Watch “The Batman” Chase Scene – The Greatest Batmobile Chase of All Time
There will no doubt be quibbles, but we’re putting our stake in the ground and calling this chase sequence in Matt Reeves’s The Batman the greatest single Batmobile scene of all time. There have been other, great scenes involving the Batmobile—Christopher Nolan notched a few in The Dark Knight alone—but pound for pound, we’re calling The Batman‘s epic second act sequence where Batman (Robert Pattinson) gets into his souped-up muscle car (a modified 1968-70 Dodge Charger, for you gearheads) to hunt down the Penguin (Colin Farell) the champion.
A few reasons why. First, the action captured by Reeves and his crack cinematographer Greig Fraser is perfectly calibrated to Michael Giacchino’s thrilling score. Second, it’s the brief pause right before the action, when Batman has slipped away, and into his Batmobile, and begins firing up the monstrous engine from the shadows that provide the chills-inducing calm before the storm. Then, the chase itself is not only visceral and expertly shot, it also benefits from being so singular within the film itself. The Batman relies far less on gadgetry than previous installments in the past Batman franchises have, and the Batmobile itself isn’t the beefy, military-grade bruiser we saw in Nolan’s films, but a ferocious muscle car without a slew of bells and whistles whose core characteristic is raw speed and power. Third, up until this epic chase, The Batman had been primarily a street-level detective story, albeit one populated by some larger-than-life personalities, both for good and for ill. Here, the film leans into pure action as the Penguin flees, and at one point crows gleefully in what he believes is victory over the caped lunatic on his tail.
Not so fast, Penguin. The Batmobile doesn’t go down that easily, and this brings us to the final reason why this chase is best in class—the money shot at the very end, arguably the money shot of the entire film, that caps the sequence and proves to the Penguin that whoever the Batman is, he isn’t messing around.
Check out the scene below. The Batman is now streaming on HBO Max.
For more on The Batman, check out these stories:
Watch “The Batman” Gotham Subway Fight
Watch The Epic Opening Scene From “The Batman”
“The Batman” Arrives on HBO Max After Crossing Major Box Office Milestone
“The Batman” Blu-ray Includes More Joker, Penguin, & Catwoman
“The Batman” Deleted Scene Reveals a Major Confrontation With SPOILER ALERT
Featured image: Caption: ROBERT PATTINSON as Batman with the Batmobile in a scene in Warner Bros. Pictures’ action adventure “THE BATMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/ ™ & © DC Comics
