Viewed 2/3/22.
Director: Matt Reeves
Actors: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M
‘The Batman’ gives
us 6th film-version of Bruce Wayne in Robert Pattinson and a lot of
people are asking “do we need another Batman film?” After watching this, the
answer is “yes”. From the director of the last two (great) ‘Planet of the Apes’
films, this is a brooding and dark, true-to-form Batman film, much closer to
Tim Burton’s films than the Snyder & Schumacher films. It has some aspects
in similar with the Nolan trilogy, but is different enough to stand alone.
This is a younger Batman/Bruce, and does well to not re-tell the story of his
parents’ deaths. Essential to any good Batman film is a good Alfred and Serkis
is great. The entire cast is really good – Selina (Kravitz), Lieutenant Gordon
(Wright), the Riddler (Dano), Falcone (Turturro) and Oswald/Penguin (Farrell) –
who is literally unrecognisable in his make-up. Dano brings a great energy to
the Riddler and makes him seem realistic in the world we live in – definitely no
trace of Jim Carey here! The scenes with Bruce & Selina work really well.
While this is very dark, both visually and thematically – including the repeated
use of Nirvana’s ‘Something in the Way’ – it really suits the noir vibe of the
mystery that has Bruce & Gordon trying to solve the Riddler’s puzzles/murders.
They make Gotham very believable – always raining – and there’s a great car
chase scene, as well as plenty of realistic hand-to-hand combat. While it’s
long – almost 3 hours – it doesn’t drag and the pacing is good, with the
non-action components being as exciting as the fight scenes. By the end, I was
certainly convinced by the validity of Pattinson, the suit and this film.
Overall: Well-made, gritty, low-tech noir mystery/thriller.
Gav’s Rating: 4 stars.
