REVIEW: The Batman Will Be a Hit For Some & A Miss For Others

Movie fans all over the world have been introduced to two Batman franchises within the last decade, The Dark Knight trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader, and the Snyder Universe’s Batman, directed by Zack Snyder with Ben Affleck taking on the lead role. Director Matt Reeves is now joining the Batman game with The Batman and selected Robert Pattinson as his leading man.

Based on the Batman comic series, this iteration finds Bruce Wayne already embracing his role as Batman. Protecting Gotham City from the corrupt, the mob, and some other interesting characters, Bruce is questioning whether his role as Batman is making an impact on his city. When the mayor of Gotham is murdered by a mysterious figure assigned the moniker, The Riddler, Batman teams up with Gotham City Detective Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) to stop The Riddler before it is too late.

Unlike his directorial predecessors, Reeves’ movie focused more on dark side of the character. The film is probably the darkest Batman movie to grace the screen, and this includes Tim Burton’s version which was dark but still had a comic book feel to it. Reeves made it clear there isn’t anything lighthearted in his film, from the cinematography to the music, which he heavily relies on to set the tone and feel of each scene. The characters all had a seriousness to them with very few comedic moments. The movie drew inspiration from some of the darker stories in Batman’s comic history including Batman Year One and Batman Long Halloween. Batman fans will have no problem connecting the dots to the character’s long comic history as they watch the movie unfold while fans not so familiar with the comic Batman may struggle.

The focus on the darker side of comic Batman isn’t necessarily a bad angle to take; however, Reeves does stumble in his first go at tackling Batman. The first main flaw is the length of the film, coming in at just under 3 hours. The movie definitely has slow parts, especially towards the beginning and certain scenes dragged so much so that it felt as if the actors were talking slower than normal. This may have been a purposeful choice but its impact on the overall film was the same. There were some scenes that also could have been removed completely and would have tightened up the flick so that it didn’t feel as tedious.

The second main misstep was the broodiness of Bruce Wayne. Pattinson did a great job when he was portraying the Batman side of the character but when it came to the Wayne persona, I felt like I was watching him as Edward Cullen all over again. Perhaps another movie in Reeve’s Batman universe could flesh out the Wayne side and bring to life the character so many fell in love within the comics. Although with the length of this film it makes one wonder why this wasn’t accomplished in this first go around.

Pattinson is joined in the movie by Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Colin Farrell as Penguin, Wright as Detective Gordon, and Paul Dano as Riddler. Kravitz was the perfect casting choice as Kyle. The way she carried herself throughout the entire movie was how I envisioned Selina to move. And her chemistry with Pattison will leave you wanting more from “The Bat and the Cat”. Farrell literally transformed his entire look for his performance as Penguin but there were times his performance reminded me of Danny DeVito’s performance in the Tim Burton’s Batman film. Maybe it was the way he spoke or the way he carried himself, but I kept thinking of DeVito when I was watching the movie.

Dano does an okay job as the Riddler, but I wasn’t a huge fan of how Reeves opted to portray the character. My favorite version is the one featured in Batman: The Animated series where he has an almost cocky swagger to him. Deno and Reeves version was more reserved; at times it almost felt like a scenes based off one from Nolan’s The Dark Knight. I don’t want to give anything away but there were a few scenes featuring the Riddler that reminded me of scenes with Heath Ledger’s Joker.

This movie is going to have Batman fans torn. Some are going to love it, some are going to hate it, and some are going to feel the way I did when leaving the movie, it has potential. Is Robert Pattinson the best Batman to ever wear the cape and cowl? For me, no, but I think Reeves and Pattinson shed a new light on the Dark Knight and have created an intriguing new world for Batman and non-Batman fans. With the way they end the movie, they definitely have things set up for a sequel.

Grade: B