(Photo by IMDB)
After waiting with bated breath to see Robert Pattinson’s depiction of the caped crusader, The Batman was finally released last week to critical acclaim. A darker and more nuanced insight into not just Batman, but at Bruce Wayne and all those that surround him. Gone is the billionaire playboy that we are accustomed to seeing Wayne as when he isn’t donning the iconic mask; in his place a struggling and vulnerable man who is still yet to fully process the trauma of what happened to his parents all those years ago. I’m going to be giving my thoughts about the film in a spoiler-free way so I’m just giving general thoughts with the limited footage that the masses would have seen from trailers and short clips.
The film clocks in at just under three hours, and whilst I feel that this is a very big ask for a lot of people, it didn’t drag, and I was never checking my phone really to see how long was left. So that’s a good sign.
I thought that this was one of the best superhero films I’ve seen in a long time when it comes to the grittier and more conflicted mindset of the protagonist. It isn’t just a simple case of a bad guy showing up and the good guys winning with little to no losses or major conflict. Pattinson’s Batman is constantly a step behind and trying to catch up, on the brink of losing everything and everyone around him. You can see how this desire to help and save everyone has become his primary personality, to the point as I mentioned before where Bruce Wayne is almost an outcast, others are genuinely surprised to see him around. Pattinson commented on this in press junkies around the film’s release, as one of the main criticisms a lot of people had going into it was this focus away from Bruce as a playboy, myself very much included. But he gave a very insightful and interesting answer where he suggests that this ability to just put on a playboy persona is more sociopathic, the idea that someone can just switch off those horrible thoughts and switch them on when he needs to. This Bruce Wayne is the first that I can recall where he is vulnerable, conflicted, and in great danger. The cinematography is *chef’s kiss* and adds so much atmosphere and grit to this crumbling city, with the use of shadows and darkness in particular being emphasised. You get this feeling that Batman is truly feared by Gotham. Not just by those who choose a life of crime, but even by those who he is trying to save. The music samples a lot of Nirvana which is quite funny as Pattinson’s Wayne looks like a rejected member for Nirvana.
This film also has some of the coldest and most badass scenes ever to capture Batman, and that’s big coming from me as The Dark Knight is one of, if not my favourite, films of all time. You can see the paranoia of every criminal in Gotham as that Bat-signal hits the air, actively checking and being terrified of every shadow to see if he is lurking. This film also boasts some incredible fight sequences, where it looks like Batman is almost enjoying all this pain he is inflicting, further blurring that line I mentioned before as to where Bruce Wayne’s personality stops and where Batman’s begins (did you see what I did there?).
In terms of Pattinson’s performance, he certainly had a lot to live up to with the legendary lineage of actors who have donned the caped crusader before him, but I felt like he served the role admirably and brought that different and more realistic edge that I didn’t think I needed to see until now. I am very excited to see where they go from here with Pattinson’s Batman and the cast of characters around him. That brings me in nicely to talk about the supporting characters in the tale, and what an excellent job they did. Paul Dano as The Riddler was a perfect fit for the role, a deranged genius that was always one step ahead of the world’s greatest detective, bending him and the Gotham police around every excruciating detail of his clues and riddles, only for them to seemingly fall a step behind each time. The Riddler is borderline an internet sensation, with thousands tuning in to see him ‘unmask the truth’ behind Gotham’s history of lies. This spin on this classic character is a very contemporary one which I welcome wholly, especially with the rise of people like Anonymous. This blurred line of justice lines the villain with Batman in a closer way than you’d first anticipate. What is justice? Who is authorised to give it out? What is the best way to give it out? This more nuanced Riddler fits this even more dark and dismal Gotham better than the traditional green suit and cane Riddler. It makes the people in Gotham question who the true heroes are and exposes corruption and lies from every level imaginable. Zoë Kravitz dons the Catwoman persona for this feature, being the unlikely sidekick to Batman. Not because of her desire to be good, but to pursue her own agenda and desires that just so happen to coincide slightly with Batman. The two perform very well together, with lots of tension (both mental and sexual of course), between the two and having you constantly second guess where their relationship will go next. The film expands on the lore of these side characters in a way not really explored before and this therefore vastly impacts their relationships and actions towards one another. The film has been met with critical acclaim, grossing around $250 million worldwide and boasting a very respectable 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Whilst it doesn’t top The Dark Knight, (hell, nothing does) it certainly nips at the heels of it with a grittier depiction of Gotham and its saviour in a way that puts soul into a story that has been told countless times before.
My rating: 9.2/10
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