This week’s film is The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz. The superhero with no superpowers has been hitting villains with bang, boom, pow since 1939. This retelling is billed as supposedly the darkest version yet, but writer and director Matt Reeves just re-packages the caped crusader’s latest story as an over-styled film noir, complete with a throaty voiceover reminiscent of classic cloak and dagger murder mysteries. Fortunately, the audience is spared yet another recycled look at the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents. The movie skips the display of a string of pearls falling in a dark alley gutter following a single gunshot and flashbacks to a childhood fall in a water well full of bats. The first scene quietly introduces a disturbing murder with a heavy dose of its Ave Maria theme song, followed by Batman walking the crime scene like Sherlock Holmes. The Batman is here to solve a serial murder caper in Gotham. When Batman meets Catwoman, she’s enlisted as his Watson more than a mere Robin stand in. Twilight’s Robert Pattinson’s moody vampire suits this version of Batman. His steely jaw and younger physique bring us back to the somewhat under-rated performance by Val Kilmer. Zoe Kravitz lights up the screen as the new Catwoman. Although still based upon an over-sexualized club worker, Kravitz plays the enigmatic Selina Kyle with more muscle, fight skill and intellectual crime-solving capability than her past peers. The Batman and audience can’t take their eyes off her. So fear not, homophobic Sam Elliott’s of the world, the onscreen chemistry between Pattinson’s Bat and Kravitz’s Cat is purrfectly sumptuous, making this telling of The Batman void of any homoerotic tendencies. Paul Dano is a strong and creepy adversary as a weirder, social media based Riddler embarking upon a series of puzzling murders. A terrific supporting cast includes Colin Farrell as the Penguin and Jeffrey Wright as Lt. Gordon, as well as John Turturro, Andy Serkis and Peter Sarsgaard.
In the end, director Matt Reeves, who resurrected the Planet of the Apes franchise, demands too much patience in his mystery approach which looks great but doesn’t peel back any new layers on The Batman. Arguably, the audience is forced to wait over 2 ½ hours for the best scene. Pattinson is a solid Batman, with the right balance of square jaw toughness, millionaire good looks, and brooding instability harboring a relentless urge to explode. Pattinson’s stoic but hurt puppy persona is perfect to reflect that singular stare which confirms Bruce Wayne is just broken, but he just goes through the motions in fairly mundane fight scenes.
The artwork, dark lighting and set design are all superb successfully elevating the shadows in dark alleys, rooftops, warehouses and subways of Gotham to its own character but at the expense of more traditional scenes- including only a fleeting glance at the Batcave. The Batcar shifts away from Christopher Nolan’s military grade battle car to an urban muscle car, but again is given too little time provide any thrills.
So, on my ski trail rating system, The Batman earns my intermediate Blue Ski Trail rating. The film is best swallowed as an appetizer- incomplete and not as good as the main course but leaves you a little hungry, curious, and wanting more. Two sequels are already planned for Pattinson’s Caped Crusader.
The Batman is playing in theaters, runs a whopping 2 hours and 56 minutes, and is Rated PG-13 for strong violence, drugs, language, and a Bat-crush—here kitty, kitty, kitty.
