Review of The Batman (2022) by Moviemitch96 — 04 Mar 2022

Here we are... Another Batman movie, and yet ANOTHER reboot. In this one, Bruce Wayne/Batman finds himself up against various terrorist threats from the menace known as The Riddler. With some help from Selena Kyle/Catwoman, he must dig deep into Gotham's seedy underworld of crime and corruption while also targeting some of it toughest mobsters, such as the Penguin to find the answers he needs.

When I first heard the news a few years ago that Robert Pattinson was in talks to don the cape, I was immediately skeptical, not because of his past with 'Twilight' believe it or not, cause he's actually a hell of an actor if you watch some of his past and most recent indie films that he's done ('Good Time', 'The Lighthouse', etc), but because I simply didn't think he fit the part and I couldn't picture him in such an iconic role to save my life.

However, when the first trailers of him in action dropped, I was intrigued, my doubts swayed, and my mind opened. The more previews I saw, the more excited and hopeful I became. And after watching this very epic and VERY long (3-hr) iteration of the caped crusader, I certainly have a lot to unpack here, so I'll start with the basics like usual.

For starters, anyone going into this with doubts about Pattinson needs to put those doubts to rest and try your absolute hardest to disassociate him from 'Twilight', cause like it or not, the man can act, and he gives an absolutely stellar performance here both as Bruce Wayne and Batman! He really opened himself up here in every possible way and exposes himself to every possible emotion, easily making him the most sympathetic, grounded, and vulnerable Batman we've seen thus far! And while I wouldn't go so far as to say he's my new favorite Batman, he's right up there with Christian Bale and more than earned his chance to take on what many consider to be the most coveted role in Hollywood.

As for the supporting cast, Zoe Kravitz is stunning and impressive as Catwoman here, and Paul Dano as the Riddler is absolutely haunting and chilling! The only weak link and character here I found to be rather miscast, despite lots of makeup and prosthetics being applied, was Colin Farrell as the Penguin.

While everybody else in the film felt like they were on the same dark and gritty wavelength as each other, only Farrell feels cartoony and hammy compared to the rest of the cast, and the guy's just too tall and handsome in real life to make for a convincing Penguin.

I know I can't be the only one who wouldn't picture someone like him in the role first thing. Storywise, it's not the strongest, and I couldn't help but notice that it borrowed heavily from a lot of the gimmicks and tropes that we've seen in several past iterations of Batman films, including several from 'The Dark Knight' trilogy, so it couldn't help but feel a little cliche and derivative at times.

And as for that epic runtime, I was already skeptical enough upon learning about how long it would be, and told myself that a runtime that long would NEED to be justified, but unfortunately it just wasn't.

There are several moments and scenes that felt very much like padding to me, and this film easily could've trimmed several moments to make it a half hour or so shorter and it would've been great. However, I will say that the overall tone, mood, and atmosphere provided that gritty noir-style Gotham most of us have come to love and expect over recent years, and it was definitely enough to keep me invested and not too restless during its 3 hours.

I also really enjoyed the score in this one as well! It's worth noting just how well it fit with the rest of the film and helping with setting the tone, not to mention its surprisingly effective use of 'Something in the Way' by Nirvana on a couple of different occasions.

By the time the credits rolled, it's obvious just how much the studio wants to set things up for further installments in this particular Batman universe, and with an intriguing enough set up with this first film, I'd be willing to see where things go from here.

Overall, there's not really any surprises here in the way of that gritty noir feeling and style from watching Batman, but despite a somewhat redundant-feeling storyline with a good amount of excess it could've trimmed, the tense atmosphere and score, as well as Pattinson's bold performance, along with several others in the cast are the main highlights here that make the film compelling and worthwhile enough, and perhaps might add just enough intrigue to see where things go from here.