Shot in the style of a Se7en, The Batman is grittier than a Greggs meat pie. The caped crusader has a new adversary on the perpetually rainy streets of Gotham, a mad serial killer who leaves cryptic clues at the scene of every crime. To solve the case, Batman must meet with a whole menagerie of miscreants including Penguin, Catwoman, and the frog like Riddler himself.
The Batman is sufficiently distinct from previous outings in the franchise. Robert Pattinson plays a far more disturbed and self-doubting Batman, far from the pillar of moral righteous we've seen before. It reflects our contemporary reality, where movie goers are becoming ever more doubtful about the value of policing, power, and violence when inflicted on the "criminal classes". We're a long way on from The Dark Knight, which confidently justified torture, surveillance and deceit as a means to an end. Here, Batman appears downright villainous the first time he appears on screen, accompanied by blasting horn music reminiscent of Darth Vader's Imperial March. This idea that Batman might not be a force for good acts as the central question of the story, and it is never far from your mind.
The aesthetics of The Batman reflect the shift towards a darker tone. Gotham is a grimy chiaroscuro. Its ocean of black shadows and islands of light are claustrophobic, intimate, and hostile. We're trapped in close even in the car chases and fight scenes, one of which is lit with nothing but gunfire flashes. The sound design is exceptional, with barking static and jarring scratches. When the Batmobile makes its first entrance, the roar of its engines brought me out in goose bumps.
Unfortunately all of this does not disguise the fact that the movie is very long. It moves at a ponderous pace. There is an extraneous mid section in which the whole Riddler mystery pauses, and we are treated to a prolonged diversion involving rival mob bosses, one of whom has limited screen time and the other is never even shown. This movie could have easily been twenty minutes shorter without this drawn out section that sees Batman having to punch his way back into the same nightclub over and over to ask the owners yet one more question. He should really get his hand stamped for re-entry.
Whilst I enjoyed The Batman, I have a feeling that a lot of the best parts of it will be diminished outside of a cinema experience. Without it, the trudging is going to feel far worse. So whilst I recommend you see the film now, I might have trouble doing the same when I revisit it on a tv screen, with the volume set to a respectful neighbourly level.
Riddle me This Batman; Idiot Says What?
Shot in the style of a Se7en, The Batman is grittier than a Greggs meat pie. The caped crusader has a new adversary on the perpetually rainy streets of Gotham, a mad serial killer who leaves cryptic clues at the scene of every crime. To solve the case, Batman must meet with a whole menagerie of miscreants including Penguin, Catwoman, and the frog like Riddler himself.
The Batman is sufficiently distinct from previous outings in the franchise. Robert Pattinson plays a far more disturbed and self-doubting Batman, far from the pillar of moral righteous we've seen before. It reflects our contemporary reality, where movie goers are becoming ever more doubtful about the value of policing, power, and violence when inflicted on the "criminal classes". We're a long way on from The Dark Knight, which confidently justified torture, surveillance and deceit as a means to an end. Here, Batman appears downright villainous the first time he appears on screen, accompanied by blasting horn music reminiscent of Darth Vader's Imperial March. This idea that Batman might not be a force for good acts as the central question of the story, and it is never far from your mind.
The aesthetics of The Batman reflect the shift towards a darker tone. Gotham is a grimy chiaroscuro. Its ocean of black shadows and islands of light are claustrophobic, intimate, and hostile. We're trapped in close even in the car chases and fight scenes, one of which is lit with nothing but gunfire flashes. The sound design is exceptional, with barking static and jarring scratches. When the Batmobile makes its first entrance, the roar of its engines brought me out in goose bumps.
Unfortunately all of this does not disguise the fact that the movie is very long. It moves at a ponderous pace. There is an extraneous mid section in which the whole Riddler mystery pauses, and we are treated to a prolonged diversion involving rival mob bosses, one of whom has limited screen time and the other is never even shown. This movie could have easily been twenty minutes shorter without this drawn out section that sees Batman having to punch his way back into the same nightclub over and over to ask the owners yet one more question. He should really get his hand stamped for re-entry.
Whilst I enjoyed The Batman, I have a feeling that a lot of the best parts of it will be diminished outside of a cinema experience. Without it, the trudging is going to feel far worse. So whilst I recommend you see the film now, I might have trouble doing the same when I revisit it on a tv screen, with the volume set to a respectful neighbourly level.