I finally got to watch The Batman (2022) a movie that has been on my bucket list for ages and I can say it was well worth the wait even if it didn’t blow my mind like other Batman movies, I'm a Christian Bale and Ben Afflec Batman fan so this transition is not easy, the movie takes a different approach to the character focusing more on his detective abilities rather than the usual action packed scenes are we use to, I would give a 7.5/10, a good movie but not at the The Dark Night levels, in my opinion, none the less a movie that I would recommend for any Batman fan, worth watching.
Rottentomatoes Rating
From the beginning we see Gotham as being more dark than ever, this time around we get a city that feels like a character and not just part of the landscape, director Matt Reeves takes his time to show us the dark corners of the city, the corrupt officials and the overall feeling of hopelessness that surrounds every citizen, at certain times I get why Bruce feels hopeless to turn things around, its a place where crime is not just common but expected and turn into a normal thing and in the middle of all this chaos we find a Batman who has been active for two years but hasn’t really made much of a difference, in his own words he can't be everywhere so fear is his best friend, crime rates are actually up and the only person who trusts him is Lieutenant Gordon, this brings us to another interesting aspect of the movie, the relationship between these two characters feels more like a partnership but still some level of lack of trust with everything going on around.
It begins with a brutal murder that sets the tone for what’s to come, The Riddler is picking off Gotham society inducing fear, I like how this time instead of a silly character is more of a brutal one very similar to Bane, who keeps dropping clues for Batman to solve. It’s a different take on the character as I mention, he seems more like a serial killer than a maniac trying to piss off Batman and it’s here where the movie stands out and makes a difference on what we usually had on previous movies, it doesn’t feel like a superhero movie, it feels more like a starting crime thriller when the investigation becomes the main event and we get to see Batman use his detective skills to pin down the case, which hasn’t been explored much in previous movies, way less tech and muscles than before, this time is all brain power.
The Riddler is killing Gotham's elite and powerful subjects, at the same time sending cryptic messages always to The Batman as part of the puzzle. Batman goes through each riddle rather fast and easy, almost feels too easy every time, he digs deep into the case and discovers that all the victims have ties to a deep web of corruption that dates back decades and traces to his family, this is a revelation that makes him doubt of everything he is and has been working for all this years, even doubts about Alfred, all goes back to the fact that his father struck a devil's pact with crime boss Carmine Falcone and that Alfred knew of the deal and never told him, making things personal as we see Batman second guess everything he thought he knew about his family and his mission, now its not just fighting crime or that the system failed him, its now his family that failed the city he is trying to safe.
Pattinson's Batman is more rough and inexperienced, he loses a lot during fights, gets hurt, same for been behind on every step compared to the Riddler, while his Bruce Wayne is more of a reclusive figure who barely holds together the character of a billionaire playboy, to be honest is nothing of a show off "money is not a problem" like other Batman we have seen in the past and instead is fully dedicated to being Batman to the point where Alfred has to remind him of his duties as Bruce Wayne, at times everything is very depressing and feels powerless, Pattinson makes both elements of the character feel real and his performance is awesome because this Batman felt more human like a regular guy wearing the suit rather than the invincible martial arts expert with a ton of money and tech, he shares great chemistry with Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle who plays Catwoman, she also felt more natural and a bit away from the common Catwoman who is just a high profile thief who bumps into Batman along the way.
Riddler played by Paul Dano is terrifying specially with all the mystery behind the mask, he’s not your flamboyant villain that we are used to seeing in Batman movies, he is a disturbed person who thinks he is doing the right thing by exposing corruption with his brutal method but he is clear on his motivation, he wants to show Gotham the truth about its leaders and uses Batman as part of his plan because he thinks they both want the same thing although still throw him under the Bus without directly knowing that Bruce and Batman are the same person, Jeffrey Wright as Gordon is also excellent, bringing some integrity to a police force that is mostly corrupt and Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as The Penguin, stealing every scene he is in with a performance that is so entertaining, I got the backwards effect after watching The Penguin before The Batman. It really shows how under develop was the Penguin and how much he had to give, but still with very little screen time manage to be one of the best characters during the movie, way better than Carmine.
Things get interesting at the end of the movie because when Batman discovers The Riddler's final plan to flood Gotham and have his followers shoot civilians in a stadium, he has to race against time to stop him or lets say at least safe the most people he could since there was no way going back and that part of the movie feels a little disconnected from the rest of the movie because it moves away from the detective work and into more traditional superhero territory where this Batman didn't shine but I guess they had to give us that kind of scene but it didn't felt special since he was not fighting any of the main villains, although it does serves a purpose because it shows Batman that "fear" alone isn't enough to save Gotham, he has to become something more, become a symbol of hope rather than just vengeance and when the city floods, Batman has to focus on saving people instead of punishing criminals and that is a very mix reality for Batman, from judge to savior.
Batman helps evacuate civilians and brings the people of Gotham to safety but it still feel like a big lost for him and the city, no wonder why during The Penguin he is no where to be found, this had happen in the past movies where Batman feels he cant save Gotham and stays away for some time, but I think the movie tries too hard to changing from a powerful image of Batman changing from a figure of fear to a figure of hope, meanwhile The Riddler is captured but has one final scene from Arkham where he meets another inmate, The Joker and opens up the possibility for further development, I have seen the deleted scenes of The Joker and is NOTHING like we have seen before, the character is out of a horror movie, probably a bit too much for a Batman movie so I still doubt if they will keep him at least this version of The Joker, at the end there are quite a few cliff hangers including the relationship between Batman and Catwoman who decide to go their own ways and the implications of Batman’s failure to save them from the flooding.
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