The Batman (2022)
The Batman
- 4/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥🎥
- Directed by: Matt Reeves
- Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffery Wright, Paul Dano, et al
- Where to find it: In Cinemas Now
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Batman is one of the, if not the most, popular comic book
characters ever created. As a result, there have been a lot of adaptations of
him going in all kinds of directions, from gothic fantasy to high camp, to
serious crime epics. Strangely, despite debuting in Detective Comics there
hasn’t been a live-action Batman that was a detective story. Fortunately, Matt
Reeves has also spotted this gap in the market.
The Batman spares us another origin story, picking up two
years after he first put on the cowl. We see The Riddler murder the mayor of
Gotham on Halloween night, leaving behind a note directed to Batman. This
spirals into a sprawling story that brings in classic Batman characters such as
the Penguin, James Gordon, Selina Kyle, and others, with Batman uncovering a
deep network of corruption as he seeks to catch The Riddler before he can kill
more of Gotham’s elite.
A notable feature of this film over other Batman movies is
its almost complete focus on The Batman over Bruce Wayne. The vast majority of
Robert Pattinson’s screen time is spent in costume. This represents how this
iteration of Bruce Wayne doesn’t care about his family’s name and legacy so
much as he desires revenge against Gotham’s criminal underworld, but it also
gives the film good focus, beyond what you’d expect from a three-hour-long film
and adds to its comic book feel. This is the most Batman Batman has ever felt
and as such is sure to be a hit for comic book fans, as well as those who
enjoyed the Batman: Arkham series of games which it also seems to draw
inspiration from. In terms of cinematic influences, I got a feel of David
Fincher’s Seven while watching this film owing to its villain being a similar
feel, leaving behind messages and clues on purpose while killing for a cause they
believed was right, as well as the focus on crime scene investigations with
Batman and his police contact James Gordan (Jeffery Wright) working together to
try and solve the case before things can escalate. The chemistry between these
two is excellent and I hope their dynamic continues to be the crux in the
inevitable sequel. In fact, there are strong performances across the board, Zoe
Kravitz’s Selina Kyle proving an excellent partner for Batman, Colin Farrell
being almost unrecognisable as the Penguin, and Paul Dano being downright
terrifying at The Riddler, a character whose only previous appearance on screen
had come in the form of Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey, so it’s nice to see him
taken seriously. His introduction scene (and indeed several of his other ones)
play out closer to a horror movie than a superhero film, showing him a man to
be feared.
As you can expect in a sprawling three-hour film there are
numerous side threads, some setting up possible sequels, some providing some
background and depth to the characters. This does result in the film’s pace
falling off at times, and it could probably stand to shed a few minutes here
and there. Also, personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the music which I found a
little overly repetitive and not particularly rousing for the most part. The
action in the film is relatively sparse for a superhero movie, but this is made
up for by that which there is a good quality in showing a Batman who is
formidable, though not perfect in his fighting, contributing to the fairly
grounded feel the film manages to carry, in spite of its comic book look. A
particular highlight is a tense action scene lit only by gunfire.
In short, The Batman is a great success. Yes, it’s perhaps a
little long and occasionally meandering, but pitch-perfect performances,
visceral action, and a tone that manages to feel like it’s straight out of some
of the darker Batman comics while still feeling like it could almost be the
real world manages to make up for this. Robert Pattinson has made the role his
own, and I look forward to seeing what he and Matt Reeves give us next time
out.
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