Fresh out of its theatrical release and its consequent home video debut, The Batman, the massive movie directed by Matt Reeves and dedicated to the man-to-bat with Robert Pattinson, has been a hit. While it will mainly remember DC comics, the movie doesn’t seem to be free of video game “influences”, particularly regarding the Rocksteady experience with the Batman Arkham tetralogy.
Let’s see to what extent video games and cinema manage to meet in the current media landscape that is increasingly hybridizing. Batman and Arkham series.
Fear as a weapon
Batman brought a different Bruce Wayne to the big screen; younger, thin, dark and lonely. Regardless, without spoilers (and because they’re unnecessary for the analysis we want to achieve), the Gotham City billionaire we’ve all known over the years is more nuanced, almost implied, overshadowed. closed and mysterious personalitypreferring the shadow of his gothic abode to the spotlight. It’s the opposite of what was Rocksteady’s Batman. Enormous, almost caricatured (comics, after all), Bruce Wayne of the Arkham series is widely involved in the socio-political life of the metropolis and does not disdain the public appearances he makes without too much trouble.
Two Batmans in Antipodes, therefore, those of the movie and video game franchise. It seems that, at least, until the fourth chapter of Rocksteady’s tetralogy, Arkham Knight, stepped in. Here we see a greater focus on Batman and not so much on Bruce’s “mask”, which appears more vulnerable than in the past, who is forced to wear an armored suit to be able to undo the true crime apocalypse that has hit Gotham City. The Roads, as always, begin to unite with Batman, two “humans” who seem to lack any superpowers (other than the Wayne family’s financial legacy) to help them deal with the evil that lurks in the city streets.
A characteristic feature of the human-bat character is its image. It’s the only repellent he has to eliminate crime in Gotham, because Batman knows how much an icon can affect other individuals’ perceptions of reality. The mask is not used to hide his identity from others: the mask is his face and her face is fear. A belief that unites many (but not only) characters that roam Gotham, from the Scarecrow to the Joker; an element that unites the vigilante with his mad rivals and places him on a plane that constantly oscillates between light and darkness.
This aspect emerges very strongly from the two interpretations of the character given by the team of Matt Reeves on the one hand and Rocksteady on the other. In the first case, the opening minutes of the film are illuminating (and those that will likely crystallize more effectively in the collective memory), while in the second, the theme becomes more apparent, although it was not in the previous three chapters of the saga. In the center of Arkham Knight, he explodes with all his might during the “secret” ending.
Like the icon idea constant fear It’s a recurring theme, yes, but it can also be traced back to the comics. Therefore, it is not exactly known how much the two narrative universes might have talked to each other, moreover, the two narratives remain largely closed on different themes and genres: on the one hand, it is almost difficult if we have a dark scene of the forties- On the other hand, with some investigative dynamics, but open and we find a rather limited atmosphere of “urban fanta-guerrilla” more appropriate than the very prominent role played by highly “pyrotechnic” conflict. a large number of elements that affect the overall realism, strongly supported by cinematographic experimentation). Maybe they didn’t even touch each other, but in this chaos of media encounters and clashes, it is unlikely that such similar products did not affect each other.
Brutality and broken bones
An association that came to mind almost to many was one of them. fight scenes Free-flowing rhythm battles from the Batman and Arkham series. The raw, mature impulse that Reeves put into his movie was evident from the very first trailers. Pattinson’s Batman is brutal; It does not stand still in the face of danger and advances like an armored vehicle, no matter how much pain it endures, even against heavily-armed enemies. This feature is directly related to what has been said about fear, because its unrelenting visibility, marked by its relentless moderate pace, increases the level of terror felt by its opponents. It’s somewhat similar to what happened in Arkham Knight, one of the last examples of a game where the standard movement speed is walking, where the immediacy of running and the intensity of variable movement are reinvented only through incline. left analog.
In addition to the armor (in this case, much more avant-garde than in the movie) and the possibility of a relatively thoughtful and calm approach, such as a cleverly tuned “death” machine, the game completes this free-flowing affirmation analogy. this has captivated the gaming market for several years.
This approach to the combat system consists of a fluidity of movement that needs to be easily coupled with attacks, counterattacks, dodges, and final or shock blows (if properly developed if their respective skills are properly developed) to increase one’s combo level and effectiveness during combat. Trees). Not just. The peculiarity of free flow lies precisely in the large number of enemies waiting their turn to (most of the time) hit the player.
Hence, many enemies blocked during the highly dynamic battle that alternates between counterattacks and environmental eliminations. If we then add the brutality and savagery It’s impossible not to draw parallels between the fights of the Arkham series and The Batman’s, in combat where enemies are not simply knocked out with a well-placed punch, requiring concussions and displaced shards to fall to the ground.
We don’t know how and to what extent Batman was influenced by Rocksteady’s Arkham franchise. That’s because the video game isn’t the only tool that comes into play in creating a piece like Matt Reeves composed. In fact, we cannot leave aside the movies, TV series, animation productions and above all, countless comics, which constitute the theoretical and practical integrity of the visual representation of a simulacrum(s) object like Batman. However, we cannot deny even a priori an encounter with the world of video games, although it is an integral and in its own way fundamental part of the figurative construction of the human bat in terms of a globally recognized social structure. The mask is first and foremost a symbol. And an icon can speak a universal language. In its stability, it is extremely malleable.
We hope this little special Batman and Arkham series encouraged you to share your results on this subject with us. We look forward to seeing you in the comments.
Source: Multiplayer
