The Batman

The Batman 2022

Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the/ War for the Planet of the Apes writes, produces and directs this reimagining of everyone’s favorite caped crusader. This film had been in the making for 9 years before the release. Ben Affleck signed on to direct, produce, co-write, and star in The Batman in 2013 but had reservations about the project and dropped out. Reeves took over and reworked the story, removing the DC extended universe connections.

Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne
Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle
Jeffrey Wright as Lt. James Gordon
Paul Dano as The Riddler
Andy Serkis as Alfred

It’s Bruce Wayne’s 2nd year as the Batman in a Gotham City that’s struggling with Mafia run crime and a drug problem (drops) that’s spiraling out of control. As a killer starts to target Gotham’s elite, he leaves coded messages for the police to find and some that are addressed to Batman himself. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and brings justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

Robert Pattinson is in my opinion woefully underrated as an actor. People see him and think only Edward Cullen but he’s so much more than that, he is excellent in this role. Reeves considered Pattinson after seeing his performance in Good Time 2017 (which is brilliant by the way and should really be checked out if you’ve not seen it) and wrote the script with him in mind. This Bruce Wayne is brooding, cold, and laser focused on being the Batman. If Bruce Wayne had his way he would retreat from the world fully leaving only Batman and his mission to clean up Gotham.

Zoë Kravitz plays a kick ass Catwoman while showing fragility and doubt, there is real chemistry between the two heroes and every nuanced emotion hits home when they’re on screen together. She could easily lead her own movie if that’s the way the studio decides to go.

Jeffery Wright is excellent but when isn’t he? I would watch this man read the phone book! He didn’t have much help with the script here as he felt like the voice of the audience, setting up scenes for Pattinson rather than being in them.

Paul Dano takes the Riddler as far away from Jim Carrey’s version as you can get. He’s psychotic, violent, and totally unhinged. There is some serious acting talent being shown from Dano in the face to face scene between The Riddler and Batman.

Andy Serkis as Alfred has a relatively small role but he carries a lot of weight with it. He is the light heart, and soul of this movie, when all around are filled with violence, anger and vengeance Alfred is the one constant in Bruce’s life that keeps him from being fully consumed by the bat.

This movie is in no way a puff piece superhero film. don’t sit down for this one expecting a light romp. The buzz words for Batman films after the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher era has always been “dark” or “gritty” This film has both of those worlds running all the way through it, and it ain’t dark as in Game of Thrones- I can’t see shit- It’s dark as in it’s fucking bleak! There were tones of David Fincher’s Se7en or Zodiac running through this film. Gotham looks like a truly miserable place to live. Even when it stops raining (Which isn’t often) it’s a hazy, smoggy and depressing place.

We finally have a Batman that gets a chance to live up to the moniker of “world’s greatest detective” this is a who dunnit detective movie way before a superhero one.

The cinematography in this film is of the highest quality Greig Fraser ( Zero Dark 30, Dune, Rogue One and Let Me In amongst many others) was in charge of that. I sat in the cinema grinning like an idiot for what seemed like almost the entire runtime. It was just shot after shot of awesomeness. The use of backlighting, usually fire, explosions or sunrises with Batman and/or Catwoman in the foreground were stunning. The out of focus backgrounds are purposely done to keep you eyes firmly on the protagonists in the foreground and lets you know what’s important in each shot.

Reeves’s direction is on point too, there’s some great choices made, As I said earlier, it feels like a David Fincher film. It has a horror vibe running through it. The violence is dirty and street level, no world ending apocalypse on show. It’s massively film noir which I love, the Nirvana songs running through the film just add to the desperation you feel. The over the shoulder camera shots add to the personal feel of this film. Reeves wants you to be in the shot, not just watching it.

The look of Batman is so very cool, he’s armored, he’s a walking tank. which is a good job because someone needs to teach this fella to respect bullets! You hear him before you see him, the thudding boots coming out of the darkness adds to the fear he wants to install in his victims. The batmobile was awesome too. The first time you hear it rev up, the noise could literally be felt running through you. Excellent use of sound effects. For me, Christian Bale is still the best Bruce Wayne but this Batman… Pattinson’s Batman is head and shoulders above the any others in film history.

At 3 hours long some people may think it’s too drawn out. I could argue that a 15-20 minutes shorter film could have worked just as well but why take the chance? Reeves knew how he wanted this film to look and if that takes 175 minutes then that’s fine by me.

While this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, too long, too dark, too dour. I personally could go on and sing the praises of the look of this film for ages but I’d like the review to be shorter than the actual movie. So I’ll just say again. It’s a beautiful looking film. It’s easily the best I’ve seen in the superhero genre. Google image some of the scenes and you’ll see what I mean. It’s breathtaking!

After the absolute horror show that was Batman vs Superman and The Justice League this is a spectacular return to form for DC and The Batman.

I’m hearing there will be 2 further Matt Reeves Batman movies and a tv show spin off. Sign me the fuck up! Matt Reeves, you sir, have my money for life.