Batman (2019)

If Tim Burton's Batman was made 30 years later.

Directed By: Guillermo Del Toro

Plot
As Gotham City approaches its bicentennial, Mayor Borg orders district attorney Harvey Dent and police Commissioner Gordon to make the city safer by incarcerating mob boss Carl Grissom. Meanwhile, reporter Alexander Knox and photojournalist Vicki Vale investigate sightings of a masked vigilante called "Batman" who is targeting the city's criminals. Both attend a fundraiser hosted by billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, who is secretly Batman, having chosen this path after witnessing a mugger murder his parents when he was a child. During the event, Bruce becomes infatuated with Vale, but interrupts their meeting to secretly pursue Gordon when he leaves on police business.

Grissom sends his sociopathic second-in-command Jack Napier to raid Axis Chemicals to retrieve incriminating evidence, though it is a cover to have Napier murdered for sleeping with his mistress Alicia Hunt. Although corrupt police lieutenant Max Eckhardt arranges the hit on Napier by conducting an unauthorized police operation, Gordon arrives, takes command, and orders officers to capture Napier alive as a potential witness. Batman also arrives to catch Napier, who kills Eckhardt as revenge for double-crossing him. During a scuffle with Batman, Napier topples off a catwalk and falls into a vat of acidic chemicals. Although presumed dead, Napier survives with various disfigurements including chalk white skin and emerald green hair and nails. He undergoes surgery to repair the damage, but ends up with a rictus grin. Driven insane by his new appearance, Napier, now calling himself "the Joker", kills Grissom at his estate, massacres Grissom's associates, and takes over his operations.

Batman researches a way to stop the Joker from terrorizing Gotham with hygiene products laced with "Smylex" – a deadly chemical that causes victims to die laughing. The Joker soon becomes obsessed with Vicki and lures her to the Gotham Museum of Art, where his henchmen destroy the works of art within. Batman arrives and rescues Vicki before taking her to his Batcave, providing her with all of his research on Smylex that will allow the city's residents to escape the toxin. Conflicted with his love for her, Bruce visits her apartment intending to reveal his secret identity, only for the Joker to interrupt the meeting. The Joker asks Bruce, "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?", which Bruce recognizes as the catchphrase used by the mugger who killed his parents. The Joker shoots Bruce, but he survives thanks to a serving tray hidden underneath his shirt. Bruce escapes while the Joker is distracted. At the Batcave, Bruce reminisces on his parents' murder and realizes that the Joker killed them.

Vicki is taken to the Batcave by Bruce's butler, Alfred, who had been coaxing the relationship between the pair to bring out Bruce's human side. After exposing his secret to Vicki, Bruce reveals he cannot focus on their relationship with the Joker on the loose and departs to destroy the Axis plant used to create Smylex. Meanwhile, the Joker lures Gotham's citizens to a parade with the promise of free money, in order to dose them with Smylex gas held within giant parade balloons. Batman foils his plan by using his Batwing to remove the balloons, but the Joker shoots him down. The Batwing crashes in front of a cathedral, and the Joker takes Vicki hostage within it. Batman pursues the Joker to the top of the cathedral, and in the ensuing fight, he reveals that he knows Napier killed his parents and thus, indirectly created Batman before the latter created the Joker, leading the Joker to realize Batman is Bruce. The Joker eventually pulls Batman and Vicki over the balcony of the cathedral, leaving them hanging while he attempts to escape by calling in a helicopter piloted by his goons, who throw down a ladder for him to climb. However, Batman uses a grappling hook to attach the Joker's leg to a gargoyle. Unable to bear its immense weight, the Joker falls to his death while Batman and Vicki make it to safety.

Sometime later, Gordon announces that the police have arrested all of the Joker's men and unveils the Bat-Signal. Dent reads a note from Batman, promising that he will defend Gotham should crime strike again, and asks them to use the Bat-Signal to summon him in times of need. Alfred takes Vicki to Wayne Manor, explaining that Bruce will be a little late. She responds that she is not surprised, as Batman looks at the signal's projection from a rooftop, standing watch over the city.

Cast

 * Nicolas Cage as Jack Napier/the Joker
 * Bill Skarsgard as Young Jack Napier
 * Ryan Gosling as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Jackson Robert Scott as Young Bruce Wayne
 * Alice Eve as Vicki Vale
 * Seth Rogen as Alexander Knox
 * John Goodman as Commissioner Gordon
 * Mahershala Ali as Harvey Dent
 * Timothy Dalton as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Ted Danson as Carl Grissom
 * Alexandra Phillips as Alicia Hunt
 * Norman Reedus as Bob the Goon
 * Dann Florek as Mayor Borg
 * Glenn Fleshler as Lt. Max Eckhardt
 * Patrick Wilson as Thomas Wayne
 * Winona Ryder as Martha Wayne
 * Jason Lee as Tourist Dad
 * Belinda Stewart-Wilson as Tourist Mom
 * Jaeden Martell as Tourist Son

Rating
Rated PG-13.

Trivia

 * Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Fassbender, Aaron Paul, Adam Driver, Bill Hader and Sebastian Stan were considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
 * Leonardo DiCaprio, Sam Rockwell, Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp and Jim Carrey were considered for the role of Jack Napier/Joker.
 * Brendan Gleeson and Dennis Quaid were considered for the role of Commissioner Gordon.
 * Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor were considered for the role of Harvey Dent.
 * Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and James Woods were considered for the role of Carl Grissom.