Story Structure Breakdown: The Batman (2022)

Time for another breaking down structure today with the remarkably incredible The Batman which, so far, is my favorite film of 2022. I don’t always do newer releases, but I wanted to flip the script this time because I was truly blown away with how exceptional this movie is. Matt Reeves dark and grounded approach was such a breath of much needed air to the mega popular superhero genre. Plus I just bought on it 4k blu ray and have been watching it repeatedly. So let’s BAT-punch this structure breakdown in the nads and get started.

Film: The Batman Director: Matt Reeves Year: 2022 Length: 2 hr 56 min.

ACT ONE

1. The Introduction

Open on a big red THE BATMAN title over the classical song Ava Maria. We’re in someone’s point of view, heavy breathing. They’re watching the mayor of Gotham, Don who-cares-is-about-to-die, through binoculars. The tv gives us some exposition about the Mayor’s re-election campaign being tested by younger opponent, Bella Real. Our spy breaks in through the skylight, lurking in the shadows, then knocks the mayor out with a carpet tool. The attacker, who we soon learn is The Riddler, wears a creepy mask, seemingly enjoying the process of ripping off pieces of duct tape for tying up the mayor.

CUT TO: Gotham City, permanently blanketed in rain and the stench of crime. It’s Halloween, a lone figure weaves through the crowd, unnoticed. A crudly made signal projects the BAT SYMBOL in the night sky as a warning to all criminals. “Thursday, October 31st…” we hear the voice over of Batman/Bruce Wayne, the first for any Batman movie. Criminals all over Gotham grow wary upon seeing the Bat Signal. A “drop head” mask wearing robber who just held up a store stares down a dark alley, wondering who, or what, is down there. A group of Joker-looking thugs jump an Asian passenger on the platform, then — a noise from the darkness. The thugs turn to the sound of ominous footsteps. The Batman emerges from complete blackness, then kicks all their butts with a ferocity we haven’t seen before from the Caped Crusader, beating each of them like it’s personal. Batman stares up at the BAT SYMBOL, almost as if wishing it wasn’t there, as if what he feels he has to do wasn’t necessary. This is the world of The Batman: it’s gritty, it’s dark, and unflinchingly violent.

2. The Incident

Batman arrives at the Mayor’s crime screen with Detective Jim Gordon, the only clean cop in Gotham. All the other police on the scene regard Batman with either fear, or as a freak. Officer Martinez, a particularly brazen cop, tries to stop Batman from entering, but Gordon tells him to let him through. They work the scene, Batman scans his surroundings like a Terminator, seeing evidence others don’t. The other Detective on the scene shows Gordon a Cypher code and a letter addressed specifically to the Batman. Commissioner Savage barges onto the scene, pissed at Gordon and demands Batman leave immediately, even dropping the first “f bomb” in any Batman flick. Before he leaves Batman learns from Gordon that the Mayor’s son found his dad’s body, mirroring Bruce witnessing his parents murder as a child, which has never gotten over. Cue Nirvana’s “Something In The Way” as we follow Bruce on his motorcycle back to the Bat Cave.

3. The Exposition

Bruce is back at his “Bat lair” going over the crime scene footage he secretly recorded with special contact lenses. The news on tv plays a report of the Mayor’s murder, then mentions how that exact date is the 20 year anniversary of Bruce’s parents murder. He prints off a copy of the cypher be took a picture of with his special contacts. Alfred comes down in the elevator, seeing the same footage and helping him figure some of it out. They have an argument that reveals a lot of exposition about their history, with Bruce even going as far as saying to Alfred “You’re not my father.” Ouch. Alfred tells him to get ready for an investor meeting at the house. “Here?” Bruce never wants to go to the Wayne office or have meetings, he doesn’t care about all that work stuff. “What I’m doing is my family’s legacy.”

4. The Obstacles

Alfred cracks the Cypher code Riddler left at the scene, leading Batman and Gordon to find a literal “thumb drive” in the Mayor’s car. They open the drive on a laptop, which contains images of the Mayor outside the Iceberg lounge with a young woman. Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin is also in the pics, giving Batman his first lead. The drive automatically emails the pics to the news media, preventing Gordon from keeping the case under wraps. Batman arrives at the Iceberg Lounge to talk to Penguin, he literally fights his way inside where he gets that meeting.

