There is no doubt that ‘The Batman’ is one of the most important movies of the year. The adventure starring Robert Pattinson swept the box office before making the leap to HBO Max and today June 10th finally makes its debut in physical format in Spain, appearing for sale on DVD, Blu-ray and ULTRA HD.
At Espinof we are going to make a stop at the limited edition in metal box that Warner put up for sale in our country at the price of €29.95 and which aims to become a highly valued steelbook among collectors. The review will be similar to that carried out in the case of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, giving special importance to both its design and the additional content that is included only in this edition. And it is that the visual and sound quality of the film are extraordinary -no point of comparison possible with seeing it on HBO Max, especially considering its particular and dark photography-, but you already have that in the simple edition in ULTRA HD , where there is less urgency to buy it.
Design
The first thing to make clear is that There are several different metal case designs throughout the world. For now, only the second in the image above reaches us in Spain, and I clarify this because, for example, Warner did launch two different steelbooks when it put ‘Joker’ on sale in our country.
Once the three discs are opened and removed -one with the film in ULTRA HD, another in blu-ray and another exclusively for the additional contents-, what you can see in these images remains. On the outside it is elegant and in keeping with the style of the film, featuring Batman in the front image and Catwoman in the back. In addition, inside we find an image of the imposing version of the Batmobile chosen for the occasion by the filmmaker Matt Reeves. It’s not the best steelbook in my collection, but it’s one I’m glad I have.
On the other hand, I’m afraid I don’t have metal case editions of other Batman movies, so I thought the best possible comparison was with ‘Joker’another feature film outside the DC Extended Universe and with a few more concerns in the line of ‘The Batman’.
As you can see, the styles of both they fit very well together, with perhaps the most problematic being how the title of both movies appears on the side of the steelbook. I think above all of those who are more maniacal and prefer that the words go in the same direction, but well, in the end they are opposite characters, which can even serve as a justification, with one pulling towards the side of evil and another the of the good
the extras
Warner has decided that the disc dedicated to the additional contents will be included only in this edition in metal box. It is possible that I will recover it for subsequent reissues, which you do not doubt there will be, but right now those more than 2 hours of extras are present only here. For my part, I would like to structure the review of the extras in three different parts that I present below:
1) short documentaries. There are up to nine short pieces that delve into more specific aspects of the film, from the film’s origins in ‘The Batman:Genesis’ (6:09) until the creation of Enigma in ‘Vengeance Meets Justice’ (8:04) or how Zo¨ë Kravitz became Catwoman in ‘Becoming Catwoman’ (8:36). They are not particularly deep, but there is a care to make them that allows him to have a much greater interest than usual in this type of featurettes.
Also included ‘Looking for Vengeance’ (4:57), about the origin of Batman’s motivations, revealing that Matt Reeves wanted boxing to be a great link between Alfred and Bruce but that in the end he did not include it in the film, a review of the peculiarities of the protagonist’s vehicle in ‘The Batmobile’ (10:51), a review of the importance of realistic tone in ‘Unpacking the Icons’ (5:47) or a successful overview of Colin Farrell’s physical transformation process in ‘A Transformation: The Penguin’ (7:59).
However, my favorites are the pieces that go into more technical sections of the production such as ‘Anatomy of the Car Chase’ (6:08), where the need to create a sense of danger is emphasized, but also “do your best on camera“, Y ‘Anatomy of the Wing Suit Jump’ (6:29), a very specific moment that a priori went totally against the realism that ‘The Batman’ was looking for.
two) Extensive Making Of. He calls attention to the fact that he does not appear prominently and is included halfway through the short documentaries that he mentioned before. With a duration of 53 minutes and 41 seconds and the title of ‘Vengeance in the Making’ An interesting review is made around the shooting, starting on January 20, 2020, a week before the start of the recordings, and extending until March of the following year. More juicy when it shows scenes from the shooting than when it affects the statements of its protagonists, it is a stimulating testimony to better understand the entire process behind the filmincluding the forced stoppage caused by the coronavirus that also ended the life of a member of the team.
3) Deleted scenes. It was what I most wanted to see and I was slightly disappointed, since only two are included and one of them (5:53) is the one in which Barry Keoghan appears as Joker that already appeared online months ago, while the other is a brief encounter between Catwoman and Penguin (1:53) in which ambition is stressed of the character played by Colin Farrell. By the way, don’t be fooled by the fact that there are two sections for the deleted scenes, since they are the same, but the second has the addition of being commented in audio by Matt Reeves, which further enriches your viewing.
final notes
The ‘The Batman’ steelbook is the edition you’re really going to want to have if you’re a fan of the movie and haven’t left the physical format behind. With a worked design and an additional disc for extra content that is really worth it, it is a more than recommended purchase. And don’t hesitate too long, because it smells like it won’t take long for it to become an impossible mission, which right now on Amazon, Fnac or El Corte Inglés is already sold out.
Arvi Licensing has given us a copy of the ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ steelbook for this review.