“The Batman” has been making all the headlines recently – and with good reason too. The DC blockbuster has not only scored top ratings from critics but it has soared to the 2nd biggest box office debut during the pandemic.
One of the highlights from the film is of course, the fight scenes choreography. “The Batman” star himself, Robert Pattinson, recently revealed to Cinema XXI that he had learned Silat for one of the movie’s physical scenes. During a virtual interview with presenter Chelsea, Robert shared his experience in learning Silat.
“Silat is Indonesian right? It’s one of the martial arts that you can’t really use as a sport because it’s all about fatal hits and I thought it was so fun”, he said. The 35-year-old actor worked with choreographer and stunt coordinator Rob Alonzo to learn Silat and further described the process of designing the movements for the movie. “It’s really crazy, it’s really fun though. It feels like a different fighting style, every single movement feels so incredibly painful,” he added.
However, according to CNN Indonesia, film and pop culture practitioner Hikmat Darmawan said that the use of Silat in the movie is more of a gimmick and would be hard to notice straight away which scene or movement uses the technique from Silat. He further added that Hollywood tend to use cultures from other countries as a way to simply market their movies.
Whichever the case, the use of Silat in “The Batman” movie isn’t necessarily a random thing the studio decided to add in the movie for marketing purposes, it’s actually a reference to one of the Batman comics. In the 1993 comic, “Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight Vol 123”, it is stated that Batman once met a person who studied Silat from Indonesia, namely Silat Cikalong from West Java.
As the hero of Gotham city, it’s actually no surprise that Batman knows multiple forms of martial arts as he’ll need the techniques to fight his way through the villains and save lives while protecting the city from danger. “The Batman” is now available in Malaysian cinemas starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano and Colin Farrell.
While you’re here, feel free to read our spoiler-free review (on why we think RPatz is potentially the best Batman yet) and (for those who have watch “The Batman”) what to expect for a future sequel.
