He's the only cop in the city who believes in Batman, and he's constantly shielding the Dark Knight from other angry cops who don't take kindly to this caped freak. Wright's performance is altogether warm and charming, and he has a great voice for reading all those riddles out loud, too. He's assisted in this task by Gordon, who acts here like Batman's partner, traveling along with him to crime scenes and hashing out clues. But as "The Batman" unfolds, the Batman begins to question his approach. He's spent almost his entire career so far targeting petty crooks and hoodlums while seemingly oblivious to the massive corruption running rampant within Gotham's higher echelon. Of course, that's more than a touch ironic, since, as a vigilante, Batman himself is breaking the law. In his eyes, if you break the law, even a little bit, you deserve to have your head smashed in. You're either good or bad, there's no room for nuance. He has no sympathy for anyone. He has nothing even resembling social skills, and when he's not out fighting crime, he mostly putters around in his Batcave or in the gigantic Wayne Tower, which looks like a place Dracula might rent on Airbnb.Īs Batman, Bruce has a rather simplistic view of crime. Bruce keeps everyone at arm's length, and is often quite cruel to Alfred. The relationship between Bruce and Alfred isn't very warm, though. He leaves all the family's matters in the hands of Alfred (Andy Serkis), the only thing close to family Bruce has left. Other on-screen Batmen have their weird sides, but Pattinson plays the character as a strange, pale, mumbly ghoul who is prone to bursts of violence. He has no interest in putting on airs to pretend to be rich playboy Bruce Wayne. Pattinson's Batman is a freak of the highest order. And he often does! But rather than just appear out of thin air like so many Batmen before, this Batman is often heard coming - his boots thudding against concrete or splashing through puddles as he trudges out of the gloom like some creature crawling from the depths of hell. They stop dead in their tracks and glance nervously at dark, impenetrable shadows, wondering if Batman is about to appear and beat the crap out of them. Reeves presents this brilliantly, showing us petty crooks going about their illegal ways and then suddenly spotting the signal shining in the sky. The production design is stellar and firm, creating a city that's sort of New York (there's even a Times Square-like area and a Madison Square Garden clone) mashed-up with other locales. This gives the city a strange, surreal feeling, as gothic architecture that looks straight out of a Hammer Horror film clashes up against modern trappings. It seems to always be grey and raining in Gotham, and at night, the streets become a war zone.Īnd the criminal element is aware that the Batman is out there, somewhere. So much so that when Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), the only Gotham cop sympathetic to Batman, lights up the night sky with the bat signal, criminals start to second guess themselves. The opening salvo of "The Batman" firmly establishes all of this, and shows us what it's like to live in Gotham.
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"The Batman" is grounded and dark, but it's also full of big, bold, reality-straining swings. And we buy it all because Reeves does such a fantastic job drawing us into this world and making it feel believable timeless, even. It reminds one of "Batman: The Animated Series," which was set in some sort of strange in-between timeline that was both ultra-modern and choked with a retro, art deco style. Reeves has managed to combine the gritty realism of the Christopher Nolan "Dark Knight" trilogy with a more fantastical, pulpy comic book approach. Perhaps most impressive is the way "The Batman" balances its tone.
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It's a reminder that even in our current franchised movie landscape, a damn good director can still do something fresh with the familiar. Reeves isn't shy about wearing his influences on his sleeve, and there are moments here that recall "Klute," "L.A. Confidential," "Zodiac," and, most prominently of all, "Se7en." But none of that makes the film derivative. Despite its noticeable callbacks, "The Batman" somehow seems innovative. Not only is it drawing on decades of comic books, it's also heavily riffing on several different movies. I don't know if it would be fair to call "The Batman" original.