Movie Review – ‘The Batman’

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Well, I’ve seen it! I’ve seen ‘The Batman’, the latest ‘Batman’ film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman. It’s taken a while for this film to come out at cinemas ever since I saw the first trailer for it back in 2020, but I’m pleased that it’s out at cinemas.

‘The Batman’ has been rated highly, becoming a box office success and winning the favour of critics. It features a stellar cast. As well as Robert Pattinson as Batman, there’s also Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon and Andy Serkis as Alfred.

Apparently, there are two sequels planned as well as two spin-off TV shows following the release and success of this film. There’s no denying ‘The Batman’ has made an impact on cinema-goers, despite the current climate we live in, matching to the similar success that ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ has.

With that said, I can’t say I’ve been enamoured with ‘The Batman’ like other people have been compared to ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’. Don’t get me wrong, this is a well put-together ‘Batman’ film and it looks pretty impressive. But I have some reservations concerning its story and characters.

For one thing, the film is about 3 hours long. Whilst I appreciate the run time to encompass as much story as it can contain, the film lacks a balance of focusing on the Bruce Wayne character as opposed to the Batman character. I feel that I don’t know Bruce Wayne enough to appreciate his character. 😐

Now granted the film looks into the detective side of Batman’s character more and I appreciate him solving a crime case with James Gordon. But there’s so much going on in the film that I’m not fully certain I entirely understand what the mystery’s been about and what the villain’s motivations were.

The film is also too dark and too serious for my liking. In my review for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, I made it clear I prefer the original ‘Batman’ four-film series over ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’? Well, here, I feel I prefer ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ over ‘The Batman’. Yeah, it’s weird that I’ve come to that point.

At least ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ had a balance of Bruce Wayne and Batman in each film and at least there were scenes that took place in the daylight as well as the night. Most of the scenes featured in ‘The Batman’ are at night-time and very often, it’s raining on certain nights, which I found repetitive.

Now I appreciate people out there who prefer the darker, edgier Batman in ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ and ‘The Batman’ as opposed to perhaps the sillier aspects of the Adam West ‘Batman’ TV series and the original ‘Batman’ film series. But I enjoyed those versions more as they felt fun and energetic. 😀

Granted, the action sequences featured in ‘The Batman’ are compelling, especially when Batman is tackling bad guys to save a city from drowning. But there aren’t many cheery moments to ease the tension. 😦 At least Christian Bale’s Batman was given some lighter moments during his film trilogy. 🙂

Again, with all that said, I don’t find ‘The Batman’ to be awful. It is enjoyable to check out. Maybe it would’ve been better to have the film as 2 hours or 2½ hours. 3 hours is stretching it a bit. But it was intriguing how Matt Reeves executed his version of Batman and Robert Pattinson is good in the role.

Zoë Kravitz is also very good as Catwoman in the film. Whilst Paul Dano’s interpretation of the Riddler was interesting, enjoyable and more dangerous compared to Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey’s versions of the Riddler, I’m not sure I understand what his motivations were as a villain in the film. 😐

Jeffrey Wright also does well as James Gordon and it’s interesting to see how he interacts with Batman, being his ally in solving a crime case. I enjoyed John Turturro as crime boss Carmine Falcone, and it’s nice to see him in a decent role compared to seeing him in the ‘Transformers’ films.

Andy Serkis delivers a good performance as Alfred Pennyworth. Mind you, I wish we saw more of him, especially after he got hospitalised when a bomb went off in Wayne Manor. There’s Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, a district attorney and Colin Farrell plays Oswald Cobblepot/the Penguin. 😀

Honestly, Colin Farrell looks unrecognisable as the Penguin in the film. 😀 It was nice to see Rupert Penry-Jones (who I’ve seen in 2007’s ‘Persuasion’) as Don Mitchell Jr., Gotham’s mayor, who gets killed early on in the film. There’s also a cameo appearance of Barry Keoghan as the Joker in the film.

I’m not sure if it was the Joker that Batman, Gordon and Catwoman unmasked on the gantry and if he was in the prison cell next to the Riddler’s by the film’s conclusion. I think it was him. There’s also Hana Hrzic as Annika Koslov, Selina Kyle’s roommate, who tragically gets killed off in the film, and there’s Jayme Lawson as Bella Reál.

So, ‘The Batman’ is a bit of a mixed bag for me. I’m not sure if I’ll see this film again (it’ll probably be on a digital download should I see it again). I’m sure I’ll see the sequel when it comes out. Hopefully over time, I’ll grow to like ‘The Batman’ more as a film, as it does contain some dramatic moments. 🙂

With that said, I’m more inclined to stick with the 1989 ‘Batman’ film and its follow-ups as well as the 1960s ‘Batman’ TV series compared to this film. I’m looking forward to seeing ‘The Flash’ featuring Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck’s Batmen. I’m hoping to check out ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ again. 🙂

By the way, I’ve noticed how many times Jesus’ name gets said in ‘The Batman’. It’s very bad to the point of repetitive! 😐

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