THE BATMAN:
LATEST FILM REBOOT OF ICONIC DC SUPERHERO IS EXHILARATING BUT FAMILIAR!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
WARNER BROS. PICTURES
The Caped Crusader hits the big screen once again in The Batman, the latest film based on the iconic DC Comics superhero of the same name. The film is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of/War for the Planet of the Apes), has Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga, The Lighthouse, Tenet) donning the cowl, and serves as yet another reboot of the Batman franchise.
When the trailer and teaser posters first came out for this movie, I was intrigued but at the same time thought “Another Batman reboot, how many of those have we seen?”. We had Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s films, Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and Ben Affleck in the DC Extended Universe, how many times can you tell the origin of Batman? So, I thought.
Instead of repeating the whole Bruce Wayne’s parents getting killed backstory, which has been done to death to the point where it’s been satirized in films like Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, this film very cleverly takes the Spider-Man: Homecoming route and assumes you already know the origin story of Batman and jumps you right into the main story. So, how does The Batman hold up compared to previous film versions of the character? Honestly, while I may like The Dark Knight and Batman (1989) more in terms of story and characters, this one’s pretty good.
For starters, it actually has a detective story, an element that has been missing in earlier films based on the character for quite a while and the film plays more like a spine-tingling crime thriller rather than a traditional superhero film. Add in one of the best actors to play Batman since Keaton and for the most part, a really damn good Catwoman, one of the best-looking versions of Gotham City since the 1989 film that’s oozing with gothic imagery everywhere, and an incredible music score and you got yourself a pretty cool Batman flick. The film follows orphaned billionaire turned crime-fighting vigilante, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Pattinson) attempting to solve a series of horrific crimes caused by the mysterious serial killer known as The Riddler (Paul Dano-Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Prisoners) via a trail of cryptic clues left by him. This leads Batman to cat burglar, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz-X-Men: First Class, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), who reluctantly joins him on his case while having run-ins with an infamous gangster known as The Penguin (Colin Farrell-Miami Vice, In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), and the ruthless crime lord, Carmine Falcone (John Turturro-Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, Transformers franchise) as “The Bat and the Cat” follow the bread crumbs, find out what The Riddler’s plot is, stop him, and bring him to justice.
The film also stars Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Planet of the Apes franchise, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as Bruce’s loyal butler, Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright (James Bond franchise, The Hunger Gamesfranchise, What If?) as James Gordon, and Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass, Flightplan, Black Mass) as Gil Colson.
Overall, The Batman may not be the most game-changing film in the Batman franchise, but for those looking for a movie that shows The Caped Crusader doing what he does best, this is it. I really do think the detective aspect of this film is one of the best things about it, because it’s been a staple of the character for decades and the movies hadn’t really explored that much since probably The Dark Knight. It’s nice to see Batman as a detective trying to figure out what The Riddler is planning and adds a sense of realism and terror to the situation, it’s like Zodiac or Se7en but with Batman.
This film also has one of the best-looking versions of Gotham City out of any of the Batman films which can be best described as like a hybrid of Nolan and Burton’s Gotham, Nolan because of how grounded in-reality it is and Burton’s because of the bleak colors and gothic architecture. It really does look like a shitty, run-down, and crime ridden city that any sane person would try and stay as far away from as possible.
The acting in this film is top-notch especially from Pattinson as the titular character, who I think is one of the best Batman actors we’ve ever gotten and what’s interesting about him is that he doesn’t have many scenes as Bruce Wayne. For the few scenes we do have of him as Bruce, he is 100% convincing as the kind of person who probably would dress up as a Bat at night, from his appearance, voice, and the fact that he’s more isolated in his mansion compared to other iterations of the character, while as Batman he kind of takes the Christian Bale approach as a grittier take on the character except unlike Bale’s infamous raspy voice, Pattinson’s is basically his normal voice except deeper and sometimes a whisper, and a very subtle aspect of it that I really appreciate is showing Batman with his cowl off and the black eyeshadow is still around his eyes, it goes to show that he’s come a long way since his Edward from Twilightdays.
Zoë Kravitz may be my second favorite Catwoman after Michelle Pfeiffer, she’s got the mannerisms and attitude of the character, but she plays her much less as a villain, but more like a common jewel thief who’s just trying to look for her missing roommate, and she and Pattinson work wonderfully together, her Catwoman mask on the other hand looks awful. Paul Dano as The Riddler is haunting and a huge step up from Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (Which I enjoy, don’t get me wrong!), he comes a little closer to Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight and has kind of this Zodiac Killer vibe where his murders are part of something much bigger and like Ledger’s Joker, he bounces back and forth from being scary and sometimes funny, even side characters like Colin Farrell hamming it up as The Penguin and Andy Serkis as a very different take on Bruce’s butler, Alfred are very memorable, it’s like if The Dark Knight had the side characters from the 1989 film.
This movie does a lot of things right, but I do have some issues with it, this movie is way too long, clocking in at just under three hours, but throughout most of it I was invested in the story and characters and didn’t really notice the length until the climax, which sadly isn’t that impressive. They kind of take the Dark Knight Rises route and has a climax that involves trying to destroy the city and has a bunch of forced commentary that don’t really have a purpose here, but these are mostly just nitpicks in an otherwise solid Batman movie.
If you’re looking for the movie equivalent of the early, gritty Batman comics with dark, broody atmosphere, intense subject matter, and music reminiscent to Batman: The Animated Series, then this is probably it. It’s a gritty crime thriller, film noir, superhero film, it’s BATMAN!
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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