It’s fine.
Really, it’s just fine. It’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s alright.
The Batman is a film that I respect and admire, but I don’t think it’s the homerun that many would have hoped for. I recall glancing at a couple headlines earlier, before seeing the film, regarding a producer of the film contacting Christopher Nolan, playfully warning him that they will be trying to outdo The Dark Knight. Having now seen the film, I feel like I could’ve easily extracted that based on what I saw with this new take on the caped crusader.
I almost hesitate even calling it a new take, as it seems like Matt Reeves and his co-writer, Peter Craig, have created a pastiche that draws on the many takes on the character that we’ve gotten before – a touch of Burton, a bit of Bruce Timm’s animated Batman, and a hefty pull on Nolan’s grounded approach with story elements taken from comic storylines like Hush and more significantly, The Long Halloween. However, once it was all said and done, there wasn’t much interest I had with the future of this world, this Gotham, and the kind of villains it seems to inspire.
It doesn’t help that it starts off with an incredibly cringe-inducing voice over narration from the titular Batman (Robert Pattinson), the kind that would make Alan Moore and Frank Miller roll their eyes. The story that follows isn’t much to talk about either. This is a fairly fresh Batman, only two years in, and he’s now dealing with a serial killer, The Riddler (Paul Dano), who seems to be going after some powerful figures in the city. But as Batman investigates with the help of Lieutenant Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), who is on a quest of vengeance of her own.
It seems like ever since Martin Scorsese made those “superhero movies are like roller-coasters” comments, people have just lost their minds, and this film in particular feels so much like a “no, we promise this is a *real* movie” response. It’s a very dark film, often literally so. There are numerous sequences that are so dimly lit, I didn’t know what I was looking at (though, I could chalk it up to bad projection). The film goes full neo-noir, drawing mainly on grime and rain-drenched grit of Se7en and the sprawl of Zodiac. Or rather, it goes about as full neo-noir as the PG-13 and brand requirements would allow, which is a part of why I don’t think the film totally works.
While there are criticisms you can make with the Nolan films, you can’t say they didn’t have conviction in regards to pulling off his vision. With The Batman, there is such a strong attempt at making “a real movie,” one that is adult and gritty, but because this is still a property that can’t go certain places, the filmmakers have to pull back in ways that make the attempts at gritty realism more laughable than truly effective. This also makes Batman’s no kill rule look even more ridiculous given the kind of people he faces, and how much easier so much of this would be if he just offed some folks Keaton style. Where the film tries to go thematically is interesting in theory, it cannot follow through because the film has to allow for the sequels and spin-offs that are already underway. Can’t have Batman really come to the realization that his brutish methods might not be the most helpful to the city because he has to stay as Batman for the next movie.
The performances are fairly strong here, the one consistent bright spot. Pattinson makes his Bruce Wayne a reclusive and creepy weirdo. Wright is an absolutely perfect fit as Gordon. Kravitz is a natural as Catwoman, getting some of the more flowery, comic book-y dialogue. Colin Farrell stands out as the Penguin, complete with a fat suit, prosthetics all over his face, fake teeth, and what seems to be a halfway decent Robert De Niro impression. Dano is mostly effective with his Unabomber/Jigsaw/Qanon-extremist take on the Riddler. John Turturro brings a soft yet menacing vibe as Carmine Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard is great at playing exactly the kind of character you’d expect him to play in a movie like this. The only one who I was somewhat disappointed by was Andy Serkis as Alfred, not because of anything he does or doesn’t do, I just don’t think the material offers much in giving him personality or a compelling dynamic with Bruce.
Every Batman film that’s been made has been, for better and for worse, a reflection of their times. Matt Reeves’ film is very much a Batman film for the age of fringe extremists, and the rise of “Batman is just a rich white guy who beats up poor people” thinkpieces, and that’s just not my cup of tea at all, at least, not in the way this film executes it. I don’t mind dark, hell, a lot of my taste leans dark, but The Batman bites of way more than it can chew; it pulls its punches at nearly every turn. I’m sure it will have its fans, and I’m happy for them. I appreciate it, I admire it, I respect it, it’s very well made (despite the extremely dimly lit scenes), the use of Nirvana’s “Something In The Way” is very inspired, Michael Giacchino’s score is pretty solid (even if the main theme sounds like “The Imperial March” filtered through the “Hey, can i copy your homework? Yeah, but don’t make it too obvious” meme), and while you can feel the length, I didn’t feel like it wasted much of its nearly three hour runtime. I like that it’s ambitious, and it is trying something kind of different. Unfortunately, it just did very little for me. I doubt much of this will stick with me after a few days. Perhaps a sequel could improve, but I’m not entirely sold on this world, so it will take a lot to get me invested. I’d rather just stick to the movies actually made for adults.
The Batman is now out in theaters, and is expecting to hit HBO Max on April 19th.