The Batman | Review & Score

About: When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.

"I'm vengeance."

Seeing a few reviews of the film before I officially watched it on HBO Max this past week, I saw a lot of folks stating how grim and gritty THE BATMAN is. I have to agree with those folks. The Batman is indeed the grittiest Batman movie since they brought it into live-action, by far.

I love the way Matt Reeves shot this picture, and I loved the tone he used. I didn't even see this tone in my favorite Batman movie The Dark Knight back in 2008. It's a very similar tone used, but The Batman seems a bit more grim for sure, at least. Of course, The Batman is rated R, so there's that aspect.

By the way, love the fact they finally decided to do a Rated-R Batman film. It's about time. Been looking forward to the day they did this and the first time they do... we get a great film out of it.

Robert Pattinson nails the role of Batman. Bruce Wayne? Not too much. But that's really a bad thing, nor does it take away from his incredible portrayal. Pattinson looks solid and gritty as fuck in the Bat mask and cape. I really enjoyed his mannerisms, how he spoke as Batman and how he carried the character overall. Is he better than Affleck? Yes, for many reasons.

Batfleck wasn't awful, nor was he great. He had his own style, of course. But Batfleck came off more... superstitious. Christian Bale and Michael Keaton pulled the role off way too well for anyone to really be compared to those respective portrayals. Pattinson is pretty damn close to Keaton and Bale levels.

As far as supporting acting goes, Zoe Kravitz did an amazing job as Selina/Catwoman. She is a real badass, and I felt she carried the character with more realism and just the right amount of feminism - more so than Anne Hathaway and Halle Berry, especially Hathaway. Neither Berry or Hathaway were bad though, just didn't feel real. Felt too... caricature to me.

I enjoyed Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. He felt more natural in the role than Gary Oldman in the Dark Knight films. Oldman rocks, but Wright was rock-n-roll. Well done.

Andy Serkis, we don't see as much as Alfred in the movie. But when he does appear, he puts his best foot forward. Not nearly as great as Sir Michael Cane's iconic screen presence, but Serkis holds his own easily.

Colin Farrell plays a great Penguin. I literally had a hard time believing it was actually Farrell portraying him, that's how good he separated himself from the character. Very well done. Plus, his humor matched the character well too. You get to see plenty of Penguin, but not enough to make it too... conscious. If that makes sense. Farrell did a great job!

Paul Dano portrays The Riddler and man did he knock it out of the park! Jim Carrey was the last actor to play Riddler, correct me if I'm wrong. Carrey did so well as Riddler in Batman Forever, I couldn't think anyone could have done a better job since. Well... somebody has a done a better job.

Dano's portrayal is all kinds of sinister, and not so much to be considered just another caricature. Dano adds much to the role that Carrey really didn't need to, because Carrey's version is meant to be a caricature, so it's two completely different tones for the character. Makes more sense for Dano to be more sinister for The Batman. I'm glad they went this route with him. Perfection. Well done again.

As for the technical aspects of The Batman, all are extraordinary. The visuals, the musical score, the cinematography, the direction, lighting, setting, everything is very top notch and done with absolute care of the comics.

The story is another ace as well. You do get a lot of references to The Dark Knight films, if you pay close attention. There's plenty of Easter eggs to be found. I feel the story didn't really make me feel too cartoonish, and I do believe Matt Reeves and the writers knew what they were doing here. It wholeheartedly shows they care for these characters and wanted to make the darkest film possible.

I think they succeeded on many levels. Overall, The Batman gets the job done and aims for what was needed in the franchise. I'm happy they went with a R-Rated approach, much like Todd Phillips did with Joker. I think we need plenty more R-Rated comic book adaptations. We have a few really solid ones so far, both Marvel and DC. But I need MORE MORE MORE.

I'm being greedy.

4.5/5