Movie Review: The Batman Soars As A Seedy Crime Thriller
It appears that Warner Brothers’ holy union with HBO MAX has rubbed off on them. Between True Detective and Mare of Easttown, HBO knows how to make a true crime thriller that makes us all walk away feeling like Batman catching The Riddler. Thus, why not, literally, make a movie that feels like an HBO True Crime series where …. Batman catches The Riddler.
At 3 hours, I was very surprised by how invested and breezily the film flows from start to finish. Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, aka Emo Batman or Kurt Cobatman, has already received the Nirvana punchlines thank to a trailer where he dons greasy hair, a chiseled jawline, and an overall grimacing face that says, “To smile is pain!” Yet, there have been iterations of Bruce Wayne that were bitter, dark, and twisted within the comic books. Pattinson gravitates more to those interpretations, which is why, in some ways, you understand how “crazies” like, The Riddler or The Joker are attracted to him. He does not see himself as a vigilante, but as vengeance in a city where people are under the control of crime and corruption, even if they aren to participants within it. Thus, Pattinson does really well in serving us a new Batman that, whether you like him or not, if fully distinguishable from prior ones. Yet, he has writer and director to thank.
With a film score by Michael Giacchino (Lost), The Batman moves like a diary page inside the mind of an anti-hero/ Holden Caufield. This Batman’s anti-social and would have an easier time saying his own eulogy than talking to Selina Kyle ( Zoe Kravitz ). That level of anxiety and isolation is palpable, which makes The Batman oddly, mentally immersive, and only elevates Kravitz’s performance as a breathe off fresh air. Like for Batman, she become for audiences a burst of light, kick-assery, and fun in a movie that is so grounded and guttural in feel. Even Colin Farrell’s outstanding, scene-stealing performance as The Penguin stands out as much needed comic relief and a scary homage to Al Capone. Their mutual ability to dominate scenes adds to a film that feels like a too real and strange, comic-book re-telling of the Jan. 6 Capitol Riots.
If there is one thing good movies do, it is reflect the world, and The Batman has a unique opportunity to reveal its insanity and poverty. Via Paul Dano’s The Riddler, the movie shows how a poor, abused child can grow into a deranged man that believe HE is the one to wake up the world of its own derangement via social media. While he is leaving riddles across town for The Batman, with Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and Alfred (Andy Serkis) picking them up on the way, without realizing both have chosen to become a human, but symbolic wake-up call to society. Hence, who is “right” to do so is a matter of your intuition and their self-control because as the movie progresses, more corruption is unlocked, both viewer and our mutual leads are left wondering what it is to have an individual, moral code in a world that lies about the one it truly carries.
Personally, I believe the world is, ultimately, divided between good and bad people, but society teaches, falsely, that good and bad have a certain look, feel, and status. The truth is your truth is what should most matter to you, but when you lie to yourself, you run the risk of becoming another chink in the chain of a society that does so, as well. Part of what enamors audience to The Batman and his versus with Dano’s eerily, maniacal villain is that you will be crossed by the times both make valid points. Yet, even evil can tell truth for its benefit. The Batman comes out on March 4 ONLY IN THEATERS.