ACT TWO

5. The New World

At exactly 30:00 minutes, while Penguin studies the pictures of the Mayor and the girl, Selina Kyle comes into the room with some drinks. Her and Batman both freeze at the sight of each other, before she leaves some drinks and makes a drug exchange. She pauses for a second when she sees the picture of the Mayor with the mysterious girl. Batman catches this, then she catches him catching her. Another lead. He finds himself immediately attracted to her in a way he’s never felt before.

Bruce spies on Selina at her apartment, learning that she’s friends with the girl, Annika, from the photos. He follows her to the Mayor’s where she cracks open a safe to get Annika’s passport back. After a short tussle Selina tells him the real deal about what’s really happening. They go back to her apartment to find it a mess and her friend gone. The news plays a new video sent by the Riddler of him about to kill Commissioner Savage with some twisted, SAW-like head cage with rats in it. Riddler be a lil cray-cray.

6. The Journey Begins

Batman’s with Gordon at the morgue looking over Commissioner Savage’s corpse for clues. Searching the bizarre cage/head maze, Batman finds another letter addressed to him. “Find the rat, bring them into the light.” The Riddler is playing a game and taking Batman along with him. He uses Selina to spy inside the 40 Below, the secret club underneath the Iceberg Lounge. She wears the special recording contacts with Batman’s speaking to her via an ear mic. He sees through her eyes men staring at her like a piece of meat and people doing drops, until district attorney Gil Colson eyes her and invites her over to his table. He let’s a little too much info out about the Riddler case, then one of the girls there let’s something slip out about Annika. Selina tries to prod the girl for more info but gets interrupted by Penguin and Carmine Falcone, who has little chat with Selina. Feeling jealousy, for what could be the first time ever for the reclusive bachelor, Batman doesn’t like the relationship she appears to have with Falcone and gives her shit about it. Annoyed, she takes out her contacts. Outside she rejects Colson’s offer for a ride and takes a cab. Colson goes to his own car, only to be attacked by Riddler who was hiding in the back seat.

7. The Plan

Bruce attends the Mayor’s very public funeral in hopes that the Riddler may not be able to resist making an appearance. Bruce and mob boss Carmine Falcone have a short exchange where we learn that Bruce’s dad once helped Falcone when he was shot. Falcone remembers seeing young Bruce’s face watching them from the stairs. Bruce’s hunch was right and Riddler shows up, though his face can’t be seen. Colson’s car crashes through the funeral, he tumbles out with a bomb around his neck.

CUT TO: Police and SWAT as Batman arrives, the Riddler calls him via the phone taped to Colson’s hand and threatens to detonate the bomb if Colson can’t answer three riddles. Batman helps Colson answer the first two, then he refuses to answer the last question about who’s the rat that gave GCPD the information that led to the historic drug bust ending mobster Salvatore Maroni’s operation. The bomb goes off and Colson dies. Batman wakes up in a GCPD jail surrounded by cops itching for a crack at him. Gordon holds them back, helping Batman escape via a wing suit after gliding off the roof. He and Gordon meet and deduce that the informant may be the Penguin and track him to a drug deal. They discover that Maroni’s operation transferred to Falcone, with many corrupt GCPD officers involved. Selena inadvertently exposes them when she arrives to steal money and discovers Annika’s corpse in a car trunk. After a really awesome car chase, Batman captures the Penguin but learns he is not the informant after interrogating him. Through misinterpreting Riddler’s earlier cyphers, Batman is able to crack the code and chat with Riddler on Gordon’s laptop.

Batman and Gordon follow the Riddler’s clue to the ruins of an orphanage funded by Bruce’s murdered parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, where they learn from a video already playing that the Riddler holds a grudge against the Wayne family. Bruce is his next target. Alfred is hospitalized after opening a letter bomb Riddler sent to Bruce. MAJOR MID-POINT SHIFT.

8. The Midpoint

Bruce begins to obsessively try to figure out how all these clues tie together. Selina reaches out to him and they meet at his and Gordon’s usual spot on the roof. Bruce can’t hide his jealousy of her relationship with Falcone, mistakenly assuming it was romantic. He has a school boy crush on her, mentally stuck in that same place he was when his parents died. But then Selena floors Batman with the revelation that Falcone is her Father. A tender moment between them, Bruce apologizes. Riddler leaks to the press evidence that Thomas, who was running for mayor before he was murdered, hired Falcone to kill a journalist for threatening to reveal details about Martha and her family’s history of mental illness.

