Batman: The Long Halloween draws focus on the vigilante’s recent repositioning as ace detective

The reimagination of Batman for the screen continues to find interesting spin in the new animated release, Batman: The Long Halloween. The two-film adventure, which premiered in India as a combined Deluxe Edition saga on OTT over the weekend, keeps the focus on the caped vigilante’s prowess as the ‘world’s greatest detective’, a tagline that Warner Bros. and DC Films have been aggressively pushing of late, since The Batman starring Robert Pattinson released earlier this year. The Long Halloween, an outstanding comic book thriller crafted in art deco animation with suitable noir vibes, plunges Gotham city into grim chaos as murders start happening in the notorious mobster Falcone’s family. The film, based on a 13-issue graphic novel series created by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale in 1996-1997, is unusual for a couple of reasons. For a change, the city’s law keepers led by Batman, Commissioner James Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, find themselves protecting Falcone, a criminal they set out to nab. The gangster and his family seem to be the target of a mysterious killer who identifies as Holiday for his penchant at committing murders only on holidays. Secondly, Batman here is not locked in battle with some superhuman villain from another world. It is an idea that humanises the superhero, for he must race against time and solve the spate of crimes using his intuition and investigative skills. The twisted drama that buoys the narrative positions The Long Halloween as a classic detective story more than a superhero flick, although Batman gets abundant scope to engage in spectacular VFX-loaded action that should keep the fans happy. Batman’s identity as an ace detective was never really explored on film before this, although the idea isn’t new to hardcore fans fed on comicbooks featuring the masked crime fighter. While it could be a bit tough to pinpoint when it exactly started, the epithet complimenting Batman’s sleuthing skills find mention in comics published over 50 years ago. In a February 1970 issue of DC comics titled Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane, Batman is seen referring to himself as “the world’s greatest detective” in the cover page illustration. Several characters in Batman’s world have time and again spoken of his investigative acumen, including his adversary Ra’s al Ghul who often addressed the caped hero as “detective” for his ability to accurately read a scene of crime. Movies featuring Batman, however, avoided focus on this aspect over the years. This could have to do with the fact that new-age films — from Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 via The Dark Knight classics of Christopher Nolan in the 2000s to Zack Snyder’s underwhelming Justice League — mostly were interested in using the character as DC’s trump card in the box office battle for superhero supremacy. Batman had to elicit awe in order to match his billing as DC’s most lucrative star, rather than vie for an image as a Sherlock Holmes in superhero attire. It is a reason the element of flamboyance buoyed his alter ego Bruce Wayne, too — a trait best expressed in the Justice League scene where the Flash, in his everyday avatar as Barry Allen, asks Wayne what is super power is, and the latter coolly replies: “I’m rich”. When director Matt Reeves decided to rid the character of all that jazz with The Batman movie earlier this year, he kept Bruce Wayne away from almost all significant action in the film. Perhaps it was felt Wayne’s ways as a philandering billionaire could hinder Batman’s repositioning as a believable detective who’s serious about solving crimes. Also, the franchise wanted you to know that, over the years, Batman has started dominating the character’s thought process more than Wayne. The idea added a dark edge to Reeves’ directorial The Batman and it works for Chris Palmer’s The Long Halloween, too. The Batman as well as The Long Halloween amply highlight the protagonist’s knack at correctly reading mindsets of people. In both cases, we see him spending little or no time in his high-tech lair inventing fancy gadgets that suit his calling as a superhero. Rather, he is out chasing clues to crack the mystery at hand. Reeves’ film had aptly settled on the Riddler (played by Paul Dano) as villain — what better challenge than a bad guy who leaves riddles as clues to officially mark Batman’s crossing over to sleuthing zone. In The Long Halloween, Batman actually admits to the stress of carrying on with his job as a detective. “I thought this was about keeping criminals off the streets. I never thought the Batman was going to have to be a detective, a good one,” he says. Screen writer Tim Sheridan sets the mood right at the outset when Batman impressively identifies details of the specific type of gun used for a kill in an early scene, by simply inspecting the scene of crime. Because police procedural is central to the storyline, Dent and Gordon are almost as important to the script as Batman. Like Matt Reeves’ film, The Long Halloween, too, is about Batman and not Bruce Wayne. Director Palmer and writer Sheridan ensure recurrent conversations remind us Batman is being positioned as a detective here and not as a superhero. “You may be aces in fistfight but you got to learn a lot about detective work,” Gordon jokes in a sequence. In another scene, Dent makes light of Batman’s skills when he goofs up, saying: “Not really much of a detective, are you?” To Batman’s advantage, the character seems apt for a believable makeover on these lines more than any other crime-fighting comicbook hero. For one, he has no natural superpower and wholly banks on his abilities see things beyond the obvious. The Long Halloween double bill, just as The Batman, continues positioning the vigilante as a messiah of the people. Only, his approach at fighting crime is rooted in brainpower rather than brawn now. Gloss over the fact that Batman sure cuts an amusing picture as detective in his bat mask, flying cape and skin-tight costumes. Batman: The Long Halloween Deluxe Edition is available on BookMyShow Stream  Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. 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