The Batman (2022)
“What’s black and blue and dead all over? You.” – The Riddler.
The Batman (2022)
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Written by: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig, Bill Finger
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell
I’ve got some serious superhero-movie-fatigue. There are just too many of them. Added to this, Marvel’s ‘Stage Four’ has seemingly swapped creativity for bankable nostalgia, with the latest Spider-Man’s box-office success bound to seep into all their upcoming films. The much-celebrated ‘multi-verse’ is in, and original ideas are out. Therefore when I saw DC was making the 6th live-action Batman film since 2005, my expectations were suitably tempered.
Well, guess what? It’s fucking good.
Matt Reeves hasn’t made a superhero movie; he’s made a dark, gritty neo-noir detective thriller. Gotham is a scary place, both due to the violence imposed by criminals and Batman himself. In fact, some scenes with The Riddler were so confronting that small children were soon ushered out of my cinema crying. Robert Pattinson’s Batman is gothic and brooding - short on words, big on silence, and intimidating to both friend and foe. This is an unapologetically dark film – both thematically and visually – with quips and gadgets swapped for grunt work and unpacking Batman’s inner demons.
Many critics have compared Reeve’s aesthetic to David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac, but it felt like it’s own unique thing to me. The darkness of the city is balanced by gorgeous lighting and reflected orange flare, which made for a gorgeous three hours. In other words, this is (without a doubt) the best-looking Batman film ever made. This is highlighted by two absolutely outstanding action sequences (a car chase and a Batman entrance) that will inevitably be two of the most memorable scenes of 2022.
Any apprehension about Robert Pattinson can also be quelled – this is the best cast superhero movie of all time. I will always prefer Bale, but Pattinson, Kravitz, Wright, Dano, Turturro, Serkis, and a heavily make-uped Farrell were genuinely perfect for Reeve’s iteration.
So why is this only an 8? Well, two main reasons. The final act was both messy and rushed, with the need for a ‘big action scene’ undoing a lot of the logic and nuance of the first two hours. Everything good about the start was replaced with a flashy finale, and the ‘big reveal’ didn’t land for me. Also, three hours is too damn long. Full credit to Reeves for not splitting this into two films, but the bloated final act could have been edited down.
The Dark Knight is still the benchmark for superhero movies, but this was a beacon in a slowly dimming superhero landscape.
Rating: 8/10