Movies THE BATMAN (Dragonlord's Review)

[Crawler89]

Exactly!

Lol, no but at least something practical if not the green suit and bowler. The mask with the glasses outside looks so.... dorky?

oh so this?

or the plethora of every other marvel movie looking dork?

It might not be the best costume but it seems to suit the movies look and feel

 

[KnightTemplar]

Exactly!

Lol, no but at least something practical if not the green suit and bowler. The mask with the glasses outside looks so.... dorky?

I believe the jacket is US Army surplus, as is the mask(although it's been heavily modified). Personally, I think it works. It makes him look very much like a real-life serial killer; the costume he wears was heavily inspired by an outfit the Zodiac Killer wore once.

 

[HenryFlower]

Exactly!

Lol, no but at least something practical if not the green suit and bowler. The mask with the glasses outside looks so.... dorky?

dorky? have you seen comic Riddler’s various costumes?

 

[LilMountain]

oh so this?

or the plethora of every other marvel movie looking dork?

It might not be the best costume but it seems to suit the movies look and feel

Seems a weird combo of not flashy and not particularly tactical. Like at least get some prescription goggles instead of those glasses. The batman and Catwoman costumes both work, but I don't know about this

dorky? have you seen comic Riddler’s various costumes?

Yes, those are a flashy variation of dorky appropriate for a supervillain in that kind of setting and it makes sense to move away from those in a grounded setting. Yet this loses the flash but keeps the dork

 

[LilMountain]

I believe the jacket is US Army surplus, as is the mask(although it's been heavily modified). Personally, I think it works. It makes him look very much like a real-life serial killer; the costume he wears was heavily inspired by an outfit the Zodiac Killer wore once.

The mask looks a little gimp-y, but i's really the combo of the standard glasses with the mask that I don't care for I guess

 

[I Am Legion]

I am going tomorrow night. I was really not looking forward to Vampman. Now I am optimistic.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Spoiler

is the Irish actor Barry keoghan featured in it with a link to him possibly being the Joker

Spoiler

Barry Koeghan is playing an unnamed Arkham inmate/prisoner. We don't see his face clearly. It is likely it's the Joker due to the way he speaks and laughs.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Did the riddler have a real costume beyond the green gimp hood?

He only had one costume which is what you saw in the trailers and posters.

 

[Lights Out 101]

It’s between a 7 or an 8 for me, I settled on 8.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Damn....ive always respected your reviews. I might have to see this.

Thanks. I'm out of the loop with how people here perceive this movie but I'm a bit surprised reading a few of the posts that not an overwhelming lot wants to see The Batman.

 

[Crawler89]

Seems a weird combo of not flashy and not particularly tactical. Like at least get some prescription goggles instead of those glasses. The batman and Catwoman costumes both work, but I don't know about this

Yes, those are a flashy variation of dorky appropriate for a supervillain in that kind of setting and it makes sense to move away from those in a grounded setting. Yet this loses the flash but keeps the dork

Batman is a billionare and Cat woman is a master theif and we havnt seen from the trailers if she gets a tactical good mask. the one we did see looked normal

roughly based on the Zodiac as others mentioned

Makes sense for the tone of the movie etc.

I dont want it to be dumb silly marvel type costume for gotham

 

[MIKOM]

Spoiler

Barry Koeghan is playing an unnamed Arkham inmate/prisoner. We don't see his face clearly. It is likely it's the Joker due to the way he speaks and laughs.

Excellent. Thanks for that.

 

[horc00]

Awesome review! Looks like we finally have a Batman movie that hopefully lives up to the "World's Greatest Detective" title.

Batman is more of a brawler in here and uses less acrobatics.

I doubt it can get any brawler-ish than the Nolan trilogy.

 

[horc00]

I dont want it to be dumb silly marvel type costume for gotham

You do realise that the titular character is dressed in a caped costume with a bat symbol and pointy ears cowl right?

 

[mike1226]

I would say it's an 8 for me, definitely enjoyed it but wish it was about 20/30 min shorter imo.

 

[theTKDguy]

Update: March 2, 2022
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

SPOILERS (?)
Couldn't agree more with this. just saw it hours ago and i felt it was very good for the most part but those last 30 mins didn't sit very well with me. the whole flood thing felt a bit rushed in comparisson to the other arcs and the ending wasn't the most compatible with the movie's tone to that moment IMHO. went with 3 buddies and one fell asleep for a minute and the other two grabbed their phone a couple times. personally i didn't but did feel the pacing dragged a bit. loved the second third of the film the most, the chemestry between zoe and rob, collin farrel, the car chase and the scene in the GCPD cell after those 3 riddles in the church. falcone's talk with bruce was very good as well. all in all it was a nicely done film, i think reeves nailed gotham's aesthetic, the music was great (even tho i don't fully understand reeves' obsession with nirvana) and the performances too. Didn't like joker's appearence at the end, i dunno. felt unneccessary and the fact we didn't even see what he looks like left me unsatisfied. I want to watch it again to make my mind up about certain things, A LOT happens in those 170 plus mins. it's up there with the nolan trilogy quality wise but this one's much more broody. i think i like begins just a tad bit more, but it's close.

I believe the jacket is US Army surplus, as is the mask(although it's been heavily modified). Personally, I think it works. It makes him look very much like a real-life serial killer; the costume he wears was heavily inspired by an outfit the Zodiac Killer wore once.

yea i caught that in the riddler's livestream. you could read the comments about the jacket being surplus.

 

[landon]

Just saw it, I'd give it a 8. Towards the end lost it a bit maybe. But I like that it was grounded in reality, I'm so done with the superhero way over the top bs.

Will rewatch at some point, it was solid.

 

[fungi]

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

Welcome back, Dragon!
Haven't seen you or your posts, let alone full reviews in months.

Yours is the first review I always check before deciding on a flick. Cheers!

 

[Pittie Petey]

Thanks. I'm out of the loop with how people here perceive this movie but I'm a bit surprised reading a few of the posts that not an overwhelming lot wants to see The Batman.

I wanted to see it til I found out it was 3 hours long
Thats madness

 

[Herwald]

I wanted to see it til I found out it was 3 hours long
Thats madness

Yeah, there's something psychological about the 3 hour run time. As soon as I heard it, I noped out.

Longest Batman flick so far was TDKR at 2 hours 44 minutes and I felt like I died and came back to life watching it, it was so long.

That said, this sounds very competently made. Maybe I'll repurpose my gravy boat for urination relief in the theater.