The Batman review

After watching The Batman, it is clear to me that sometime in the past, writer-director Matt Reeves watched David Fincher's Seven and thought "needs more Batman."

We have seen darker Batman before. The Nolan films got pretty dark at times, and Zack Snyder, well, he tried his best. But The Batman is easily the darkest film adaptation of the character yet. It out grims them all.

The Batman has no attachments to any previous iteration or timeline. It starts with Batman having been Batman for a couple years. Quickly the main plot gets going with the first of a series of murders being committed against various Gotham officials by The Riddler. Batman's investigation has him cross paths with Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, who has her own connection to the goings on. 

The three big feathers in The Batman's cap are:

1. The fact that this is the first movie version of the character that really focuses on him being a detective. That's been touched on in the past but has never been the focus. Watching him put the pieces together is really well done. 

2. The visual aesthetic. The whole film looks fantastic. The moody cinematography. The very lived-in production design. It's all excellent.

3. Zoe Kravitz. I have been waiting years for Zoe to finally get a major showcase in a major film. She hits it out of the park here as a badass, alluring Catwoman. She even has really crackling chemistry with Batman. Hopefully she becomes the 1st big screen Catwoman to make a repeat appearance. 

So why isn't the film as good as I wanted, or as it should be?

Well, for one the film is WAY too long. Almost 3 hours. And while I like the detective structure, the actual plot that is being uncovered is really not that interesting, and it cannot sustain 3 hours of interest. I'm sorry, but I don't really care about who are the bad cops and who is being paid off by who. 

Robert Pattinson has spent a decade since Twilight (in which he, unlike Kristen Stewart, was genuinely awful) building up his acting bonafides in a slew of well received smaller films, and an occasional bigger film like Tenet. His rise culminates as Batman, and occasionally Bruce Wayne. Pattinson is...fine. I really didn't find him to be anything special as either Batman or Bruce. He's so one note glum and brooding that there isn't much to the character. 

I really don't like Paul Dano. I have found him to mostly be an incredibly unpleasant presence in most of his movie roles. Now, that works for The Riddler, who especially in this film is a creepy psychopath. But late in the film Dano has a few scenes out of costume and, well, he goes for it. In the worst way. Much of The Riddler's plot here mirrors Joker's in The Dark Knight and Dano clearly wants his Heath Ledger moment. Sorry, Paul, but you ain't no Heath Ledger. He veers more into Jesse Eisenberg in BvS territory.

I did really enjoy Jeffrey Wright's weary take on Gordon. Andy Serkis is pretty much wasted as Alfred. An unrecognizable Colin Farrell plays The Penguin.

The film has some excellent, brutal Batman fight scenes, and a dandy car chase. 

Basically this one comes down to expectations. It's a good movie, a well made movie, but it is most certainly not on the level of the Nolan trilogy. I am for sure up for more films within this Batman universe though. Just not 3 hours. And make sure to get Kravitz back.