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Posted in: Batman, Movies, Review, Warner Bros | Tagged: Michael Reeves, robert pattinson, the batman, The Batman Review, zoe kravitz
The Batman Will Help You Rediscover You Love For Gotham {Review}
The Batman is exactly like all of the best Batman comic stories of the last 30 years; a slow-burn detective story with fantastic performances, a stellar villain, and maybe the best Batman yet in Robert Pattinson. It may be a hair too long, but it hardly matters when you are enjoying what you are watching so much. This is the kind of start the Bat-Universe needed; now we just need WB and DC to get out of their own way and keep it going.
The Batman We Needed
No need for the origin story here, as we jump right into Bruce (Pattinson) in his second year in Gotham as the Batman. Called to a crime scene by Lt. James Gordon (Jeffery Wright), and much to the chagrin of others on the force, Batman, has to help unravel the mystery around a new serial killer, The Riddler (Paul Dano), who is dishing out his own lethal version of justice. While investigating, he crosses paths with Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) and the Penguin (Colin Farrell) while also getting help from Alfred (Andy Serkis).
Matt Reeves has given us a fantastic version of Gotham and its inhabitants to spend time with. There is some gorgeous filmmaking happening here, with some shots that will have you holding your breath and wetting your eyes with joy. The purpose of this film feels like it is our chance to rediscover Batman, and it succeeds in spades. Gone are the silly voices devilish grin of the Bale films, the aloofness, and experience of Affleck. Reeves goes big to make every entrance feel epic and like this is the first time we are seeing it, hard to do with a character and story we have spent 70 years with. Try not to get goosebumps when the Batmobile charges up the first time.
This Gotham is rain-soaked, crooked, and tired. While Batman has been at it for two years, he wonders out loud to himself if any of it has mattered at all. As has been posited in every superhero film, good rises up, and evil to meet it. The Batman goes a step further, though, showing us the psychological toll it takes on the city and its people. The criminal element has such a presence in Gotham, and it is a complicated and richly developed part of this film. While The Riddler keeps everyone on their toes, it is Batman cracking skulls and doing the dirty work that keeps us engaged, taking on the criminal underground in a much deeper way than other Batman entries have before. But is vengeance the right path? Is that truly the way to help people if that is your only goal?
Robert Pattinson may not have been many people's choice to down the cowl, but he commands your attention from the second he emerges from the shadows. He is the right person to answer these questions for us. It is a treat to watch him grapple with his impact on the city, and his heady take on Bruce will be talked about for a long time. Out with the playboy, in with the detective. We actually get to see the detective side of The Dark Knight in this film, and it feels refreshing to watch. This is a psychological thriller through and through that will draw comparisons to Seven, and that is not too far-fetched either. There are aspects of The Riddler that are downright scary and chilling, especially the opening scene. Batman and Gordon are wonderful together, and Wright and Pattinson do a fantastic job playing off each other. They give off a real Freeman/Pitt vibe that you really vibe with the entire time. The Batman also features an electric connection between Pattinson and Kravitz, whose Selina Kyle comes damn close to her comic counterpart. Impulsive yet calculating, you cannot look away anytime she is on screen with Bruce. Farrell is fantastic as Penguin, John Turturro is powerful as Carmine Falcone, and Dano does some of the best work of his career as The Riddler.
Another character that works, for the most part, is the score. Michael Giacchino has scored some big movies before, including for Reeves, so the two trust each other. While there are some misses where his instrumentals overwhelm, the main theme is an instant classic. The score has to try and keep up with the grit and intensity of the story and succeeds more than it fails.
It is not perfect. The Batman is too long, though it flies by. When thinking about it afterward, there are a few places where there could be some trimming done, especially in the final third. While The Riddler's master plan is horrifying, it does get a bit confusing and muddled in the last 20 minutes. But that leads to one of the best character moments in the film for Bruce, so it is a weird way to get there, but it pays off. There are also revelations about the people in Bruce's past and a decision made near the end of the film that they just don't pull the trigger on that would be game-changers; it was disappointing we won't be going down those roads as well.
The road we could continue on, though, is exciting. The Batman takes the things we know and slaps a fresh coat of paint on them and tweaks them just enough to remind us of why we may have fallen for this world in the first place while giving us a new era of Batman to look forward to. Pattinson will change a lot of people's minds, and this is the Gotham we should all want to spend time in for the foreseeable future.
The Batman
8/10
The Batman is exactly the fresh start Gotham needed, breathing new life into the character and helping rediscover why we love this character in the first place.
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