After a ridiculous amount of anticipation and delays, Matt Reeves’ The Batman has finally arrived in theaters and the result is a movie that belongs in that rare transcendent category of comic book movies that encompass and surpass that very label.
Reeves and his cast and crew have crafted a Batman movie that is unapologetically dark yet thoroughly engrossing. It’s a three-hour movie that feels more like two.
The Batman begins with Robert Pattinson donning the cape and cowl and it takes place within the Dark Knight’s second year of fighting crime in Gotham City. This version of Gotham is so grim and gritty that it could make Christopher Nolan’s trilogy look like something out of the MCU.
The Batman is considered a vigilante by the police except for Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). Together they team up on an investigation of the city’s wealthiest citizens being murdered by the Riddler (Paul Dano). He leaves riddles at the crime scenes in the form of cutesy cards.
Dano’s Riddler is both creepy and sinister and the resulting performance is much more likely inspired by the Zodiac Killer than the over-the-top buffoonery Jim Carrey showcased in Batman Forever.
Joining the Batman is Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), a thief with her own agenda who is in a sometimes flirtatious relationship with Batman when they’re not engaging in hand-to-hand combat or investigating the activities of crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).
Falcone’s second-in-command is Oz Cobblepot a.k.a. the Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell). Both Falcone and the Penguin may be in cahoots on the surface, but their morality is tested when confronted by Batman and Gordon.
Andy Serkis plays the loyal butler Alfred and like some of the characters in this movie, his moral fiber is also stretched when learning to accept his ward’s choice to be Batman and the repercussions it’s having on his alter ego. A crucial revelatory scene involving Bruce Wayne is especially effective and may even leave some jaws dropped.
There are an incredible number of scenes that are deliberately slow-paced, but that works in service for the type of story Reeves is telling. However, he compensates by giving us many tension-filled moments such as when a funeral is interrupted by a car crash and when one of the Riddler’s victims has a bomb strapped to him: Batman has to correctly guess the riddles presented to him in order to keep the bomb from going off.
There’s also plenty of action including a sensational car chase between Batman and the Penguin. There’s a visceral ferocity that feels like something like out of Mad Max rather than a comic book.
Reeves and his production designer James Chinlund fashion the world of Gotham to be like the mood and atmosphere of David Fincher’s Se7en. Cinematographer Grieg Frasier accentuates the moodiness and makes Gotham’s rain-soaked world look like Blade Runner. Michael Giacchino’s score is epic and helps reinforce the action as well as the quieter scenes.
Pattinson, Kravitz and the rest of the cast do an outstanding job of taking these characters and playing them straight. They never act like they’re in a comic book.
Instead, they all, including Reeves himself, manage to combine the genres of film noir, crime drama, and psychological thriller and put them together in a package that just happens to have comic book characters in it.
For 176 minutes, it never bores or disappoints. It has a lot to offer even beyond its rabid fanbase.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.)
