Dark scenes and deep voices take over the movie screen for three hours in the newest edition of Batman. “The Batman” stars Robert Pattinson and was released on March 4. Pattinson is the ninth actor to have played Batman since the first movie released in 1989 and fits perfectly into the role.
The movie is based around the Riddler’s (Paul Dano) journey to show the city of Gotham the corruption that has taken over. After killing each of his victims, he leaves a card for Batman that is meant to guide him toward the Riddler’s next move. Batman solves each of these rather quickly but ultimately fails to stop the Riddler’s killings. Throughout the film, Cat Woman (Zoe Kravitz) also makes appearances to help Batman and figure out why her friend was killed.
Pattinson does a great job of playing the depressed, dark-minded Bruce Wayne, and displays the grief that Wayne feels well for a superhero movie. Transforming into Batman is no easy feat, but he does it wonderfully filling the role of the city’s protective bully. Unlike other Batman movies, Wayne is seen with eye makeup on to give his mask a better effect. This makes it a little harder to take him seriously, but Pattinson fits well enough into the character for this to not be a problem.
One thing that makes DC films different from other superhero movies is the constant dark and eerie background every film has. Honestly, the film could use a little more balance and move away from this at some points to make it more well-rounded. While Batman is meant to “live in the shadows” that doesn’t mean the whole film needs to be. Three hours of the same dark scenes are too long.
Zoe Kravitz does a fantastic job as Cat Woman making a good introduction to the DC universe while also helping to show other sides of Batman. While the film’s ending does not directly set up Kravitz to return, there are many ways in which the character could continue to appear in future films.
The film is partially narrated by Batman, and the end is meant to show his transition from focusing on vengeance to helping people. The movie would have been more unique if it could have done this earlier because Batman wanting revenge has been done so many times. It will be interesting to see how the next edition which will no doubt have Pattinson returning will show the new ways in which he strives to help the community.
Overall, “The Batman” could have found more ways to differentiate itself from the past films, but it still does justice to one of the most iconic comic book characters.
Rating: B