Bruce visits Falcone to ask about the truth about his father hiring him to kill the journalist. Falcone tries to convince him that his crime boss competition, Salvatore Maroni, had them killed. He visits Alfred in the hospital, confronting him about the truth of who actually killed his parents. Alfred believes it was Falcone, but he still isn’t sure. He maintains that Thomas only asked Falcone to threaten the journalist and Thomas was going to turn himself and Falcone over to the police once he found out he murdered the journalist. Bruce pours his heart out to him about the fear of losing another loved one. They have a moment of reconciliation before Bruce sees the Bat symbol in the sky.

9. The New Plan

Batman and Gordon arrive on the roof to find Selina beating on dirty cop, William Kenzie, where she plays them an audio recording of Falcone strangling Annika because she knows he’s the informant. Kenzie spills his guts on the Renewal plan that Bruce’s father created and how it’s been used by every corrupt figure in Gotham. Falcone is the rat and has had the GCPD in his pocket for the last twenty years. Selina kicks the tied up Kenzie off the roof then escapes to kill Falcone at the Iceberg Lounge.

As she’s talking to Falcone, crying as a misdirection tactic, the news plays the recording of him killing Annika. She tries to shoot him but misses just as Batman cuts the power to the building. He takes a group of thugs down in a darkly lit, hall fight sequence then stops Selina from killing Falcone. Gordon brings Falcone outside to the GCPD, where he gets assassinated by the Riddler, who was living in a grimy apartment right across from the Iceberg Lounge all along. Batman and the police rush to catch him, eventually arresting Riddler, aka Edward Nashton, at a nearby cafe were he was just chilling waiting to get caught. They search his very Se7en, John Doe inspired apartment, finding a document about the Renewal program and another letter to the Batman from the Riddler inside a bat cage. Looking around the room, Batman thinks that Edward knows his real identity, believing he is about to be exposed.

10. The Downpoint

Batman goes to Arkham State Hospital to talk to Riddler, who had requested to speak to him. He tells him he took inspiration from him when targeting the corrupt, then goes on a tirade about the privileged life of young Bruce Wayne. Edward was an orphan too, but everyone cared more about the poor little rich boy. Batman thinks the jig is up as Riddler starts chanting “Bruce Wayne” over and over. But no, Riddler never discovered his true identity, much to Batman’s relief. Riddler drops another clue that Batman didn’t originally catch, prompting him to return to his apartment where Officer Martinez tells him the tool used to hit the mayor is a carpet tucker. Batman rips up the carpet to reveal a detailed map on the floor of car bombs stationed around Gotham The bombs go off and destroy the seawall around Gotham, flooding the city.

ACT THREE

11. The Showdown

Gotham is in a state of emergency, with the entire city evacuating to a large sports arena as water starts to rush by people’s feet in the streets. Riddler’s online followers all dressed like him, have already set themselves up around the arena with the plan to kill Mayor Real. She gets shot trying to tell the Gotham citizens that everything is okay just as the water bursts its way inside. The roof suddenly explodes and Batman crashes through, landing and immediately taking out a bunch of Riddler clones. But they gang up and overcome him, leaving him hanging off the side of the score board.

Another Riddler takes his time to reload his shotgun before aiming it at Batman, just as Selina drops down from above knocking the thug aside. She pulls him up to safety, he almost passes out. But then the thug attacks Selina, triggering Batman who injects some mysterious liquid into his leg and turns into a rage monster. He jumps on the thug and starts pounding his face in, likely about to kill him if Gordon hadn’t stopped him. Gordon unmasks the thug to reveal a disgruntled man Bruce had talked to at the Mayor’s funeral.

With that handled its time to help the citizens of Gotham who are trapped below. Batman drops down into the water, resurfacing with a deep breath to signify his rebirth as a hero. He lights a flare and leads a group of people that include the late Mayor’s son and Bella Real to safety. Bruce’s character journey is complete as he’s transformed from a symbol of fear to a symbol of hope for the citizens of Gotham.

12. The Outroduction

“Something In The Way” plays again, but this time with a different meaning. The city is under water, but Batman has ignited a change into the people of Gotham. He meets with Selina for one last time, she’s leaving and asks him to come with her. “The Bat and the Cat”. But he declines, believing that Gotham can change. They ride their motor bikes together in a kind of flirtatious manner before going their separate ways. Batman watches Selina disappear into the fog in his rearview, before looking forward, towards an unsure but hopefilled future.