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The Synopsis
The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, follows a series of events based off of the Long Halloween comic. Batman ventures into Gotham City's underworld when a sadistic killer begins eliminating rather important Gotham figureheads and symbols of justice and righteousness. However, as events unravel and motives begin to surface, Batman must form new relationships and alliances in a hope of unmasking the the killer before it is too late - while all the while - standing defiant to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the city of Gotham.
The Potential
The Batman had all the makings of a fantastic film. An exceptional cast, beautiful cinematography, a gritty setting and some of the most realistic Batman fights that have been captured on film to date. However, where The Batman seems to drop the ball is in its unimpressive writing, its overly long runtime and its laughable dialogue, and the fact that movies like Se7en (1994) have done what it aims to achieve ten-fold more impressively.
The Director & The Tone
Director Matt Reeves clearly had a vision for this film. It's artsy and well shot with a plethora of set pieces which make The Batman stand out as a big budget, hard hitting Batman flick. However, where Reeves has failed is in his ability to convey a truly captivating story that has peaks in the tension. The Batman suffers from a feeling of what I can only describe as constant building - but - this building amounts to nothing. It feels like a blue-balling at every corner. As if for every heightened stake and every moment that's supposed to amount to something almost always eventuates into nothing more than another plot thread which is leading into something else. The payoff rarely ever comes - and if it does - it's lackluster and boresome in the time that has been invested into reaching it.
The Batman also appears as though it's not sure what it wants to be: a realistic take on the cowl wearing vigilante of Gotham, or a superhero flick with a noir flair. There a moments of The Batman that feel as though it's supposed to be completely grounded. There's no capes that allow the Batman to fly, there's no super flashy gadgets or spinning stage for the Batmobile to sit atop in all its glory. It's a realistic world . And then, at a random - after establishing this realistic world - you're snapped out of what has been established by car chases that appear right out of the Fast & Furious franchise. It's mind-boggling why some of the decisions made in this film were in fact made at all.
The Casting
The casting of The Batman is something that's been hotly debated in the lead up to the films release. I will say that I was one of those who believed Pattinson would do fine as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Boy, was I wrong. Pattinson's performance feels lacking. His Bruce Wayne is non-existent, his Batman is average at best and his attempts to convey all his inner turmoil and emotions through his physicality fell flat for me. Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman is fine. Her role should have been significantly cut from the film as most of it did not amount to much and only bloated the films runtime. Jeffrey Wright's James Gordon is passable. He's more or less a bouncing board and an in to Gotham PD for Pattinson's Batman and much of his involvement is merely for the sake of reading out the Riddler's riddle's and asking "what could that mean?" a lot. Andy Serkis's Alfred's practically not a character, and frankly, this might be the worst casting in the entire film. Serkis is no passable Alfred.
Colin Farrell as the Penguin is perhaps the only genuinely good performance in the film. He is unrecognizable underneath all the prosthetics and his physicality and voice changes are out of this world. He deserves a nomination for his performance because the only times I felt like I was enjoying myself in the theatre was when this man was on screen. Honorable mentions to Paul Dano for an over the top (but creepy) Riddler performance.
Final Thoughts & Verdict
I wanted to love The Batman.
By the pretty scathing review I have given above in most of the areas that I felt this film failed severely, I suppose it wouldn't sound that way. Though, the severe shortfalls of this film have truly left me with a bad taste in my mouth. From corny writing, to some of the dullest takes on the Batman characters I've ever seen, to a laughable final act, The Batman's glowing reviews across platforms have me completely stumped.
This film needed an R rating.
The themes, feel and subject matter that it was exploring suffered severely from a lack ability to show what is so desperately needed to. Therein, a fundamental problem is created with this: we don't see the all encompassing impact of The Riddler's crimes and actions. They're hinted at, their partially shown and told through other characters, but the true brutal and dark nature that Reeves seemed to be wanting to go for was lost with the films inability to properly commit to its own narrative and feel.
With a runtime of almost 3 hours, The Batman somehow still didn't feel like it had enough time to effectively tie everything together due to its excessive introduction of characters and arcs over the course of the film. It's for this reason, I truly believe it would have made a better 6-12 part series than a single 3 hour long feature film. The story could have been told more properly and with more well-rounded detective work through this means of delivery. However, if the film medium served to be the way Reeves truly wanted to deliver The Batman to audiences, if the Catwoman arc had been cut from the film and perhaps a good 15 minutes of the final act - the story would have had more time to breathe into its more engaging themes..
Alas, with all the components that were included in this, The Batman comes together to be an ambitious, overly full mess.
It's for this reason, I give The Batman...
2.5/5 Stars
Pros: Visually beauitful, realistic fight scenes and ambitious set pieces.
