THE BATMAN

 

Batman is my favorite comic book character, and just about every movie featuring the Dark Knight I've managed to go and see soon after its theatrical release. 

For the latest one, however, I felt no sense of urgency in seeing it in a theater. It is because I'm burned out by comic book movies and TV shows? Or burned out by too many mediocre (by my standards) cinematic interpretations of the Caped Crusader? 

I believe the main reason was the three hour running time of THE BATMAN. A three hour movie, with at least twenty minutes of trailers and ads...I do work for a living, and I do have to get up pretty early, so that takes up a major chunk of my time. There's also the fact that everything I have read about THE BATMAN convinced me that it wasn't going to be something that I would enjoy. 

I did finally catch up with the film HBO Max, and my suspicions about it were confirmed. THE BATMAN is a dark, gloomy, soggy slog of a tale. 

Director/co-writer Matt Reeves' portrayal of the Batman and his world isn't particularly fresh or creative--there's plenty here we've already seen before. Gotham City is broken, dispirited, and corrupt, and nothing in it seems to work properly. The plot is another complicated story about massive corruption among the Gotham elite, this time involving those close to Batman/Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson). 

As for Pattinson's take on Batman, I will say he does look good in the suit--Reeves gives him several grim-faced close-ups while wearing the cowl. But there's nothing about his Dark Knight that stood out for me. As for Pattinson and Reeves' take on Bruce Wayne, I believe it's all wrong--this Wayne resembles a strung-out grunge musician. 

I'm sure people who appreciate this film will point out that this is a younger Batman, who isn't fully formed yet. That may be, but in my estimation Pattinson joins the long list of actors who have failed to convince me that they were THE Batman. 

As for the rest of the film overall, the cinematography, production design, and costumes owe a very, very heavy debt to BLADE RUNNER. We get another version of Alfred (Andy Serkis), another version of Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), and another Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) who straddles the fence between good and bad and also has a relationship with the Caped Crusader. 

Like most other Batman movies, there's multiple villains. This presentation of the Riddler (Paul Dano) seems to have wandered in from a slasher film, and he's dressed like a regular attendee at S & M gatherings. The Penguin has been reworked into an ethnic mafia stereotype, and is played by Colin Farrell, but he's so  heavily made up you can't even recognize him. Which begs the question....why hire a name actor, and then go to the time and trouble to totally change his appearance? Why not just get a fat Italian guy?? (Farrell, by the way, seems to be channeling Al Pacino's performance in DICK TRACY.) 

When THE BATMAN came out in theaters, I read a lot of posts on the internet exclaiming how inventive Matt Reeves' take on the Dark Knight was. Personally, I wasn't that impressed...this film felt to me like another Christopher Nolan entry, except it's slower moving and even more morose. I have to say once again that the best Batman film has yet to be made.