My Review of The Batman (2022) · 2:31am Apr 20th, 2022
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! This is Mr. J back with a special movie review for tonight! I will be reviewing the long-awaited, highly praised, and the anticipated superhero movie of the year: The Batman! Just last night, I watched this movie for the first time on HBO Max; in all honesty and sincerity...IT WAS AWESOME! This is definitely one of the best Batman films I’ve ever seen in a long time. It is on par with The Dark Knight as it contains cohesive storytelling, interesting characters, a well-written plot, and a dark yet fun tone. This is probably the closest that DC has gotten to have the Dark Knight be accurately portrayed as the world’s greatest detective. Speaking of which, let’s dive into this story, shall we?
Bruce Wayne/Batman has to solve a series of riddles and clues left behind by the psychopath serial killer called The Riddler; in order to track him down, he and James Gordon must look for certain suspects who may know where he is. However, things take an ugly turn as the riddle-spewing blight of Gotham unleashes the dark truth behind the city and use it to hail his wrath upon the corrupt elites therein. Batman must stop him before he ruins the city.
Robert Pattinson’s Batman is absolutely top-notch because we actually see him do detective work besides kicking criminal butt every night in Gotham. As much as I love Christian Bale’s Batman, he barely did any detective work in his trilogy except for one scene in the second movie. This Batman did exactly everything that a detective like him does. His brooding, stoic demeanor was so convincing as well. Instead of having Bruce Wayne as a reckless playboy philanthropist which is often seen in the DC animated universe and in The Dark Knight Trilogy, this Bruce is also brooding and emotionless just like how he is as Batman. While some people had issues with that, it makes some sense to me because he is the same guy who witnessed his parents’ murder in an alleyway as a child, so his PTSD had a strong effect on him while growing up. From the way I see it, Bruce Wayne doesn’t totally exist at all since his parents’ deaths because it’s just Batman—both with and without the cowl. Most versions of Batman have their Bruce Wayne persona as a way to draw people away from his true identity, but Robert Pattinson’s version is even more anti-social and elusive than the other versions. The fact he never uses his Wayne name as a mask makes him both a unique incarnation of the namesake and gives a more realistic take on his childhood trauma.
The story was very well engaging as it had me at the edge of my seat. It kept me wondering who was The Riddler, what was his endgame, why was he doing all this, and who was he after next? Paul Dano did a splendid job in making Riddler a horrifying, psychopathic, manipulative, super-villain. Him attempting to make Gotham orphaned just like how he was as a kid and making the people homeless, just like how he was, seemed quite poetic yet terrifying to see. The only issue I have with him is the way he was killing his victims. The way he was using his murder weapon to strike them brutally looked like he was pulling his punches. It looked so fake to me. I get that Paul was doing his best performance in this, but some of those scenes looked unconvincing which is why I couldn’t take them seriously.
Another thing is that the final battle could have been a little longer and have Riddler actually fight Batman. Sure, his henchmen put up some slight bit of a challenge, but I wanted to see if he could actually fight Batsy. Oh well...
The cinematography, fight choreography, and editing were all brilliantly well-executed. They are just perfect and crystal clear to see and register what’s going on.
Collin Farrell was pretty good as Penguin albeit not as great as Danny DeVito’s Penguin. Seriously, all that makeup makes him look like a completely different person. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to see what more Matt Reeves will do with him in his own spinoff series.
Selina Kyle, Alfred, Falcone, and Gordon were all great characters in this movie. Props to Zoe Kravitz, Andy Serkis, John Turturro, and Jeffery Wright in making their respective characters so entertaining, enjoyable, and overall fun in their performances.
This movie does Batman justice in making him what makes him a true hero and how he is to be a light in the darkness for people lost therein to follow. At first, he is well-known as Vengeance—the dark figure that strikes fear in the heart of the criminal scum. But now he is aiming to be something better than Vengeance—someone who lets no one die under his watch while he protects the city from the evil that plagues it every day and every night. Matt Reeves is truly a genius for this interesting take on the Dark Knight.
Overall, this was an awesome movie to watch. I still think Nolan’s The Dark Knight is unbeatable and iconic, but this comes as a very close second. Despite some flaws, it is an excellent adaptation on the Batman character. I give it an 11/10! I have to watch this again by the end of the week since it is just that good. So yeah, this is a good first impression.
Peace!
It's weird to see 'Toddler' and 'Murderer' in the same sentence.
I can definitely say it's better than Batman Begins, but I am not sure if I like it more than the next two installments of Nolan's triology.
I know this is a late comment, but I will say this:
Regardless of the positive reputation this movie gained, I'm not interested in checking it out in the slightest. Batman has been rebooted so many times that I've honestly gotten fatigued just thinking about it. The only live-action Batman movies I've actually been interested in checking out as of late are the ones with Michael Keaton and Christian Bale, and that's particularly on the grounds of how much I've enjoyed their work in other movies.