The Batman Review

The Batman will be in theaters on March 4, 2022. There is a review below.

Bruce Wayne tells us in a gloomy voiceover early in The Batman that he is a tool. This is the scariest Batman yet. The message is clear from the violent opening scene: this is not your mother's Caped Crusader. This is a psychological thriller with a heavy dose of crime noir and it's absolutely gorgeous.

The Batman is still dripping with cinematic references. I thought about Zodiac, Se7en, Chinatown, and Saw while watching them. I didn't think much about it. Most of the previous Batman movies were live-action. This is a bold new take on the Dark Knight, and it is similar to Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

The Batman: How Robert Pattinson draws from the past.

Its grounded nature is very similar to the one depicted in the movie. The story of an impoverished man forgotten by society isn't really needed by the A-list DC villain. The Batman is still very much a Batman tale in a surprisingly loyal way. It is very different from what we have seen on the big screen up to this point, and it pulls from and modifies various storylines from the comics in daring yet respectful fashion.

It is not a Batman origin story. We know Thomas and Martha Wayne are dead, and so we don't need to see them get killed again. We were dropped into Batman and Jim Gordon's partnership. It takes place late enough in Bruce Wayne's story to not retread scenes we've already seen a million times, but early enough that he's still got a lot of growing to do. We don't see the beginning, but we do see plenty of development, as well as some clever callouts and additions to the histories of several families.

The dark vision for The Batman was pitched years ago by Ben Affleck, who was originally set to write and star in the film. He said in an interview that he had a chance to direct the Batman movie, but it didn't work out. I told them why I love this character. If I were to do this, I would have to make it personal so that I understood what I was going to do with it, so that I know where to put the camera.

Robert Pattinson is playing a much more vulnerable version of the billionaire than we have seen before. It would have been easy to crib from the other actors who have played Bruce, but he is his own person. We've seen the illusion of a charismatic playboy before, but it's gone now. Here, we get a sad guy who is both crippled and compelled by his trauma in a way that is gripping to watch. Bruce is a broken man who can't hide his feelings. Whether he is in or out of the Batsuit, his performance is crushingly painful.

The second most memorable of The Batman is not even the performance of Robert Pattinson. The honors went to Paul Dano as The Riddler and ZOE Kravitz as Selina Kyle. I was struck by the casting from the get-go, but the portrayal of the catburglar by Kravitz was beyond my expectations. She's got all the slinkiness and cunning you could hope for, but she's also vulnerable and selling an appetite for revenge. It's not just the one screaming "I am vengeance!", it's the one with a need for payback. The chemistry between the two actors is obvious. It's all very hot, whether they're trading fists or information.

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The best live-action Batman villain has been Dano's Riddler. This is a far, far, far cry from the previous most famous Riddler performance by Jim Carrey, with Reeves putting a modern, murderous spin on the wordsmith that is heavily influenced by the real-world Zodiac Killer. Dano plays a genius killer with terrifying realism. Dano gave me chills with a single eye movement. The best Batman villains are the ones who challenge at least two of the three of his mind, morals, and body, and this Riddler puts the first two to the test. It's impossible to ignore the face off between Dano and Pattinson.

Colin Farrell and Jeffrey Wright are formidable as The Penguin and Jim Gordon, respectively, with both responsible for a few very welcome moments of levity. If I hadn't already known it was Farrell, I would have thought he was the mobster, but he seems to be having fun. Wright has a nice buddy-cop dynamic with Pattinson, lending to some of the best campy detective noir moments. A paternal relationship that connects Alfred to the Wayne family roots is what Alfred has with Robert Pattinson.

The Batman has a time of three hours, so it has the time, if it seems like a lot to stuff into one movie. There are moments in the middle when I didn't feel completely immersed in the political mystery at its center, but it mostly earns that bladder-testing runtime. It felt like one of the Bat's grappling hooks pierced me and yanked me back so hard that I didn't have time to complain.

All that build-up is worth it with a few big, beautiful, brilliantly choreographed action sequences in the last hour. When Batman throws or takes a hit in the movie, it hurts. The cityscape in which it all takes place is gorgeous. If you've seen any of The Batman's posters, you'll know the look you're in for, which is black and red. A smart contrast of saturation and darkness keeps it from being boring, instead keeping us gripped in a city that mirrors other major U.S. cities. Michael Giacchino's dramatic score brings it all together, creating a few epic moments worthy of a comic book.

The Batman is a solo tale and works well, but it definitely leaves the door open for a sequel. It leaves a Batmobile-sized hole for a sequel. It's a dark, grimy, politically seedy world that I wouldn't mind getting swept up in again.