Review: "The Batman"

This past weekend, Robert Pattinson donned the bat suit in Warner Bros. The Batman (2022), the next addition in a very long line. Bob Kane and Bill Finger co-created Batman in the 27th issue of the comic book Detective Comics on March 30th, 1939. 27 years later, the “caped crusader” was incarnated into television on Fox/ABC’s sit-com Batman (1966-1968), of course portrayed by Adam West. Michael Keaton portrayed him 23 years later in Tim Burton’s Batman film released in 1989. In addition to West, Keaton, and Pattinson, Batman has had other incarnations: Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), George Clooney in Batman & Robin (1997) and by Oscar-Winner Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005-2012). And let’s not forget Kevin Conroy voiced Batman in Warner Bros. Batman: The Animated Series airing on television from 1992-1995. Here’s my review of the latest take on Batman.

When Edward Nashton, otherwise known as “The Riddler,” begins murdering political figures in Gotham City and leaving riddles to solve them, Batman joins forces with Selina Kyla, aka “Catwoman” and Commissioner James Gordon to sniff out and stop The Riddler. Things get more complicated for Batman, however, when his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, discovers that the Riddler has evidence acknowledging that Bruce’s deceased parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, weren’t always the decent human beings Gotham City believed them to be. It turns out that Martha suffered from mental illness and Thomas hired someone to murder a journalist who was going to reveal the condition, hurting Thomas’s chances of being elected mayor. (This even leads him to reconnecting with another old nemesis, Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, aka “The Pengquin.”) Overcome with confusion by the Riddler’s riddles, Batman struggles to find hope within his own life (all the while reconnecting with another old nemesis, Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot…aka “The Penguin.”)

Directed by Matt Reeves (Director of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)) and co-written by Reeves and Peter Craig (writer of The Town (2010) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and 2 (2014-2015)) this film is extremely dark and confusing. It’s also quite scary at times. Compared to “The Dark Knight” trilogy, however, it’s hard to know which is darker, but it does manage to be entertaining from the perspective of a comic book movie. And one can appreciate Bruce Wayne’s sentiment in the film of not wanting to give up hope, despite having to accept complicated/hurtful truths sometimes.

This film’s supporting cast is tip-top from Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, to Colin Farrell as the Penguin, to Paul Dano as the Riddler, to Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, they all deliver exceptional performances. The film was co-produced by Reeves and Dylan Clark who also produced “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “War for the Planet of the Apes.” The film’s Cinematography was done by Greig Fraser who received Oscar nominations for the Cinematography for Lion (2016) and was nominated this year for Dune: Part One (2021). The music was composed by Michael Giacchino who also composed Marvel’s Spiderman: No Way Home (2021) and the costumes were designed by Two-time-Oscar-Winner Jacqueline Durran who won Oscars for Anna Karenina (2012) and Little Women (2019), though Robert Pattinson’s bat suit was co-designed designed by David Crossman and Glyn Dillon.

Robert Pattinson is the youngest actor every to portray Batman on the big screen and what makes his performance special is that he makes the “caped crusader” more human. Although the villains he faces are diabolical in every sense of the term, Batman/Bruce Wayne himself also is an arrogant schmuck who thinks he was born into the perfect life, Batman himself uncovers his own arrogance. As someone who thinks he was born into the perfect life with perfect parents, feeling that he lost them too soon makes him bent on revenge. This film is his discovery that his family was anything but perfect, and he needs to let go of his desire for vengeance and become hopeful, bringing that hope into Gotham City.

All in all, “The Batman,” is an intense but well-made movie. The intensity does make it hard to process but ultimately it carries an overall positive message. I would recommend it if you enjoy comic book movies, but I wouldn’t rank it as one of my all-time favorite movies of 2022.