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Movie Review: The Batman

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LM23 Rating: See it at the movies if you get a chance.


As always with these superhero movies, I have to say I am not a comic book expert. I also don’t recall or know all of the nooks and crannies that comes with these sorts of films. Already I’m confused about who was actually in the film. I apparently missed the fact that The Joker appeared. However, I will say that as a movie goer, I was riveted from the start to the finish.


Batman is one of those characters that the actor chosen is always a bit left of centre or from out of nowhere. When I heard Robert Pattinson was going to be the new Bruce Wayne, I was like okay sure, but I don’t know if I would ever thought of him. But then again, I have no idea who would make the perfect Batman. I dare say that it’s probably neither here nor there as for most of the film, it’s Batman on screen and not Bruce Wayne. Unless you know Robert Pattinson is playing Batman, it doesn’t really matter.


Pattinson did a superb job by playing the scarred and hurt young man who’s trying to heal himself by fighting the bad guys who destroyed his family. There’s not a lot of humorous moments in the film and it’s all quite dark in the literal sense when it comes to the cinematography. We discover that the movie really begins on a Halloween evening and ends in the first week of November. Because of that, the skies are never bright and it’s constantly raining and drag as it should be when we’re knee deep in fall in the east coast.


The emo soundtrack also worked for the moody and dark film. I can see why so many people have made mention of how it reminds people of the movie Seven (which I’ve never seen but only heard about). What I think made this Batman stand out was that it had a plot that was about something more than Batman has to fight a main bad guy and it’s all about the craziness of the bad guy, but the plot itself is technically quite thin.


What I loved about The Batman was it was like an extended Law & Order plotline in that we’re trying to unravel the corruption and greed that plagues so many systems. This movie was about the corruption in city politics, but you can take the themes and apply it to businesses or countries. What was a great foil to Batman was Catwoman played by Zoe Kravitz. Both characters are in essence fighting the bad guys, but Catwoman is seeing it from the perspective of someone with no power and pedigree and just knows what is right and wrong. She’s here to avenge her friend’s death and take down crooks who have ruined her life. On the other hand, Batman is a billionaire who has the unique privilege to more neatly separate himself from the emotion and have control in how justice is played out.


I really liked that they didn’t force the Bat and Cat romance. It was very light and aloof, but it never really made it all the way there. I was confused as to how Catwoman acquired her fighting skills as she just seemed like a woman who worked as a server at an underground nightclub frequented by the elite. But anyway, the main villain in the film, the Riddler, he too technically was also out to take down the bad guys. But his way is the totally illegal and just wrong way. But you felt some sympathy for him. Everything he was against, we technically should all be against. But Batman refuses to accept that he is in any way like the Riddler and that scene where Pattinson is punching the glass wall between them really showed his anger at that notion they could ever be the same.


Colin Farrell as the Penguin and John Turturro as the crime boss were sort of secondary villainous characters that you had to really follow along to understand why they were there and what’s really going on. It was a bit of a stretch for Catwoman to be the offspring of the crime boss and I think the crime boss should have been played with a bit more depth. He came off as a bit too thin and not what his character was built up to be in that he was the rat the Riddler was trying to point everyone towards and the guy that holds City Hall at his fingertips.


Andy Serkis as Alfred also seemed kind of not needed. Although he was great in his scenes, he didn’t really have a significant part to play. I think in past Batman movies, Alfred is like the technical whiz and paternal figure who gets Bruce Wayne ready for his work day. But here, Alfred sort of helps out, but then he gets hurt and then he disappears.


As there are so many characters, that is sort of what happens in the movie. You forget that the Penguin is in it. And for a while Catwoman goes away. For me, I had trouble keeping track of all the characters and how they all connect. Although a second viewing can help that and I would have no problem watching the movie again.


All in all, The Batman lives up to its promise of a new chapter in the Batman series. I loved the plot about corruption and how real change never happens because people are greedy and power hungry. That’s the world we’re living in right now. You can look at the war happening in Ukraine and that’s exactly what that is all about. it’s got nothing about “renewal” or a change like what the politicians were pushing in The Batman, it’s just about who gets the money and who gets to have the power.


Bravo to Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson. If you have a few hours to spare, definitely check out The Batman. The car chase scene which the commercials show a little bit of is crazy on the big screen. The only thing is I don’t know why those giant trucks would be out on the road at night, but it made for a good car chase scene.

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