I will be honest, I was pleasantly surprised when I left the theater, since I got in expecting a torrent of plotholes that led nowhere.
What I found was at least a bumpy road with some resounding plotholes, but nothing that broke the ride.
The Batman is a gritty movie about the most 'edgy' and 'emo' cinematic version of Batman yet. I sincerely couldn't stop laughing at many of the scenes featuring Battinson, because he mostly just stood around, looking like an awkward teenager in his uncle's barbecue, not wanting to be there, staring at things with his head tilted. He is openly hostile against Alfred, a first in the cinematic series (Batfleck was bitter, but there was still respect and underlying affection between them), openly yelling "You're not my dad!" which I expected a fifteen year kid to scream, not an adult Bruce Wayne. Previous movies with the character didn't show Batman painting his own eyes black to disguise them under the cowl for a reason: Its hilariously stupid-looking, but this movie did it anyway, and the results were unexpected golden hilarity.
"But this is inspired by Year One! Batman hasn't developed yet!" Yes, its also inspired by "The longest Halloween" and other heavy-weight comics, I know, but one thing is to be under-developed, and the other is to be a broody pastiche that offers no contrast to the already broody vigilante. Year One Batman was still figuring things as he went, but he had a personality. Also somehow Batman knows about shady puzzles, but can't bother to google things happening at the very city that he swore to protect, needing exposition dialogue and people berating him, constantly asking him if he lives under a rock or if he was a rich spoiled kid out of touch. The answer to both is Yes, but this shouldn't be even remotely close to batman. I kept laughing thinking that Edward Cullen escaped to Gotham. I actually like Pattinson's acting, I saw "The Lighthouse" and I believe he could deliver a superb Batman/Bruce, if only the script allowed him to.
Speaking of script, the strengths of this movie lies solely on the material lifted from the comics. Whenever it tries to deviate or improvise, things fall short faster than you can say "Because I'm BATMAN!", and the directing helps as much as it makes things harder. I always joke that DC only have two colors in the palette, and this is still true here, previous movies were black and grey, this one is black and red. The pacing is glacial, with Batman taking at least two whole minutes to simply pick a letter addressed to him... FIVE TIMES, ending with the movie clocking whooping three hours when it could have been two. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of needless whispering between Batman and side-characters, and chemistry so forced, a molotov cocktail would be more subtle.
My biggest gripe with the movie is that the third act (no spoilers) was completely, utterly unnecessary and the ramping of threat was something that felt forced. The movie could have ended at the end of the second act, and it would have been perfect.
But even with all that, it was enjoyable. The soundtrack is really solid (even if repetitive at times), the cast try their best, there was a nice stitching of heavy-hitting batman stories, and honestly, its nice to see him acting like a detective for a change without ludicrous supercomputers. This is also the most "Grounded" batman you'll see so far. Nearly all his gadgets (sans two or three) are something that you could imagine a rich guy buying on a whim and trying to adapt to crime fighting. Just don't buy into the hype, this is far from the best batman yet. Go with a bucket of popcorn and don't the movie seriously.
At least he isn't Mr "I want to save this guy because killing is wrong, so I will explode this whole building and kill dozens of people, including the guy I wanted to save".
Better than the Nolan Trilogy, but not by much. (Very Minor spoilers)
I will be honest, I was pleasantly surprised when I left the theater, since I got in expecting a torrent of plotholes that led nowhere.
What I found was at least a bumpy road with some resounding plotholes, but nothing that broke the ride.
The Batman is a gritty movie about the most 'edgy' and 'emo' cinematic version of Batman yet. I sincerely couldn't stop laughing at many of the scenes featuring Battinson, because he mostly just stood around, looking like an awkward teenager in his uncle's barbecue, not wanting to be there, staring at things with his head tilted. He is openly hostile against Alfred, a first in the cinematic series (Batfleck was bitter, but there was still respect and underlying affection between them), openly yelling "You're not my dad!" which I expected a fifteen year kid to scream, not an adult Bruce Wayne. Previous movies with the character didn't show Batman painting his own eyes black to disguise them under the cowl for a reason: Its hilariously stupid-looking, but this movie did it anyway, and the results were unexpected golden hilarity.
"But this is inspired by Year One! Batman hasn't developed yet!" Yes, its also inspired by "The longest Halloween" and other heavy-weight comics, I know, but one thing is to be under-developed, and the other is to be a broody pastiche that offers no contrast to the already broody vigilante. Year One Batman was still figuring things as he went, but he had a personality. Also somehow Batman knows about shady puzzles, but can't bother to google things happening at the very city that he swore to protect, needing exposition dialogue and people berating him, constantly asking him if he lives under a rock or if he was a rich spoiled kid out of touch. The answer to both is Yes, but this shouldn't be even remotely close to batman. I kept laughing thinking that Edward Cullen escaped to Gotham. I actually like Pattinson's acting, I saw "The Lighthouse" and I believe he could deliver a superb Batman/Bruce, if only the script allowed him to.
Speaking of script, the strengths of this movie lies solely on the material lifted from the comics. Whenever it tries to deviate or improvise, things fall short faster than you can say "Because I'm BATMAN!", and the directing helps as much as it makes things harder. I always joke that DC only have two colors in the palette, and this is still true here, previous movies were black and grey, this one is black and red. The pacing is glacial, with Batman taking at least two whole minutes to simply pick a letter addressed to him... FIVE TIMES, ending with the movie clocking whooping three hours when it could have been two. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of needless whispering between Batman and side-characters, and chemistry so forced, a molotov cocktail would be more subtle.
My biggest gripe with the movie is that the third act (no spoilers) was completely, utterly unnecessary and the ramping of threat was something that felt forced. The movie could have ended at the end of the second act, and it would have been perfect.
But even with all that, it was enjoyable. The soundtrack is really solid (even if repetitive at times), the cast try their best, there was a nice stitching of heavy-hitting batman stories, and honestly, its nice to see him acting like a detective for a change without ludicrous supercomputers. This is also the most "Grounded" batman you'll see so far. Nearly all his gadgets (sans two or three) are something that you could imagine a rich guy buying on a whim and trying to adapt to crime fighting. Just don't buy into the hype, this is far from the best batman yet. Go with a bucket of popcorn and don't the movie seriously.
At least he isn't Mr "I want to save this guy because killing is wrong, so I will explode this whole building and kill dozens of people, including the guy I wanted to save".