‘The Batman’ Trailer: Here’s How Zack Snyder And Kevin Smith Reacted
The first trailer forThe Batmandebuted during DC FanDome last weekend, and the response was overwhelmingly positive for the vision directorMatt Reeveshas put forth so far. It’s dark, but also unlike any of the other Batman movies that came before. There’s a noir realism to the proceedings reminiscent of David Fincher, and two of Batman’s biggest fans have given their seal of approval.Batman v SupermandirectorZack Snyderand The Dark Knight aficionadoKevin Smithboth had very favorable reactions to our first glimpse atThe Batman, and you can read what they had to say below.
Zack Snyder had a big day himself during DC FanDome where heunveiled the first trailerfor his awaited director’s cut ofJustice League.Reel in Motioncaught up with him after the event, and after they gabbed about Zack Snyder’sJustice League, discussion turned to Batman, which is one of the director’s favorite superheroes. After complimenting the hard-hitting action glimpsed in the trailer where Batman beats the hell out of a thug, the hosts wondered if this could be an R-rated Batman. Snyder responded:
“I don’t know what the rating is going to be but I felt the same way. I was like what the – ? I actually just texted Matt [Reeves] after and I was like, ‘What the f***! This is cool!’ I loved it. I thought it was so cool. I thought it was like the right direction and everything about it. As far as just a fan of a movie, it’s the kind of movie I want to see, so I felt like [two thumbs up].”
I’m sure it must be a relief to watch another Batman project where you don’t have to worry about the reaction and you’re able to just enjoy the DC Comics character as a fan again. Fans put a lot of pressure on these filmmakers to deliver what they want out of superhero movies, and it can be hard dealing with the fallout when it doesn’t work out. No one knows that better than Zack Snyder, but it’s nice to see that he hasn’t lost his passion for Batman outside of the DC Extended Universe.
Meanwhile, fellow longtime Batman fan Kevin Smith offered up a reaction on hisFatman Beyondpodcast(viaCinemaBlend). Hell, his podcast is named after Batman (and it was previously focused on The Dark Knight when it was calledFatman on Batman), so of course Smith was going to have something to say. It sounds like he’s on board with the rest of us. Smith said:
“This trailer was impressive. I was always going to be curious about what they did, of course. And I was on board regardless. But f***, man. This is like the Batman movie we dreamed about as kids. Like, could you imagine if somebody treated it super f***ing seriously? Eric Carrasco pointed it out, like, ‘This looks like Greg Rucka Batman.’ Like, the one that feels rooted hardcore in reality but still had room for the fantasy elements of crime in Gotham.”
Christopher Nolan treated Batman pretty seriously, but perhaps one of the shortcomings was that it was rooted too much in a real world version of Gotham City. As Smith notes at the end, this feels like it has that grounded reality vibe, but with a hint at some twisted criminal fantasy that will make it stand out from the rest of the Batman adaptations so far.
