before him and represents hope. This Batman does not start off that way. This Batman has taken to an outlet of beating criminals bloody for what was done to him as a child. He is not a figure of hope. He terrifies the people he saves as much as the criminals he stops. When asked who he is, he responds "I'm vengeance". However, after the final battle is fought, Batman asks a criminal who he is. This criminal responds with "I'm vengeance". This is a surreal moment for Batman as he finally sees that there is no difference between him and the criminals he fights. Both act outside of the law and seek to do harm to those seen as deserving. The movie even portrays how the Riddler and Batman were not that different. Both experienced trauma in childhood. Both choose to change Gotham as a result. While Riddler is obviously more drastic in his means, Batman still straddles a thin line. He fights criminals as a self serving means for revenge. It's not really for the greater good of the city. Batman's main tool for this is fear, just like the Riddler. But once Batman realizes this, there is a powerful scene where Batman holds up a flare to the citizens trapped in the flood and leads them to a safer spot. Batman realized that making change did not just include using his fists, he had to represent the good in humanity. I believe that is a powerful message. I really look forward to see where Reeves takes the characters of Batman and Wayne. There is a subtle line hinting that Wayne may be a public figure in future films. I think this would be a great step for the character to go from an uncaring recluse to someone in the public actively trying to make the city better.
Why this topic? Long story short, I battle with bad health and a lot of pain as a result. Sadly, this pain hit me as I was emerging into the world as an adult and it shaped the way I viewed life. I became angry, bitter, and uncaring. I will not say that I have fully recovered from being in such a mental state, but I am improving. There is pain and suffering in life, but what will you do with it when you face it? This movie illustrates how such things can turn a person into something ugly, but it also shows how that person can change and work towards putting good back into the world. You don't have to wear a cape to do this. Choosing not to let suffering sour you can change the world around you. But if it has soured you, it is never too late to emerge from the darkness you feel trapped in and help lead others behind you.
Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018)
Unbroken by the Overly Critical
What makes a great film based on a true story? In my opinion, the film is great if it follows the actual story and doesn't deviate from the course that someone actually lived. Louis Zamperini is a man whose story shaped much of my teenage years and continues to influence the man I am becoming. I learned a lot of lessons from his stories. That nothing in life is ever too hard to overcome. That resiliency, faith, courage, and strength can get you through anything. That forgiveness can set you free from a dark past. And above all else, God is in control of everything and uses everything for our good, yes, even our pain. I know that not everyone believes in God, and many reject His existence. But the story Unbroken is incomplete without God in it. I, like so many others, felt empty after the first Unbroken film in 2014. While the movie was mostly accurate, it left out so many important details. The last half of Zamperini's story is summed up in a sad two sentences at the end of the film and God was swept under the rug. So once again, I like so many others felt utterly relieved when it was announced that a sequel was in the works to finish the story. I am proud to say that this movie exceeded my expectations and finished a story that much needed to be told. While what happened to Zamperini in the war was a terrible and unforgettable story, his time after the war was much darker. Louis Zamperini went from being a man unable to be broken by his captors to a survivor haunted by nightmares that leave him reduced to an alcoholic. But it is such a beautiful moment both in the book and in the movie to see Louis lay all his burdens down at the alter and become an entirely different man, free from all his pain. Again, I know that not everyone believes in God, but it was undoubtedly God that freed Louis from his own war. You cannot remove God and faith from this story and have a good movie. I feel that this movie did justice to Zamperini and his legacy.
Arrival (2016)
The Beauty of Human Life
Arrival is one of the most brilliantly written films that I have ever seen. When I initially saw the trailer for this film, I assumed that it would be a pointless sci-fi movie about aliens invading Earth, humanity's struggle for survival, and the realization that we are not alone in the universe. However, I found that Arrival actually focuses more on the beauty of human life than it does on the struggle to communicate with aliens. The writer of Arrival did a beautiful job of making the audience believe that Louise was currently suffering from the loss of her daughter when the movie began. But it is not until the end of the movie that viewers realize that Louise's daughter has not even been born yet. I have not had a movie surprise me in a long time as much as Arrival has. At the end of the movie, Louise is given the ability to see into future. Because of this, she foresees that she and Ian fall in love and have a baby girl together. But Louise also sees that their daughter, Hannah would die of cancer, and Ian would end up leaving her from grief. In the last moments of the movie, Louise is faced with the question of having Hannah, knowing that Hannah would ultimately die from cancer, or finding a way to not have Hannah and spare herself from future pain. Louise asks Ian, "If you could see your whole life ahead of you, would you change things?" Ian replied, "Maybe I'd say what I felt more often." The movie leads you to believe that Louise decides to have Hannah, even though she knows that Hannah will be taken from her. This is what is so beautiful about this movie to me. Life is short and busy. We as humans become consumed by work and stress and we take the time we have with one another for granted. We do not know when death will part us from loved ones. But Louise is given the gift/curse of seeing the future and knowing the pain she will endure by losing her daughter. But because of what she knows is coming, she is able to make the most of the short time she has with Hannah. She saw her daughter was worth having even if she could only hold her for a short time. The beauty of human life is that it is short. But with the time we have we can hold the ones we love. We feel pain, excitement, sadness, loss, remorse, happiness, longing, and joy. These are all things that make us alive. The tragedy of human life is that we miss all these things and we wish our lives away until one day we look back and realize that we didn't make the most of the time we had.