Saw The Batman and was pleasantly surprised. It’s not a flawless movie but it is a good movie and a good Batman movie.
I will say it was a little long and final act seems to have one ending after the other. I also would have preferred Batman stop the disaster at the end because having it happen was a little much I think but otherwise the cast was very good. The story was interesting and had some timely elements and I loved that he was actually a Detective solving a case. I don’t know if or how this connects to DC’s other movies but I wouldn’t mind seeing this incarnation of Batman again.
I thought it was great, but it did run a bit longer than it needed. I loved the sense of weight of suit, when he walked it felt like someone in a suit of armor was walking around. Pattinson did a great job, better as Batman than as Bruce Wayne though. All of the cast was great really, though Andy Serkis is probably my least favorite Alfred of any Batman incarnation.
Just got back from seeing the film this afternoon. A few thoughts:
Overall, a pretty great movie. It was almost three hours, but never really dragged at any point. As other posters have mentioned, one of the best creative decisions that Matt Reeves made was to have this be a legitimate detective story.
Robert Pattinson did a fine job as Bruce Wayne and Batman, particularly given the mindset that Bruce is depicted as being in.
The supporting players did well as well. He wasn’t an obvious choice but Andy Serkis was a great Alfred. Jeffrey Wright did fine as Gordon; if I would have changed something about the film, I would have told him to play the part a little more natural. At times, his dialogue came across like he knew he was supposed to be in a film noir. But, otherwise he was terrific.
Colin Farrell was great as the Penguin. I truly wouldn’t have recognized him in that role if nobody had told me that it was him. Paul Dano was wonderful as the Riddler; definitely a different take on that character, but he made it his own in a huge way.
Zoe Kravitz was outstanding; I hope DC / Warner Bros. are considering making a standalone Catwoman project with her, because I would definitely watch.
Agree with the OP that they probably didn’t need to keep faking out the true ending at the end. It got a little old after awhile. Also don’t know what to think about the teasing cameo by a certain archenemy at the end, but I guess they figured they had to include it.
Some Easter eggs that were fun to spot (“Hush!”; the reference to Bludhaven). I thought for a moment that the grumpy guy at the funeral was being played by Kevin Conroy, but I checked the credits and it wasn’t him.
Just glad to see Batman back in a standalone film. Interested to see where they go from here with him.
Never see him access the cave from “Wayne Manor” (which in this case is a skyscraper in Gotham). There is an elevator. The cave itself wasn’t too overdone (no dinosaur or giant penny, though).
Re: The Batcave. Rather than having Wayne Manor be an estate outside the city they had his home and the Batcave be in the center of Gotham City. It was an interesting choice and I think I like it.
Re: The Penguin. I read today that Reeves is working on a Penguin TV show for HBO Max. I could see that being pretty good albeit dark. I am curious how, if at all, any of this connects to the other DC movies.
Something else I meant to mention in the OP, I liked that Gotham City had a distinctive look again. I hated how it looked so generic in the Nolan movies. The fact that DC’s city settings are mostly fictional should be leaned into to make them look interesting. This did that.
I’d like to see a Batman movie set in the 40s, sorta like what they tried with Dick Tracy, but better. Maybe a number of stand alone stories, just like the original comics.
Something I was curious about. I rewatched Mask of the Phantasm recently and that had the same plot point that the Mobster was injured and was saved by Thomas Wayne decades earlier. I am curious if that was lore originally created by MotP or if that comes from somewhere else and both made use of it.
My short review is that I found the movie too long lacking in engagement, but I respect that it was a well-crafted execution of the director’s vision. The casting/acting was great except for (IMHO) Pattinson himself, who really laid on the emo teenager vibe. I don’t know how old Bruce Wayne is supposed to be but Pattinson is 35.
FWIW, I was a huge fan of The Animated Series, and so “my” Batman doesn’t live in a gritty, realistic world, but a cartoonish one where the motivations of the Bad Guys is that they’re just bad guys. And, since I was losing interest for the last 3rd of the movie, it gave me time to reflect on how the whole conceit falls apart if we’re supposed to think of Gotham citizens as real people. These “bad guys” are living in a corrupt city with very little hope, and a billionaire is punching them. Granted, there’s not a lot of The Batman fighting street crime as opposed to organized crime and terrorism, but there’s some. And has that concept aged well? Is a “tough on crime” billionaire someone we can look up to in 2022?
Thought the movie was fantastic, if slightly too long.
(should have ended after they caught/interrogated Riddler, the flooding/insurgent plot point was a bit out of nowhere)
The best compliment I can give the movie is this is the first Batman movie I’ve ever seen where I didn’t think Batman was a goofy weirdo. Every scene he was in, Batman looked Intimidating, borderline frightening. I chalk a lot of that up to how R-Pat played him: Very very well.
It’s probably the best Batman movie I’ve ever seen, but take that with a grain of salt because I
A. Don’t really like the Nolan movies much
B. Have Dark Knight Rises as my favorite of the Nolan trilogy
C. And most importantly, every opinion I have about anything is always wrong
