Review: The Batman

A chaos-spreading criminal known as The Riddler (Paul Dano) is wreaking havoc across Gotham City, killing public officials and leaving taunting messages for Batman (Robert Pattinson). Also up to criminal no-good in the city are The Penguin (Colin Farrell) and mobster Falcone (John Turturro). Zoe Kravitz plays cat burglar Selina Kyle, whilst Peter Sarsgaard turns up as the Gotham District Attorney.

 

I’m really more of a “Superman” guy, and by that I really only mean the 1978 one and maybe its first sequel “Superman II”. As far as The Dark Knight, I grew up on the 60s TV show and Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” film and enjoyed those very much as a kid. To a lesser extent I enjoyed 1992’s “Batman Returns” as well. Michael Keaton is my Batman/Bruce Wayne. After those I’ve not found a “Batman” film to be wholly enjoyable in all the years since. I disliked Christopher Nolan’s vision for the “Dark Knight” trilogy, despite some terrific supporting performances in them (Rutger Hauer, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy). The films were OK, but weren’t really for me. Basically, when I think of “Batman” I think of Burton and Michael Keaton, with a side order of campy Adam West. So after being somewhat disappointed by the Christopher Nolan trilogy, I went into this 2022 reboot with quite a bit of scepticism, but also a glimmer of hope that director Matt Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) and his co-writer Peter Craig (“Blood Father”, “The Town”) might bring the Caped Crusader back to something a little more Burton-esque to suit my tastes. Well, they’ve not really done that…but I will admit that I find Reeves’ vision much more interesting than Nolan’s. This isn’t my “Batman” and it seems a bit soon for a re-boot, but it’s enjoyable and interesting nonetheless.

 

Despite being modern, the film plays like an angsty, grunge-era mixture of “Se7en”, “Taxi Driver”, and “Watchmen”. A positive for me is that although Reeves’ vision of Gotham City isn’t quite as Gothic as Burton’s, it still looks more distinct than Nolan’s rather run-of-the-mill New York vision. You could almost call it a blend of the two styles, but with a bit of “Blade Runner” and “Se7en” in there too. To put it another way, if Sidney Lumet and David Fincher collaborated on a “Batman” movie, I think it’d look rather like this. It’s interesting design/world building that helped win me over.

 

Robert Pattinson was the only good thing about Nolan’s “Tenet” and he makes for a surprisingly good lead here. I’m starting to come around on the guy. His hardboiled narration and Batman voice are a lot less forced and phony than Bale. He looks a bit bulky in the Bat-suit but not to a ridiculously Bat-fleck kind of way. Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne has a grungy, depressed 90s young man vibe to him here. He’s an appropriately tortured soul. His Batman is a much more believable dark vigilante, and indeed this is much more dark vigilante tale than a comic book/superhero film. It’s pretty appropriate for the character, whether it’s my ideal Batman or not. So Pattinson is actually pretty solid in both facets of the character. Overall he ranks a pretty solid third best Batman/Bruce Wayne for me behind Keaton and West. There’s a huge gap after those three I must say. Meanwhile, Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” proves a much more appropriate song choice for a “Batman” movie than Prince did.

 

If there’s any major flaw with the film it’s with Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman, who I found completely dull. She had zero chemistry with Pattinson, and it’s a not terribly small issue either. It’s a shame, she just isn’t very charismatic or interesting in the role. I was also initially disappointed by the lack of rousing action sequences. However, we do get a bit of it here and there especially towards the end. Also, it just isn’t that kind of film so I can’t really call it a flaw. A bit more of a concern is how The Penguin feels like a mid-level villain, and more to the point, clearly waiting for the next film to be brought in front and centre. When given the chance, a completely unrecognisable Colin Farrell has seemingly a high old time being made up (presumably intentionally) to look like Robert De Niro’s Al Capone in “The Untouchables”. It’s one of the best makeup jobs I’ve ever seen, and it’s a damn good performance in a film that isn’t ready for it. I honestly couldn’t find a trace of Farrell in look, voice, or the overall performance. Well done. Much more of a villainous factor in the film is Paul Dano as The Riddler, and boy is this nowhere in the vicinity of Frank Gorshin (my favourite) or Jim Carrey’s version of the character. His Jigsaw meets Bane meets John Doe won’t be to all tastes. I wasn’t keen on the Jigsaw-esque vocal modulation, personally. Some might even see this dangerous, anarchic take of the character as tempting fate a bit in light of the “Dark Knight Rises” shooting several years back. I was able to get past those two issues however and found Dano to be entertainingly unsettling in the role, even though he kinda did a version of this already in “Prisoners” I suppose. And when showing his true self, Dano is effectively creepy in just how nerdy and unassuming he appears. It’s a damn fine performance. In other roles, Jeffrey Wright isn’t my favourite actor but he’s perfect as this film’s Gordon. I was less impressed with Andy Serkis as Alfred, there’s little difference between him and Sean Pertwee on TV’s “Gotham” if you ask me. Peter Sarsgaard and John Turturro leave much better impressions, the latter essentially being the second major villain alongside The Riddler.

 

Is this my kind of “Batman”? Not really. However, it’s an interesting and unique one and I have to commend it. Moody, dark, muted, more psycho-thriller meets police procedural than a superhero film. It may not be what I want in an ideal “Batman” movie for me, but it’s not having me resist it like the Nolan trilogy somewhat did. Definitely recommended, whatever your “Batman” preferences. I’ll hand it to Mr. Reeves, for a long film this one actually doesn’t feel it.

 

Rating: B-