Updated: 'Apes' Director, Matt Reeves, Rumored to be Taking Over 'The Batman'
Update 2/23/2017:
In the grand will-they-won't-they tradition of Ross and Rachel, Sam and Diane, and Trump and Putin, Matt Reeves is now officially on board to direct The Batman according to Variety (original article here). Hopefully, this is the last word because my heart can't take this anymore.
Update 2/19/2017:
Well, folks, it looks as if Matt Reeves is no longer in the running for the director's chair. The Hollywood Reporter claims that negotiations have broken down between Reeves' representation and Warner Bros. So, we'll just have to wait and see whose name pops up next.
Original article:
Ben Affleck dropping out as the director on his solo Batman outing felt like a loss. If Warner Bros. had allowed him the time to break the story the way he wanted, then he undoubtedly would've turned out something fascinating and unlike any caped crusader adventure we have seen thus far. That is especially true with a hunger to prove something after his recent Live by Night disaster. Anyone the studio hired would have to contend with that what-if scenario, and it may be insurmountable. However, hiring Matt Reeves gives me some hope that all is not lost.
Reeves is an exceedingly smart genre film-maker. Cloverfield gets a lot of flack these days, mainly from annoying anti-J.J. Abrams fanboys, but I think Reeves was able to pull that film out from behind its found-footage gimmick and make something extremely compelling. His Americanized remake of the near-perfect Swedish horror film Let the Right One is another film that had no business working, but somehow Reeves was able to add sly winks at the original's subdued tone while also putting his own stamp on the material. Likewise, following up a popular franchise-reviving reboot of an out-dated series with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes should have been nearly impossible. Not only was Dawn a great Planet of the Apes film, but it expanded this new Apes world in a way that built on everything great set up in Rise while layering with a satisfying and emotionally resonant thematic heft. War of the Planet of the Apes, Reeves' upcoming follow-up seems to have that same compelling world-expanding approach.
The gloomy Snyder-verse of DC superheroes has had a dark cloud over it for quite a while. Maybe what they really need is some new blood. Between Patty Jenkins' soon to be released swashbuckling take on Wonder Woman, James Wan on Aquaman, and this news, it seems that the studio is finally taking the hint. Snyder is a genius visual stylist, but to build an interconnected universe like Marvel, you need more than just pretty pictures, you need to marry that inherent visual pop with a compelling narrative through-line. Luckily, Matt Reeves can do both.
