The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves (Planet of the Apes reboot, Let Me In) and stars Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, and quite few more. It's quite the cast...
The synposis is:
Batman ventures into Gotham City's underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator's plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis. As Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption, he's also brought to question his family's involvement in the criminal underworld.
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Just so you know: The Batman has an 7.9/10 on IMDb and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
First up, I think WB must have had a heavy hand in the creative direction of this film, which is nothing new with this studio, because Reeves can be pretty brilliant with his creative products, but in the case of The Batman, I am still trying to digest what I saw.
But as I look around at reviews, I find the following opinions over on Rotten Tomatoes:
CRITICS CONSENSUS
"A grim, gritty, and gripping super-noir, The Batman ranks among the Dark Knight's bleakest -- and most thrillingly ambitious -- live-action outings"
"It remains an action thriller that, with detective intrigue and atmospheric styling, shows an unexplored side of the dark knight in a Gotham City that is always drenched in rain and corruption at night."
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The Batman is three hours, so be ready for that, and in that three hour format, I believe it could have been a good two-hour film but there were a lot of long, drawn out exposition scenes to drive home the dreariness of the moment or setting.
And yes, yet again, this film is set in a dark (literally and figuratively) city with dark characters and dark settings.
I'm not totally sold on Pattinson being Batman, and we saw very little of Bruce Wayne's life even though it was alluded to on and off, but this film was about Batman.
We didn't get the usual origin tale (thank god) and we're dumped right into the mythos of the character, and throughout the film, we're introduced to a few new ideas about his past that could explain a lot about the character build of Batman.
He works closely with the police force in this film, even if most of the uniformed officers are not fond of his interference, but Commisioner Gordon sees the advantage to having the world's greatest detective look over a crime scene.
The bad guys are not over the top, but rather, have ordinarily applied nicknames. But I have to say, The Penguin... that actor transformation is absolutely amazing. Unless you saw the cast list, you would never even guess who it is.
But herein lies my confusion...
As this film hit the third act, I was aching for it to end. It was long in the tooth but I'm used to movies getting to the point and resolving. If I wanted to be in this for a long haul movie experience, then this film is definitely for you!
There's very subtle moments of humor but this Batman portrayed felt like a suicidal nut-case that had no fear of dying. He says so himself in the film, that he's not afraid to die and there's even a moment where it looks like he's about to meet his maker, and he does not seem to care.
Then again, his mindset can be explained... why he's taken up the mantle of the bat, does what he does, when it's explained how his mother was not quite right in the head and his father did everything he could to protect her from that potential image.
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