The DCEU has evolved into something different in the last couple of years. They have gone from being one of the most surreal and incomprehensible movie universes to being more like the MCU in a lot of ways. WB still wants to maintain its gritty tone but at the same time, they want its content to be more approachable. The Batman is a great example of a movie that combines the best of both worlds. It is a movie that is unapologetically surreal and has a lot of characters. But it introduces them and deals with them in the most beautiful way possible. There is never a moment in the entire movie when you feel that a character is being represented unfairly. So then let’s examine why The Batman left out the Joker scene.
You know the one we are talking about. This is about the deleted scene with the Joker which was supposed to be added somewhere near the end of the movie. We saw Rob Pattinson’s Batman visit the Joker in Arkham in this scene. He does this to interrogate the clown prince of crime for some information about The Riddler. Fans did not even know that this scene existed until Matt Reeves released it to the world after the release of the movie. It is an incredible scene and it exemplifies the excellent work that all actors have done in this movie. But the scene tuned out to be irrelevant to the narrative of the film. Don’t believe us? Then look at what Matt Reeves had to say about the issue.
Why The Batman Left Out The Joker Scene
Recently Matt Reeves had this to say when he was asked why the Joker scene was removed,
” When we were putting the movie together, this scene, even though I think that Barry and Rob did such a cool scene together, it was one of these things where narratively it wasn’t necessary. You got everything that Barry was telling him, that Joker was telling him, over the course of the movie, and given the great length of the movie, it helped the story to take the scene out, but I always really loved the work that Barry and Rob did in the scene”
It seems that the director decided to keep the narrative tight rather than feeding the audience the same information again and again. One thing that The Batman does really well is keeping the narrative tight. It is in this pursuit that this scene might have been removed. Although DC fans love convoluted and overly complex plot points, there comes a time when simplicity is better than showboating. If this scene were added then it would only serve to pre-pone the Joker reveal in the movie. This could have been a good thing but only if the Joker was somehow involved in the climactic battle.
In this case, he was only here to build anticipation for the future. Hence, there was no point to show off the Joker scene early. Since the scene did not add anything to the narrative and does not give the audience any new information except the existence of the Joker, it was viable to remove it. Matt Reeves got the same reaction he wanted from the audience by simply putting Joker’s cell right next to Paul Dano in Arkham.
The Secret
Movies, especially Detective movies work on subtlety. It is the job of the director to make sure that the audience can enter the head of the protagonist and make the same deductions as and when the protagonist makes them. We saw this in full swing in The Batman. While watching the movie, we could relate to Batman’s frustration and his anger. We could even understand his logical progression through the investigation. Every thug beating up, every man being interrogated, every car being destroyed had its role.
Even the Gotham reconstruction fund had its role. It was a movie with an exceptional understanding of what it was trying to do and that is why The Batman left out the Joker scene.
Let us know what you think about this down in the comments and keep watching this space for everything Marvel, DC, and Hollywood. Excelsior!!!
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for more content.
Also Watch:
