Directed by: Matt Reeves
Written by: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Paul Dano
Swift shot: All anyone really wants to know is can Robert Pattinson become The Batman? Well, it’s more complicated than that. He has moments where I felt he wasn’t given much room to flex, and in other scenes, he really takes advantage of the brooding silences. All in all, I think he’s better than Batfleck, Clooney, and Kilmer, but he’s a good distance behind Keaton and Bale. I still think he was an odd casting choice for this role. But the film is a smashing success, because he is smart enough to never make it about Robert Pattinson – this is The Batman movie, and it’s a tense mindfuck of a ride!
If you have played any of the Batman: The Telltale Series, you may be clued into how the storyline diverges from your typical Batman movies. And if you haven’t, well, you’re in for a few incredibly dark and wonderful surprises!
The Batman is really a serial killer movie cloaked and cowled as a superhero popcorn flick. I caught myself recognizing allusions and hat-tips to some of my favorite crime dramas of my youth. And there are some deliberate Easter eggs for the comic nerds as well as cinephiles! There’s something for everyone in this movie!
Pitted against a Gotham reeling from corruption, Bruce Wayne (Pattinson) has been working with GCPD for over a year now, and the Bat-signal is well-established as a deterrent to would-be criminals and wannabe punks. If you see the signal, prepare to bleed!
As Bruce does his part to clean up the city, there’s a mayoral election taking place and a serial killer is taking out some of Gotham’s elites. Working with Lieutenant Gordon (Wright), Bruce has access to the crime scenes, which makes for some interesting drama that you don’t typically see in a Batman film. But never forget, Batman is a detective, and Reeves relishes in reminding audiences what makes him special from the rest of the Justice League or even some legends out of Marvel.
I really enjoyed all the riddles he had to solve and trying to figure out the connection between the killer and all the pieces on the murder board. But a bat can’t really hunt alone, and he eventually teams up with part-time cocktail waitress and full-time femme fatale, Selina Kyle (Kravitz). She harkens back to the classic Catwoman days, but I still think nobody can hold a whip to Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance. Kravitz didn’t wow me, but she is also believable and certainly fun to look at – well, once she finally enters the story.
You also have great performances by Turturro, Sarsgaard, and Farrell; naturally. I have liked Paul Dano since Little Miss Sunshine, where he spends almost the entire film in complete silence, and he always brings in a remarkable performance. As The Riddler, he is sure to leave a lasting mark on this new generation. Let’s face it though, everything he does is iconic, because he’s a dramatic icon.
The scoring is phenomenal, with perfect shifts and tonal application that you’d expect from a cinematic stalwart like Michael Giacchino who managed to take Nrivana’s Something in the Way and use it as a tonal template for the entire film . . . it quite literally becomes the pulse of the story. Pattinson is an emotionally eulogized Batman, and this theme is brilliant, and to be honest it is why I stopped having my doubts about this film.
Having said all that, there were some slips in The Batman that reminded me that people can’t leave their stupid, meaningless messages out of the best of films these days. Like, for example the fact that they wouldn’t let Penguin smoke . . . like he’s a fucking role model or something? I mean, get over yourselves Hollywood. I don’t give a shit about social responsibility or tacked-on social justice bullshit. I just want to see Batman do Batman shit. Leave that other crap for Disney+, ok?
But apart from that lame messaging, that’s exactly what I got. The Batman checks off all the boxes of what a Batman film should be! It has riddles, fisticuffs, “wonderful toys,” the Batmobile, Catwoman, and a few bonuses too. Speaking of the Batmobile, when it finally gets to shine, it’s with an almost fifteen minute car chase that reminded me of both The French Connection and Bullitt!
End of the day, you won’t know if Pattinson can become the Batman unless you see it for yourself. Ignore the critics, Hell even me if I haven’t convinced you to see this one in theaters. And stick around after the credits, even though this isn’t an MCU film, Reeves does have a little fun with the audience with perhaps another riddle.
