The Batman

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Batman is the latest adaptation of the famous DC comics superhero, this time without the origin story and picking up within his second year of crime-fighting. In this feature the Dark Knight meets his match in the guise of a dark web terrorist known as The Riddler. I quite enjoyed how tonally the film sought to craft a more investigative piece, in which Batman stalked around crime scenes and followed leads to start collating evidence. While it isn't a new aspect of his character, it certainly isn't one given as much focus as it is here. I also quite enjoyed how the access he had into these criminal investigations meant he had some fantastic chemistry with Jim Gordon right from the start. I think contrasting Batman's very driven outlook towards solving crime with Selina's unrestrained pursuit for vengeance was a nice way of showing the difference between the two characters. The way this film is shot is quite well done for the most part, the way major set pieces and key moments are masterfully framed just speaks to Matt Reeves' experience as a director. I was also seriously impressed with the fight choreography and the detail involved with some of the practical effects. The score for this feature is so absolutely iconic that it is fair to say Michael Giacchino joins the absolute top tier greats, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer, who have defined the sound of Batman over the years.

 

Robert Pattinson, who played Batman, has finally found a leading role that I'm actually quite impressed by; the way he inhabits the almost relentless drive Bruce Wayne has for his campaign against crime is really impressive. Zoë Kravitz, who played Selina Kyle, is right up there alongside the best Catwoman performances; Kravitz is a woman out for her own goals and toys Batman along as long as she finds herself in need of him. Jeffrey Wright, who played Lt. James Gordon, is a very fun take on the character; he has a very quick chemistry with Pattinson's Batman from their very first scene together that is extremely fun to watch. Peter Sarsgaard, who played District Attorney Gil Colson, portrays a man living in fear well; the way Sarsgaard nervously stumbles between spilling secrets and clamping down tight is an extremely convincing performance. Gil Perez-Abraham, who played Officer Martinez, is a real hotshot that I enjoyed seeing as being quite abrasive to Batman at first; watching Perez-Abraham deftly show his role as mellowing out and even aiding a figure he was initially opposed to made for a great character. Con O'Neill and Alex Ferns, who played Chief Mackenzie Bock and Commissioner Pete Savage respectively, really felt like intense figures of authority in the feature; O'Neill especially really knew how to rail against Wright's Lieutenant role.

 

The best performance came from Colin Farrell, who played Oz (The Penguin). The one thing this film really grapples with is having a strong presence from any of the leading antagonists. But Farrell is in the prime spot as this sleazy henchman figure, the number two in an organisation that has Gotham by the throat. I enjoyed seeing Farrell totally transform, both in appearance and through his voice work here. The man slips into this thug that you never really trust but who you admire for his cocky attitude. Farrell plays the character with a degree of shrewdness, he knows when to try and talk his way out of a situation and when to attack a scene with aggression. Watching Oz cower and work loyally for Turturro's crime boos leads to a nice contrast when he explodes at the man for betraying the criminal underworld. Farrell finds the balance between a witty figure and a real villainous bruiser.

 

This film is a remarkable one when it comes to style but it loses everything when you spend a second too long thinking about the narrative. I found myself initially becoming quite enthralled by Batman actually being painted as a detective, encountering clues and trying to piece the mystery behind The Riddler together before it's too late. But after a while you start to realise a pattern, Batman is solving nothing until after Riddler has already committed a crime and, beyond the final battle of the film, he never once outsmarts Riddler before Riddler executes his plan or kills someone. Riddler isn't even caught by Batman at the end of the day; no the main antagonist of the film hands himself in to the police ultimately. The police themselves are only ever half a beat behind Batman, some of the cops even giving Batman the answers to mysteries he's trying to solve. After a while I had to wonder what Batman was actually achieving that the police weren't already doing? More than this The Batman decides to give Bruce Wayne's parents a dark, hidden secret from their past that paints them as bad people. This secret ultimately reveals Bruce's father to have been involved in the murder of a journalist, basically making Bruce feel like the crusade on crime he has been fighting in honour of his parents has lost its motivation. And the film fails to back track on this point convincingly! There's a lot more plot elements that don't really work from a storytelling point of view: Riddler being a dark web streamer took the punch out of the role, Bruce and Selina's romance subplot just stumbles into existence and there's a gratuitous sequel tease with the Joker. While I liked the cinematography for the feature I have to say that I don't enjoy how Matt Reeves captures chase scenes, they're often very slow; and the first time Batman deploys his glide wings looks absolutely ghastly. This film may also have the most unremarkable depiction of the Batmobile yet. The fact this film plays the same Nirvana song twice as its soundtrack is almost disrespectful to the exceptional work Giacchino has done, once was already too much. 

Paul Dano, who played The Riddler, really doesn't work the more of him you get throughout the film; Dano's sudden milder presentation of his role once he's arrested and revealed to be a streamer makes him feel extremely underwhelming to watch. John Turturro, who played Carmine Falcone, really has no business playing a mob boss; his nasally voice has suited him in more comedic roles but fails him majorly here. Andy Serkis, who played Alfred, might be my least favourite actor to have taken on this role; Serkis plays a more stoic and distant Alfred that really feels too separate to his younger ward. Barry Keoghan, who played Unseen Arkham Prisoner (Joker), was a future character tease I would've much rather we altogether avoided; Keoghan's voice work feels ill-fitting and his laugh is so disappointingly plain. Jayme Lawson, who played Bella Real, is probably the most two-dimensional main role of the film; Lawson portraying a generic pure of heart political candidate added nothing to the feature.

After the first act I started to realise this wasn't a good Batman film, Michael Giacchino had just really pulled out all the stops to give us a wildly great musical score. I would give The Batman a 4.5/10.