Movies THE BATMAN (Dragonlord's Review)

[MIKOM]

That's my first time seeing him in anything, the Joker tease at the end of the Batman not withstanding. Keoghan is going to kill it.

I really hope his face is straight jacked up as the Joker. With how great Farrell's makeup and prosthetics were as Oz, I can only imagine how this Joker will turn out.

TBH I hope they don't over do the makeup and prosthetics on Barry and he has such an "interesting" face to begin with.

 

[GoldenAzazel]

That's my first time seeing him in anything, the Joker tease at the end of the Batman not withstanding. Keoghan is going to kill it.

I really hope his face is straight jacked up as the Joker. With how great Farrell's makeup and prosthetics were as Oz, I can only imagine how this Joker will turn out.

Maybe like the New 52 Joker?

 

[Nameless Ghoul]

I held out from seeing it until I could get together with both of my brothers, and finally was able to do so this weekend.

Overall, I loved it and thought it was great top to bottom. I would have made a slight change to the ending though.

Spoiler: Spoiler

I would have ended it after the Riddler made the comment about overestimating Batman, and had the vans blowing up around the city. It really wouldn't have "changed" the outcome of the film because Batman still "lost" under the current ending. It also would have shaved about 20 minutes off this movie, and they could have copy/pasted the final action sequence, making it the "huge" opener for the next movie.

 

[Danger Dave]

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

I liked Ben Affleck as Batman and dont like him in much else. He was portraying a aged Batman in his late 40's early 50's. Can't stay in that shape forever.

 

[Brandon Wilson]

Awesome movie. Saw it last night with my son. 9/10 easily. Pattison killed it as Batman. Great story, great cinematography, great sound track. I mightgo see it again.

 

[BornOnMonday]

Meh it was ok. Riddler was kind of weird

yeah, he kept killing people n shit. wtf

 

[chrisdiaz]

I still wish we got a Ben Affleck solo movie instead of this. He was a great batman and bruce wayne. I was glad he got some extra screen time in ZS Justice league. It seems like the flash movie will be that batmans no way home without ever getting a solo film. Deathstroke would have made a better villain than this riddler.

 

[Marko Polo]

Big fan of Paul Dano but I think he missed the mark in this. For some reason the film made me think of how great Heath’s joker was, and that Christian Bale was really slow in the fight scenes compared to Pattison, but Bale was much better out of the suit. Well I wouldn’t say much better, they just took different approaches to it, which matched the back drop of the film

Spoiler

Batman is Bruce Wayne

 

[eddymotto]

Finally saw it last week. I gave it a 7 / “pretty good”. It didn’t quite click for me but there was still a lot to like. Definitely worth seeing in the theater. There were enough twists to keep the plot interesting. Pattinson was very good. People need to leave Twilight in the past. He was a young guy in a series of ridiculous movies. He’s become an excellent actor since that time. Watch High Life and Good Times.

 

[FemdomFilmFan]

 

[Big Al's Texas BBQ]

Damn, you posted this right away. Beat me to the punch.

 

[Badger67]

Not sure how i feel about that joker yet.

 

[revoltub]

Not bad tbh. He has a decent laugh. But the scene just amplifies one of my biggest gripes with the movie. Hes still "learning to be batman" in the movie even though hes been batman for two years AND he apparently has enough history with the joker that he uses him as his own Hannibal Lector?

That aspect of the film was already pretty unbalanced. So probably best they didnt keep this scene in the movie.

 

[MIKOM]

Keoghan will deliver the creepiness..... be in no doubt.

 

[Fluffernutter]

I like the Silence of the Lambs reboot with Joker. He looks seriously injured from his chemical bath at Ace.

I don't want another Batman vs. The Joker movie. I like that he goes to the Joker for insight.

I'm hoping the next villain will be Mr. Freeze and make him stop an nothing to cure his wife.

 

[Crawler89]

Only thing i didn't like about that joker Is when he tried to sound and copy heaths mannerisms

Like how fucked up his face looks

 

[GearSolidMetal]

After my LONG post earlier in the thread about how I disliked the Joker performance I was immediately intrigued about a deleted 5-minute scene featuring The Joker.

I'm open to my opinion being changed.

And.... it basically solidified my opinion.

Everything wrong with Joker in the 2-minute scene at the end of The Batman is still present here in this deleted 5-minute scene, and in this one his face is clearly visible... first the top half and then the bottom half... and the makeup with facial prosthetics is horrible.


Jack Nicholson's and Heath Ledger's performances will never be topped is because they're both the 'Alpha' characters if their movies. When they're in a scene they're the absolute focus of the scene, and when they're not in the scene he's still the focus because everyone is still in fear of Joker.

Here, in both scenes with Joker in 'The Batman' he's weak and pathetic.

How they're possibly going to make him a serious threat for Batman in the sequel, or the 3rd movie, I have no idea but Paul Dano, the writers, and the director all have their work cut out for them because this Joker doesn't look like he'd be a threat against a few gangsters... much less a threat to the entire Gotham City.

 

[Crawler89]

Thats the thing though, physically the Joker has never looked like he cant be beaten.
Its his mind games and addiction to chaos/silliness that always wins out over all

Ledgers joker only ever got the upper hand by being brutal or using tricks/theatrics/chaos

They took it out feeling like it didnt suit much. I need a bigger scope to decide how i feel about it.

Though Im with you in thinking that ledger's performance wont be topped.

The joker the past decade or so has been a wranglier crazy thing. This one kinda does look just like a kid in make up.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

I actually love the chance they are taking with that joker look. However, like others have stated its way too soon in batmans "career" to introduce the greatest threat and foil of them all; and that's the fact he already beat him and put him into arkham is just super off. The riddler was a good introduction to batman having to deal with escalated opponents above street thugs and standard organized crime bosses. I know this is is supposed to before The Joker is even a thing and he's just some intelligent mental case, but it falls really flat.

Its going to be hard to integrate the character into Reeves world now but we see how they proceed.

 

[Badger67]

I actually love the chance they are taking with that joker look. However, like others have stated its way too soon in batmans "career" to introduce the greatest threat and foil of them all; and that's the fact he already beat him and put him into arkham is just super off. The riddler was a good introduction to batman having to deal with escalated opponents above street thugs and standard organized crime bosses. I know this is is supposed to before The Joker is even a thing and he's just some intelligent mental case, but it falls really flat.

Its going to be hard to integrate the character into Reeves world now but we see how they proceed.

They could go the route that its part of joker's "plan" to get caught and tossed in Arkham for some other diabolical plot of his. Joker is insane like that, so it works if its written well.