The Matt Reeves directed movie The Batman (2022) offers a new and modern view of Gotham City with a series of takes on the notion of vengeance in a city of lies, corruption and the riddles of masks obscuring just notions of truth. We review a dark movie that asks less for understanding of motives of the film’s central stars, but in shining light on the past in seeing its influence on the future.
Robert Pattinson starred as Bruce Wayne and Batman, whose introduction follows a shocking murder beginning to the film on Halloween‘s night. As portrayed by Paul Dano as the Riddler, whose unmasked persona we meet as Edward Nashton, we witness a shocking event that speaks to the larger theme that drove the movie’s story. The brooding perspective of Wayne and Batman introduces us to Batman himself fighting an unrelated crime with Wayne’s personal narration mirroring the action. While Wayne sets a stage for how he views the crusade he is on, we sense the motivation of fear and vengeance driving Wayne as his persona of Batman.
The murder lands lieutenant James Gordon and his team of policemen investigating the murder, with Batman along for the investigative ride. The notion of riddles begins with a message left for Batman and discovered by lieutenant Gordon, as portrayed by Jeffrey Wright. A second message at a second murder adds to the intrigue.
The underlying themes focus Batman, the police investigation and the public on the notion of corruption within Gotham City. The notion takes the story to known criminal elements in the city, with the Iceberg Lounge introducing us to waitress Selina Kyle, her roommate Annika Koslov, nightclub operator Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobblepot, aka Penguin, and finally Carmine Falcone. John Torturro, Colin Farrell, Zoë Kravitz and Hana Hrzic portrayed Carmine Falcone, the Penguin / Oswald Cobblepot, Selina Kyle / Catwoman and Annika Koslov, respectively. The intermingling of storylines for these characters each were individually strong, though the depth of these characters alongside Batman and the Riddler contributed a movie length that struck me as unnecessarily long.
An especially effective part of The Batman as a movie for me included the revelations for Catwoman, the Riddler, Batman and the interplay between Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne, the man. Andy Serkis portrayed Alfred, who offered a contextual insight to Bruce Wayne as Batman that, in a way, saved the character of Bruce Wayne / Batman for me. The stories of the Riddler and Carmine Falcone combined to shed a darkness upon Wayne that thankfully were rescued in the end. How the budding romance of Catwoman and Batman played out are something I commend, yet leave to you to discern from the movie.
The Batman as a movie offers storylines sufficiently true to what I know of the comic series to keep me encouraged where future stories in subsequent films will take this precise movie. Choosing the Riddler and Batman as subjects of this film’s origin stories worked for me. The movie length was the hardest part of the film for me overall. The love interest angle further worked. Overlapping these with a henchman and criminal mastermind storyline was the individual story that I wish had been less embellished. I grant The Batman as directed by Matt Reeves 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Saturday, May 14, 2022
Matt Lynn Digital 