Page 66 - 2022-08-01 Sound & Vision

reviews in ultra high definition
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THE BATMAN
Batman movies keep evolving, changing and—surprisingly—ge ing be er with each reboot, in
one way or another. Director Tim Burton’s Batman relied heavily upon its extreme art deco design
to sweep away the goofiness of the Adam West TV incarnation, before that film series quickly
descended into its own absurdity. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy was the cure, finding
ways to make believable the exploits of a vigilante dressed as a
flying mouse fighting a clown and a scarecrow, owing in large
part to inspired casting choices. Although he never headlined
his own solo movie, Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader was a
highpoint of his recent DC Extended Universe team outings, but
now Robert Pa inson has donned the cowl and armor for a more
expressive, heart-on-his-cape take on the hometown hero. He’s
a deeply damaged man devoting his life and routinely risking it
on a lonely quest to protect his beloved Gotham City, and what a
city it is. Gotham is practically its own character, a fully realized
world teeming with unabashed criminals and a citizenry in dire
need of saving.
Director/co-writer Ma Reeves pays homage to a lot of other
movies here, perhaps none more so than David Fincher’s Se7en.
ULTRA HD BLU-RAY
Similar to his Oscar-winning approach to Dune, director of photog- STUDIO: Warner, 2022
raphy Greig Fraser shot the The Batman digitally and transferred it ASPECT RATIO: 2.39:1
to film, before switching back to digital to create the final master. HDR FORMAT: Dolby Vision, HDR10
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby Atmos with
The original capture was in pristine 4K or above, and in this case a
TrueHD 7.1 core
35mm interpositive was created, accentuating the golden/orange LENGTH: 176 mins.
hues and adding a layer of grain to further evoke the mood of DIRECTOR: Matt Reeves
crime thrillers past and to be er immerse us in the carefully cra ed STARRING: Robert Pattinson,
Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright,
environment. That grain structure is definitely visible, but subtly so,
Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, Andy Serkis
imparting subconscious grit.
Custom anamorphic lenses yield striking sharpness in the
center of the 2.39:1 frame, falling off at the edges, to really draw
your eye where they want you to look. Occasional text overlays
[
[
66 August September 2022 soundandvision.com
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or social media comments on the sides, meanwhile,
remain sufficiently clear. At times the style is almost
Hitchcockian in the way it uses the point of view of
disturbed individuals and manipulates focus in the
foreground and background. Sunlight is limited, with
much of the movie taking place at night and indoors,
and even daytime exteriors are o en rainy. Thankfully,
the shadows are full of appreciable detail, while the
darkness is pierced by headlights, streetlights, flash-
lights, and fire—all dramatically bright in Dolby Vision.
The Dolby Atmos mix is enveloping from the
opening moments and you can almost feel the
Riddler’s conspicuous breathing on the back of your
neck as he studies his prey. Later, when Selina radios
Batman, her voice is dispersed around the room
instead of being localized in one spot (Bat’s radio)—
an interesting but weird surround effect. Frequent
rainfall keeps your speakers active, creating a sense
of envelopment during outside scenes, though rain
is also heard indoors as a pa ering from above. The
soundtrack really comes alive through the thumping,
all-encompassing dance beats in a packed nightclub
and beefy rumble of the rocket-assisted Batmobile,
which is enough to make bad guys scurry, not to
mention the mighty explosions that rock the city. This
is an aggressive track that, unlike Batman, never pulls
its punches.
There are no extras on either the 4K or HD movie
discs, but a separate Blu-ray bonus pla er contains
two deleted scenes, the longer famously featuring
the Joker, a.k.a. “Unseen Arkham Prisoner,” both with
optional director commentary (but none for the movie
itself…?) There are also nine feature es, which dissect
the production in topic-specific fashion (start with my
favorite, “Anatomy of the Car Chase”), and an almost
hour-long documentary, Vengeance in the Making,
is particularly illuminating on the scripting process.
The scannable Movies Anywhere code unlocks a 4K
digital copy along with all of the supplements and an
additional behind-the-scenes clip.
The Batman on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray is an easy
recommendation, an extremely enjoyable entry in
the Caped Crusader’s long and varied canon, and a
demo-worthy disc to boot. O CHRIS CHIARELLA
Warner