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Update: March 2, 2022
Dragonlord’s Review of THE BATMAN (No Spoilers, I think)
Bottom Line: A combination of The Long Halloween, Zodiac and Se7en, The Batman is a dark, subdued noir thriller that refreshingly focuses on the detective aspect of the Caped Crusader.
From The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come to All-Star Superman, some of the best DC Comics stories published are not canon or part of the main continuity. This is evident in their DC animated films where they had a string of successes when they cherry-picked adaptations from the classic “Elseworld” stories but had poor results when they started with a shared universe direction with the New 52 series.
Warner Bros. apparently is learning this lesson as well because after the disappointing outings of Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad and Justice League, the studio waved the white flag back in 2017 and said screw continuity. Let’s just throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. Who cares if there’s two live-action movie Jokers and Batman running around. It seems to be working for them with Joker (2019) was a box office hit and won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for Best Actor. And now The Batman.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman is the latest reboot of the Caped Crusader and set in a separate universe than the DCEU. The film is about Batman, in his sophomore year, chasing after the serial killer Riddler who is killing Gotham’s key public officials which forces the Dark Knight to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and his family’s involvement. It’s the most grounded and realistic Batman movie ever made so far and its moody atmosphere makes it arguably the darkest as well, figuratively and literally. A combination of The Long Halloween, Zodiac and Se7en, The Batman is a noir mystery thriller that focuses more on the detective aspect of the titular character.
After the controversial casting of the Twilight actor, my verdict is Robert Pattinson is a great Batman. He has that inner intensity that some of the Batman actors didn’t have. It greatly helps that Pattinson has a fiercely brooding face by default which translates well in his Bruce Wayne scenes, selling the fact how damaged and broken the character is. I’m not a fan of the haircut though but I begrudgingly have to admit it fits with the story. Another thing I liked was Batman had more screen time than Bruce Wayne.
After suffering through years of watching Ben Affleck’s fat batsuit with his oftentimes dumbstruck look on his face and Christian Bale’s ghastly-looking cowl and neck, Pattinson’s batsuit and cowl look amazing and is my absolute favorite Batman costume so far. Inspired from the Batman: Arkham games, the heavy armor-plated suit features some new innovations like the raised protective collar and a collapsible grapple gun connected to the gauntlets.
Reminiscent of the action in the Netflix Daredevil series, The Batman’s fight scenes are pragmatic and more down-to-Earth with Batman getting tagged often but shrugs it off thanks to his protective suit. Batman is more of a brawler in here and uses less acrobatics. Even the Batmobile is given a sensible makeover as it is now a modified muscle car with a jet engine. The first time the car appears in the film was badass as it played more like a horror film like Stephen King’s Christine as Reeves intended and the succeeding car chase was superbly done.
The supporting cast standouts were Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell and Paul Dano. Kravitz was a great Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She looked fantastic with the traditional Selina Kyle pixie cut from the comics and the sexual chemistry between Bruce and Selina was gradually well-developed. Catwoman’s fighting style was more on Taekwondo with lots of kicks and spinning kicks. An unrecognizable Farrell in heavy prosthetics was terrific as boisterous Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin. Even though he’s typecast, Dano was still wonderful as the demented Riddler when he was finally shown. John Turturro was pretty good as mob boss Carmine Falcone as well. Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon was just passable for me but I did like the professional relationship between him and Batman. Andy Serkis was just okay but could be a good Alfred if given a more substantial role in the future.
With a running time of 175 minutes, the film is a bit overlong. The mystery and detective story are well executed but when we realized very early on that the Riddler’s victims and potential targets are corrupt officials, the film loses a sense of danger or purpose. But if the Riddler was killing off good people, then the stakes would be much higher and I would have been more invested and scared for the victims. As it were, I just didn’t care for the victims and was in fact rooting for the Riddler to expose the big conspiracy corruption. The big spectacle climax felt a little incompatible with the subdued energy from the rest of the film but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless as Batman does some super heroic feats and it gives us some memorable imagery as well as character growth. Lastly, Michael Giacchino’s magnificent haunting score is perfect for the film’s dark and violent themes.
