Movie Review: The Batman

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

One of the best Batman movies. 

Director Matt Reeves once again takes the mainstream blockbuster franchise film and pushes the envelope with it, while keeping what people love about the franchise (just as he did with his great Planet of the Apes movies). This movie is uncompromisingly dark with mot only the grisly murders (they may not be gory, but they are disturbing) but a bleak view of society and humanity as a whole. The presence of a superhero like Batman may bring a little hope into this dark world, but through much of this movie we are left wondering if this is enough. More than any other Batman film this picture revolves around the city of Gotham. Gotham's wickedness and corruption are fully explored here including the backstory behind this city, which as further explored leaves Bruce Wayne wondering if everything, he ever believed could be a lie. This backstory is incredibly well written and thought provoking. There is some good social commentary behind it, but of the type that stays in the background and never preaches to the audience. It also ties into Batman's origin story in a way that does not repeat what other Batman films have shown but instead adds to it. Batman has long had a film noir influence, but this movie takes it to the next level. This movie is full of most everything you love about film noir, including a conflict hero having to face his dark past, a bleak view on human nature, corruption and a heavy dose of fatalism. Through much of the run time this movie moves slower than your average superhero film and takes its time to really establish a mood and atmosphere that are extremely effective. This also allows the film to show more of the detective side of Batman than any other live action movie version of the character. This side has been something severely lacking in other Batman movies (even Christopher Nolan's beloved trilogy). This works perfectly for this more film noir type approach to franchise. Another side of Batman this film explores is how the Batman mantle is taking over who Bruce Wayne is until Bruce hardly exists anymore. This makes this not an easy role to play, but Robert Pattinson plays the role to perfection and completely makes us believe this internal struggle that is going on in our hero's head. 

None of this is to say that this movie is lacking in what superhero fans love about superhero films. There may not be as many action scenes as your average superhero movie, but the action scenes we do have are fantastic and quite exciting. This movie also benefits from a great villain. The Riddler has long been one of my favorite Batman villains and this film presents a great version of this character. The Riddler we see here is everything a good comic book villain should be, frightening, twisted, a real threat to our hero and perfectly in control of each situation. The film also lets us see just how Riddler's twisted mind has come to believe that his plan is what needs to happen to Gotham city. It doesn't hurt that Paul Dano's performance is excellent. Yet this movie also works in some great side villains including The Penguin (Collin Farrell) and mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), who are treated in a smaller scale but still frightening manner. Meanwhile our hero's relationships with Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Alfred (Andy Serkis) and Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) help flesh out the character and Pattinson has great chemistry with each of these actors. Of course one of the most important elements of a Batman movie is the score (just think of Danny Elfman's great score for the Tim Burton movies) and luckily Michael Giacchino's score is near perfect. 

If you are even a casual fan of Batman, this film is a must see.