Cons: Unoriginal story, poorly realized narrative and a victim to its classification (rating)
The Batman (2022)
The Synopsis
The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, follows a series of events based off of the Long Halloween comic. Batman ventures into Gotham City's underworld when a sadistic killer begins eliminating rather important Gotham figureheads and symbols of justice and righteousness. However, as events unravel and motives begin to surface, Batman must form new relationships and alliances in a hope of unmasking the the killer before it is too late - while all the while - standing defiant to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the city of Gotham.
The Potential
The Batman had all the makings of a fantastic film. An exceptional cast, beautiful cinematography, a gritty setting and some of the most realistic Batman fights that have been captured on film to date. However, where The Batman seems to drop the ball is in its unimpressive writing, its overly long runtime and its laughable dialogue, and the fact that movies like Se7en (1994) have done what it aims to achieve ten-fold more impressively.
The Director & The Tone
Director Matt Reeves clearly had a vision for this film. It's artsy and well shot with a plethora of set pieces which make The Batman stand out as a big budget, hard hitting Batman flick. However, where Reeves has failed is in his ability to convey a truly captivating story that has peaks in the tension. The Batman suffers from a feeling of what I can only describe as constant building - but - this building amounts to nothing. It feels like a blue-balling at every corner. As if for every heightened stake and every moment that's supposed to amount to something almost always eventuates into nothing more than another plot thread which is leading into something else. The payoff rarely ever comes - and if it does - it's lackluster and boresome in the time that has been invested into reaching it.
The Batman also appears as though it's not sure what it wants to be: a realistic take on the cowl wearing vigilante of Gotham, or a superhero flick with a noir flair. There a moments of The Batman that feel as though it's supposed to be completely grounded. There's no capes that allow the Batman to fly, there's no super flashy gadgets or spinning stage for the Batmobile to sit atop in all its glory. It's a realistic world . And then, at a random - after establishing this realistic world - you're snapped out of what has been established by car chases that appear right out of the Fast & Furious franchise. It's mind-boggling why some of the decisions made in this film were in fact made at all.
The Casting
The casting of The Batman is something that's been hotly debated in the lead up to the films release. I will say that I was one of those who believed Pattinson would do fine as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Boy, was I wrong. Pattinson's performance feels lacking. His Bruce Wayne is non-existent, his Batman is average at best and his attempts to convey all his inner turmoil and emotions through his physicality fell flat for me. Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman is fine. Her role should have been significantly cut from the film as most of it did not amount to much and only bloated the films runtime. Jeffrey Wright's James Gordon is passable. He's more or less a bouncing board and an in to Gotham PD for Pattinson's Batman and much of his involvement is merely for the sake of reading out the Riddler's riddle's and asking "what could that mean?" a lot. Andy Serkis's Alfred's practically not a character, and frankly, this might be the worst casting in the entire film. Serkis is no passable Alfred.
Colin Farrell as the Penguin is perhaps the only genuinely good performance in the film. He is unrecognizable underneath all the prosthetics and his physicality and voice changes are out of this world. He deserves a nomination for his performance because the only times I felt like I was enjoying myself in the theatre was when this man was on screen. Honorable mentions to Paul Dano for an over the top (but creepy) Riddler performance.
Final Thoughts & Verdict
I wanted to love The Batman.
By the pretty scathing review I have given above in most of the areas that I felt this film failed severely, I suppose it wouldn't sound that way. Though, the severe shortfalls of this film have truly left me with a bad taste in my mouth. From corny writing, to some of the dullest takes on the Batman characters I've ever seen, to a laughable final act, The Batman's glowing reviews across platforms have me completely stumped.
This film needed an R rating.
The themes, feel and subject matter that it was exploring suffered severely from a lack ability to show what is so desperately needed to. Therein, a fundamental problem is created with this: we don't see the all encompassing impact of The Riddler's crimes and actions. They're hinted at, their partially shown and told through other characters, but the true brutal and dark nature that Reeves seemed to be wanting to go for was lost with the films inability to properly commit to its own narrative and feel.
With a runtime of almost 3 hours, The Batman somehow still didn't feel like it had enough time to effectively tie everything together due to its excessive introduction of characters and arcs over the course of the film. It's for this reason, I truly believe it would have made a better 6-12 part series than a single 3 hour long feature film. The story could have been told more properly and with more well-rounded detective work through this means of delivery. However, if the film medium served to be the way Reeves truly wanted to deliver The Batman to audiences, if the Catwoman arc had been cut from the film and perhaps a good 15 minutes of the final act - the story would have had more time to breathe into its more engaging themes..
Alas, with all the components that were included in this, The Batman comes together to be an ambitious, overly full mess.
It's for this reason, I give The Batman...
2.5/5 Stars
Pros: Visually beauitful, realistic fight scenes and ambitious set pieces.
Cons: Unoriginal story, poorly realized narrative and a victim to its classification (rating)