It’s time to give Robert Pattinson his due — My review of The Batman
Minor spoilers ahead for The Batman
I know, I know — Robert Pattinson is still the sparkly vampire from Twilight to so many people. But it’s time to move past that. The guy can act. Period. He always could, but it’s time for people to admit it now that he’s in one of the biggest movies of the year.
Pattinson has done a ton of movies since the Twilight films to prove his acting chops. A lot of them are indie films. If you haven’t seen any of them, then you haven’t been paying attention. Check out The Lighthouse or Good Time if you’re interested in seeing some amazing performances out of Pattinson.
Now enters The Batman. Robert Pattinson plays a young Bruce Wayne who is in year two of being Batman. He is young, angry, reckless, and thinks he’s doing what’s right for Gotham. Pattinson plays it perfectly. His Batman is darker and grittier than any we’ve seen.
Director Matt Reeves has compared Pattinson’s Batman to Kurt Cobain. If you know anything about Cobain, he could be quite moody, especially when he was in pain from his stomach issues.
It is even cooler that Reeves was able to put Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” in the movie — twice. It’s a Nirvana song that doesn’t get as much love and it was beautifully haunting in this film.
In this film, Bruce Wayne is bitter and angry at the world. Mostly because his parents were murdered right in front of him. Thankfully we don’t have to relive for the 17th time. Alfred tries to keep the Wayne family name alive and well in Gotham, but Bruce has no interest in being a face for Gotham — that is saved for the Batman.
Reeves and Pattinson got a lot of slack for the “emo eye-liner” that Batman has in the film when he takes off his mask (see photo below). But it just added to the realism of this movie. Every Batman has used eye-liner, it’s just that when they take off the mask, it’s magically gone…for reasons, I guess? This was a nice feature of this movie, in my opinion.
Right off the bat (no pun intended), you knew this movie was going to feel different than any other Batman film. The Riddler kills the mayor of Gotham in a sadistic way. Batman enters the crime scene with Jim Gordon (played by Jefferey Wright), much to the dismay of the other officers, and is fully involved in investigating what happened.
That is what is so fantastic about this film — Batman returning to his detective roots. You can tell that Matt Reeves is a true fan of Batman because this felt almost like a detective film rather than a superhero film. This is what makes the character of Batman so appealing and versatile — you can truly do so much with him.
Pattinson plays the detective role perfectly. The Riddler was a great villain to start off this new trilogy. He leaves riddles around the crime scenes which allows Batman to play a true detective.
The movie followed this dark and gritty feeling throughout. Matt Reeves made me feel like I was actually in Gotham City. It felt like a real place with real problems and people.
I thought the Batmobile was really awesome. And it was introduced in a really cool scene. Batman’s gadgets were really cool and a callback to some of the more basic toys of the past. A lot of the fighting style actually reminded me of the Batman: Arkham video game series — which is an incredible set of games.
The Batman is also blessed with a great supporting cast. Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. Paul Dano as The Riddler. And Colin Farrell as The Penguin. They all were absolutely fantastic in their roles.
Colin Farrell’s Penguin is so good. It’s very different than Danny DeVito’s Penguin in Batman Returns. It’s more mob-based rather than baby thrown into the sewer that DeVito’s Penguin went through. This Penguin, or “Oz” as they call him often in the movie, was very menacing and I believe they’ve only scratched the surface with him. He’s getting a TV series on HBO Max, so I’m super stoked to see what they do with that.
Zoë Kravitz was a great Catwoman/Selina Kyle. I thought that they had a very compelling storyline for her in the film. Kravitz’s chemistry with Pattinson was very fun to watch, and it left you wanting more from them.
Paul Dano possibly stole the show with his take on The Riddler. It was completely opposite of Jim Carrey’s version from Batman Forever, but still very fiendish. They tied in social media into this new age story, by having Riddler live stream his heinous acts and gain followers.
It was very eerie because it was art imitating life. You see crazy people on the internet gaining loyal followers all the time. This wasn’t just some crazy comic book storyline, it is something that happens often— on both sides of the political spectrum.
Both Colin Farrell and Paul Dano left me wanting more of the villains. That doesn’t normally happen. A lot of times you see a superhero film, and you’re happy to see the villain get vanquished and then your hero gets to move on to someone new. While I want more villains in future films like Mr. Freeze and maybe the Court of Owls, I still would love to see more of Penguin and Riddler.
Overall, I thought this movie was fantastic. It wasn’t a perfect movie, but it is close to it in my opinion. The cinematography was fantastic. There were some really awesome shots throughout the film. The story flowed very well, the characters were all easy to keep straight, even with all the mob and political figures that they were introducing, and it delivered on all the plot points satisfyingly.
The other thing I loved about this movie was the clever humor. It wasn’t all Disney/Marvel where they have to cast a comedic relief for every movie, and every conversation has to be a set of one-liners. It was little things like the “thumb drive” or The Penguin getting stuck in traffic during a car chase. Little lines were thrown here or there, but they were set up so much more realistic than what you see out of a lot of other superhero films.
If you’re able to go to a movie theater to see The Batman, I definitely recommend you do so. It’s a great superhero movie and even great as a standalone.