PRELIMINARY RATING: 8.5 Stars
Dragonlord’s Review of THE BATMAN (No Spoilers, I think)
Bottom Line: A combination of The Long Halloween, Zodiac and Se7en, The Batman is a dark, subdued noir thriller that refreshingly focuses on the detective aspect of the Caped Crusader.
From The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come to All-Star Superman, some of the best DC Comics stories published are not canon or part of the main continuity. This is evident in their DC animated films where they had a string of successes when they cherry-picked adaptations from the classic “Elseworld” stories but had poor results when they started with a shared universe direction with the New 52 series.
Warner Bros. apparently is learning this lesson as well because after the disappointing outings of Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad and Justice League, the studio waved the white flag back in 2017 and said screw continuity. Let’s just throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. Who cares if there’s two live-action movie Jokers and Batman running around. It seems to be working for them with Joker (2019) was a box office hit and won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for Best Actor. And now The Batman.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman is the latest reboot of the Caped Crusader and set in a separate universe than the DCEU. The film is about Batman, in his sophomore year, chasing after the serial killer Riddler who is killing Gotham’s key public officials which forces the Dark Knight to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and his family’s involvement. It’s the most grounded and realistic Batman movie ever made so far and its moody atmosphere makes it arguably the darkest as well, figuratively and literally. A combination of The Long Halloween, Zodiac and Se7en, The Batman is a noir mystery thriller that focuses more on the detective aspect of the titular character.
After the controversial casting of the Twilight actor, my verdict is Robert Pattinson is a great Batman. He has that inner intensity that some of the Batman actors didn’t have. It greatly helps that Pattinson has a fiercely brooding face by default which translates well in his Bruce Wayne scenes, selling the fact how damaged and broken the character is. I’m not a fan of the haircut though but I begrudgingly have to admit it fits with the story. Another thing I liked was Batman had more screen time than Bruce Wayne.
After suffering through years of watching Ben Affleck’s fat batsuit with his oftentimes dumbstruck look on his face and Christian Bale’s ghastly-looking cowl and neck, Pattinson’s batsuit and cowl look amazing and is my absolute favorite Batman costume so far. Inspired from the Batman: Arkham games, the heavy armor-plated suit features some new innovations like the raised protective collar and a collapsible grapple gun connected to the gauntlets.
Reminiscent of the action in the Netflix Daredevil series, The Batman’s fight scenes are pragmatic and more down-to-Earth with Batman getting tagged often but shrugs it off thanks to his protective suit. Batman is more of a brawler in here and uses less acrobatics. Even the Batmobile is given a sensible makeover as it is now a modified muscle car with a jet engine. The first time the car appears in the film was badass as it played more like a horror film like Stephen King’s Christine as Reeves intended and the succeeding car chase was superbly done.
The supporting cast standouts were Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell and Paul Dano. Kravitz was a great Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She looked fantastic with the traditional Selina Kyle pixie cut from the comics and the sexual chemistry between Bruce and Selina was gradually well-developed. Catwoman’s fighting style was more on Taekwondo with lots of kicks and spinning kicks. An unrecognizable Farrell in heavy prosthetics was terrific as boisterous Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin. Even though he’s typecast, Dano was still wonderful as the demented Riddler when he was finally shown. John Turturro was pretty good as mob boss Carmine Falcone as well. Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon was just passable for me but I did like the professional relationship between him and Batman. Andy Serkis was just okay but could be a good Alfred if given a more substantial role in the future.
With a running time of 175 minutes, the film is a bit overlong. The mystery and detective story are well executed but when we realized very early on that the Riddler’s victims and potential targets are corrupt officials, the film loses a sense of danger or purpose. But if the Riddler was killing off good people, then the stakes would be much higher and I would have been more invested and scared for the victims. As it were, I just didn’t care for the victims and was in fact rooting for the Riddler to expose the big conspiracy corruption. The big spectacle climax felt a little incompatible with the subdued energy from the rest of the film but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless as Batman does some super heroic feats and it gives us some memorable imagery as well as character growth. Lastly, Michael Giacchino’s magnificent haunting score is perfect for the film’s dark and violent themes.
PRELIMINARY RATING: 8.5 Stars
