By Caleb Tiedemann
With Marvel producing more content than rabbits producing offspring, I have grown somewhat tired of the continual unchanging and bland structure that they have adopted. Sure, it’s cool to see new heroes, but eventually the same paths will be tread. DC, on the other hand, is the literal opposite of Marvel, they lack the ability to start their own universe, they shoot down success, and interfere in the productions, causing bad blood among cast and crew alike. In short, Warner Bros. has no idea what they want other than bringing in that sweet green paper. In recent times, movies like The Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder’s Justice League have garnered enough revenue that will hopefully mean they are on the right track. However, if their idea of “on track” is to hire the guy Marvel fired, and finally let the guy who needed a break because his daughter died to finally finish his dream movie nearly four years later, due to extreme cast and fan backlash, I would say they still haven’t figured it all out yet. With all that in mind, let’s talk about The Batman.
Batman is a somewhat controversial hero, some dislike him, and some love him. Personally, Batman is the best superhero, a man without powers who has to rely on his gut, intellect, and self-created gadgets to solve crimes from increasingly insane villains. But one of the things that makes Batman such a great hero is his enemies. A hero is only as good as his villains. Each of Batman’s main foes offer up a different challenge to him, whether a challenge of intellectual prowess or physical will.
Over the years there have been many actors to play the Dark Knight, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, and most recently, up until this movie, Ben Affleck. With the last solo Batman film releasing in 2012, we were long overdue for another outing. Enter Robert Pattinson. Now, I will fully admit when I heard that they cast Edward Cullen as Batman, I could not stop laughing. I was sure this movie would be a flop, but then I saw the trailer and became intrigued. Leading up to my viewing of The Batman I watched multiple movies in Robert Pattinson’s filmography, and I have to say that I was very impressed with how much better of an actor he had become. I was hopeful.
Matt Reeves’s The Batman is quite a good film; however, it is not the best Batman movie by a long shot, in my humble opinion. The Dark Knight is still the proud owner of that title. Clocking in at a whopping 175 minutes, The Batman is a dark and gritty detective tale, the likes of which we have never seen on the big screen. For the first half an hour the movie was amazing. The opening scene is masterfully shot and bone chilling. It all builds up so well and then manages to fall apart so easily. It is impossible to write this review without spoilers so there is a warning in effect. The beginning is solid, setting up Riddler as this sadistic killer, and I was in love with it. It was the Riddler of my dreams, insane and designing Saw-like traps just to prove that he was smarter than the Batman. However, all his traps had a purpose to expose the rich elitist evil in Gotham. It was not what I wanted exactly, but I was still happy.
For me the entire film falls away once Batman gets involved with Catwoman. From that point on, we forget about Riddler and instead focus on the other villains: Catwoman, who is doing the exact same thing in every single Batman movie that she appears in; Carmine Falcone, who half the world either does not know or care about; and Penguin, who is hardly even the Penguin. He’s literally Falcone’s lapdog, and for the most part, his entire character is wasted in this movie. My biggest gripe was how much was done with Falcone. Falcone almost never takes center stage in any Batman related content, so it was really weird to see Matt Reeves take on a superhero Goodfellas. We then go on this whole tangent, for a solid ninety minutes about Bruce’s parents and their ties to the mob, Catwoman and her ties to the mob, Penguin and his ties to the mob, etc. We even find out that Catwoman’s father is Falcone, a reveal that was about as interesting and wanted as mowing the lawn. It turns from detective thriller to soap opera.
There were also a lot of inconsistencies, like how Catwoman instantly trusted Batman and then got suspicious later on. Catwoman never trusted Batman in any other media, why did she start now? Just because of her friend? Also Gotham streets are rampant with a drug called “Drops” yet we never learn anything about them or what they do. It is referred to multiple times.
The final thing that the movie has going for it is the deleted scene that was released online, the one with our new Joker. He was teased in the movie, but now we get to actually see him. He’s… something. I am not ruling him out based on his looks, yet. There is potential. Barry Keoghan might do very well with it. I have hopes, and we all know a new Joker will roll in the big bucks.
However, all these concerns are relatively minor. Where the plot is lacking, the movie still manages to stand with amazing performances from Paul Dano as the Riddler, Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Jeffrey Wright as Gordon. Zoe Kravitz was never really an amazing actor and seldom plays a unique role, her acting ability is decent enough but she hardly ever gets to showcase it. Colin Farrell was good whenever he was on screen, but that was not too often. John Turturro was a surprisingly good actor and fit the role of Falcone. The fight choreography, visuals and cinematography are jaw dropping and stunningly gorgeous. Then there is the score… beautiful, absolutely beautiful. These factors become the leg that this movie stands on.
In conclusion, The Batman is a very fun movie to watch. It does not always feel like a Batman movie but there are many qualities that make up for everything I dislike. Reeves is very obviously building up for a sequel, so I will still attend and pay my tuition to Hollywood for making another movie. ★
Final Grade: B+
