The Batman
Tonight I went and saw ‘The Batman’. This is the first movie I’ve seen set in this universe since 2019 and ‘Joker’ (With which the film could be part of the same universe.) and the first Batman movie since 2008 and ‘Dark Knight’. Both these movies are highly regarded and both had critical success. I have serious problems with both these movies and think they are overrated. In MY OPINION ‘Joker’ is gorgeous. Fantastic set design, great cinematography, fantastic performances, great soundtrack and sound design… The movie as a character study was meh. Generic and uninteresting. ‘Dark Knight’ I have an even lower view of. Me and my mate went to see it and we both thought the same. Fantastic start with that bank robbery scene. Heath Ledger Truly deserved the Oscar for his Joker. The film was over bloated, somewhat confusing and predictable and that Batman voice… A choice? Really that was a choice. Here endeth the unpopular views.
‘The Batman’ is the best Batman film for me since ‘Batman Begins’. I really do love that one. Still my favourite. It doesn’t quite have any performance as great as Heath Ledger’s, or Joaquin Pheonix’s Jokers’ But all the performances were top notch. Zoe Kravitz as Selina kyle/Catwoman was fun, Colin Farrel as Penguin nicely chewed scenery, John Tuturro as Falcone was good form as to be expected from the seasoned actor. The weakest for me was Robert Pattison as Batman (He didn’t really do a Bruce Wayne. It wasn’t a terrible performance and still watchable. Long stares instead of replies. It was a bit to emo for me but it had potential. You knew this was the Batman still on the early days of his journey and he was not yet who was going to be but you can see Pattison’s Batman has the potential to be the batman we all know.
What was great about ‘The Batman’ was the story. It’s the first live action Batman film that really is a detective story nearly all the way through. This film relies less on Batman physical attributes, which are here, including gadgets and the best live action Batsuit and relies more on his knowledge and observation skills. Pacing is great, mostly, it lingers in some areas. It suffers from the modern film habit of being overly long but it isn’t as bad as some others. Maybe 20 minutes of stuff that didn’t need to be there. The cinematography is great and has plenty of hero scenes and enigmatic silhouettes. This film has lots of influences and wears them proudly noir, Hitchcock even Nolan’s Batman but mostly 2 obvious stand out influences. Gotham city felt like it was pulled out of the ‘Arkham’ games and of course David Fincher’s ‘Seven’. It was ‘Seven’ in so many ways but not in a bad way. It could very much have been a good sequel. Paul Dano’s Riddler shared a lot with John Doe. The murder’s and the clues shared a lot with the seven deadly sins styles of murders and clues and there was part, that has to be said was ripped right out of ‘Seven’. Even that didn’t annoy me though. Rather it was a familiar moment.
‘The Batman’ was a pleasant experience, even surprise as I wasn’t expecting much. The first live action production I’ve enjoyed in this universe since 2005.
This is not Adrin… The pirate reviewer.