The Batman (2022) Review
The Batman follows Bruce Wayne, who must emerge from the shadows after a serial killer known as the Riddler starts picking off high level political figures, threatening to take the whole city down with him.
Matt Reeves, you fucking mad man!! My expectations going into The Batman we’re through the roof and I think it’s safe to say Reeves met every single one of them and then some. This is a Batman I’ve waited years for—not just a new take but a grittier, darker, more violent, and investigate angle to the character that we’ve never really gotten before, acting as neo-noir crime thriller that doubles as a brutal slugfest in a race against time.
This is a Batman early in his career, inexperienced but with enough wits about him to be dangerous on all fronts, especially with his mind. He is disillusioned with Gotham and its people, and for him, there is no need for Bruce Wayne, only Batman, enacting a sort of vengeance on the broken, lost city, not too different from the Riddler. The two share so many parallels, with Riddler even believing Batman to be an equal, a partner of sorts, who shares the same goal to tear down the crime and corruption of Gotham. It’s this connection though that will mold and alter Bruce forever, as he realizes he has become a symbol of fear and violence, where the wrong people look up to his mission, forcing him down a different, more just path, transforming from a symbol of fear, to a beacon of hope.
Reeves also uses this opportunity to plant plenty of seeds, as The Batman acts as a vessel to introduce much of Batman’s rogues gallery, like (the unrecognizable Collin Farrell as) the Penguin, Catwoman, Riddler, Hush, and even the Joker. All of this is done so seamlessly though, adding to the rich, lived-in feel of the seedy underbelly of Gotham City, while integrating them into the story in ways that add depth and further the mystery.
And finally, just the overall production of this film is unbelievable. Every single scene is a work of art, with some obvious inspiration drawn from the French Connection and David Fincher’s work, and not only in style, but story as well. Add in Michael Giacchino hauntingly brilliant score, mixed in with Nirvana’s Something in the Way, and you’ve got a Batman film that is darkly impactful in all the right ways.
Batman boasts an incredible cast too, starring Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Zoë Kravitz, and Robert Pattinson. Pattinson may just be up there with my favorites, as his Taxi Driver/Kurt Cobain-esque take on Bruce and Batman is so, so good. There’s a violent intensity behind those eyes, where you feel every hit and every bullet he takes and why he keeps coming back for more. Loved what I saw out of Kravitz, Dano, and Wright as well, and how they all felt like equals alongside Batman, never just allies or villains.
The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, is a masterful work of art in ushering in a new era for Batman, one that is bloodier, darker, and smarter, tackling the grim investigative sides to his character while giving him room to grow from the cynical young man he is here. Not just a phenomenal superhero movie, but a phenomenal fucking film.
9.8/10
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