Matt Reeves’ The Batman is a top-notch superhero thriller, with just a few frustrations preventing it from being a masterpiece.
Starring the unfairly maligned Robert Pattinson (from those awful Twilight movies), The Batman dares to have “The World’s Greatest Detective” do what no Batman movie had him do before.
Actual detective work.
I’ll keep this spoiler-free on all the major points.
When we first see Batman, he seems to be getting off on beating up a bunch of local thugs. This Batman is young, unfocused, and very angry.
Having established the character in this way, he’s soon forced to do more than just hunt petty criminals.
For the movie’s first two acts, Batman must work hand in hand with Lt. Detective Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright, impressive as ever) to find the mysterious Riddler.
This is not Frank Gorshin’s Riddler. This is not — thank goodness — Jim Carey’s Riddler. This Riddler is a genuine psychopath who is smart, deadly, and on a very personal mission to expose (and, you know, murder) Gotham City’s most corrupt officials, mobsters, and playboy billionaires.
I won’t reveal the actor’s name because even his face is kept hidden for most of the movie in a delicious slow reveal. But I can tell you this much: His Riddler might be the movie screen’s most frightening serial killer since Anthony Hopkins first played Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Batman’s investigation takes him from the mafia underground (led by John Turturro as Carmine Falcone) to the filth virtually covering City Hall.
Alfred the butler is played this time with equal parts caring and near-menace by Andy Serkis. It’s hinted at, but not made explicit, that Alfred is a former SAS-type hired by Wayne peré more for his security chops than his butlering skills. This is an Alfred I’d like to get to know better, and hopefully will in the inevitable sequel.
Unrecognizable is Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, AKA the Penguin. Like the Riddler, this Penguin is not a comic-book character. Cobblepot is a mobster with partial facial disfigurement and a bad limp (both presumably from gang violence) that make it easy to see how he earned his nickname. Farrel steals every scene he’s in.
Plus, you get Zoë Kravitz in what might be her best role yet. Her Catwoman is tough, vulnerable, motivated, and sexy as hell.
All the action takes place in Gotham City, and make no mistake: GC is a stand-in for Bill DeBlasio’s New York City. It’s filthy, the crime is rampant and random, and almost everybody is on the take.
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One of the more interesting choices, story-wise, is that after two years of Batman taking down one criminal after another, Gotham is worse off than ever. There’s a lesson Bruce must learn about why his previous efforts had come to nothing, and it makes for a solid character arc.
Now for the bad stuff.
Pattinson’s Batman is among my favorites, but his Bruce Wayne isn’t. His Bruce is mopey, angry, flat, obviously disturbed. Everyone he meets should be thinking, “I bet that weird dude is secretly the Batman.”
I suppose it’s a legitimate take on the character, given that this Bruce hasn’t yet figured out exactly who he is or what his real mission is. But it just didn’t work for me. Fortunately, The Batman is almost all Batman and very little Bruce.
Mostly, though, The Batman is just too long.
The movie runs nearly three hours, and that’s 30 minutes more movie than story.
There are too many lingering shots, a subplot about Bruce being almost broke that never gets resolved, and a sequence of Batman in police custody that is both unnecessary and strains credulity past the breaking point.
Then there’s the third act.
The first two acts consisted of fascinating, thrilling, and sometimes genuinely disturbing detective work. But just when you think everything is resolved, there’s a big “Superhero Must Save the Entire City!” action sequence tacked on at the end.
It isn’t that the big action sequence isn’t well done, because it is. It also cleverly provides Bruce with that lesson he needed.
But the sequence did leave me feeling a little like Reeves (and writing partner Peter Craig) felt like a superhero movie had to have a big superhero-style ending, and stuck one on.
The Batman’s strengths, however, far outshine its weaknesses. Even my 11-year-old son sat still for the whole three hours, completely entertained. That’s not an easy feat for any movie, but particularly for one as intentionally paced as this one is.
What it comes down to when reviewing any franchise picture is this: “Are you looking forward to the sequel?”
Does Batman look forward to punching thugs?
