The Batman

So, everyone, we've finally reached the newest iteration of a live action Batman movie, The Batman. I was really excited for this film. Sure, I was a little cautious, but I was more excited than nervous and I was loving the trailers that were making this look really cool. And, I was after hearing some great things about the film before the release date and that was making it even better. So, I was able to see it on Friday and a friend of mine and I were talking for ages beforehand about how excited we were for it. And, so, in the end, what'd I think of it? Not gonna lie, this is honestly my all time all favourite Batman movie. I've personally never been the biggest fan of any live action Batman movies, but this one is the one exception, I loved The Batman and it is definitely my favourite Batman movie. I just adored this so much and I love how this is easily the most different comic book movie I've seen in a long time. There was just so much I loved in this and it had so many amazing aspects about it. And, like always, I'm going no spoilers for the first part and then we'll go into all of them after a warning. So, what's the story? In Gotham, Batman, played by Robert Pattinson, has been around for two years and is wondering what he can do for the crime rate in the city. And now, he's having to deal with a new killer called the Riddler, played by Paul Dano. So now, him and Gordon, played by Geoffry Wright, are on the hunt to find him and stop whatever he's doing. While that's going on, Bruce is also trying to investigate a woman named Selena Kyle, played by Zoe Kravitz, who's working for the Penguin, played by Colin Farrel. So, I'm gonna stop there. So, immediately, this might feel like getting into it really fast, but the first big thing I need to commend about this movie is the direction. This was directed by Matt Reeves, who did an absolutely phenomenal job directing this movie. There're so many amazing bits of direction throughout the entire movie. Just from the way the movie is shot and all the colours in those shots make this movie the best looking Batman movie I've ever seen. Again, like I said, I've never been a huge fan the previous Batman movies, but this one was made so well that I have to commend it for that. Something else that's very unique about this film is the fact that it leans heavily into the detective aspect of Batman, something we've never seen before in a Batman film and this one delves into that aspect so much and does it in some really fascinating and genius ways. The story's also filled with so many amazing twists that I didn't expect. There's like three really big twists in this that I didn't see coming and all of it is weaved into the plot fantastically. Just the different ways it tells its story makes it insanely intriguing. Now, we gotta talk about the cast. I know a lot of people were kinda sceptical about Robert Pattinson as Batman originally, but I'm saying this right now. After seeing the film and his performance, he's honestly my favourite live action Batman. I know a lot of people like Ben Affleck and Christian Bale, but, in terms of the live action versions of this character, Pattinson I would say is now my favourite. I thought he did a fantastic job as Batman and Bruce Wayne. Just in terms of getting all of Batman's core aspects correctly and the way he handled himself, I thought he did just an absolutely phenomenal job. The rest of the cast is just as fantastic, Andy Serkis as Alfred is terrific, Geoffry Wright is amazing as Gordon, Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrel, Paul Dano, John Tuturro, they all do fantastically. Something else that was really cool to see were the different gadgets Batman uses. Just the new kind they introduce in this movie that was never really seen before was amazing to see in live action. I also feel like this film handled things we've seen Batman do before in other movies in different and unique ways and I felt, again, that it helped differentiate it from other comic book movies. I also loved the different ways Batman was having to solves different riddles from the Riddler. I always find those kinda solving mystery things interesting in movies like this and this one does it so well. I also feel like this might be my favourite Batsuit. Over the past few years, aside from the Ben Affleck Batsuit, I've kinda noticed that a lot of the live action ones have been kinda weird, but this one does look really cool and, and I think I said this before, but this Batsuit looks a lot more manoeuvrable. Also, and I don't think this really counts as a spoiler, but something I was surprised by is the fact that we barely see Bruce Wayne in this. He's mostly just Batman the whole time. I didn't expect that at all. I don't think that's a really a spoiler, but, yeah, that was a little weird. That's nothing against this movie, just something I wanted to point out. And, in terms of the action, yeah, it's also fantastic here. We saw a good amount of it in the trailers, and it was done beautifully. Just from the way it was shot the different ways the characters do different things just made it so much fun to watch. My favourite was probably the Batman and Penguin car chase scene we saw in the trailers. Again, amazingly put together and really well thought out. The film, as you'd expect is also pretty dark and, while I personally was never really scared of anything in this, there are some parts I can imagine being pretty terrifying for other people, especially the first few minutes of this. So, honestly guys, this was a super, super satisfying experience for me. As a fan of Batman, I was really happy with this a lot. I also feel like this did great to alter my perception of comic book movies, because, honestly, this movie took the idea of a comic book movie and comic book movie climaxes and just flipped the idea of both on its head for me, and I loved it for that and I absolutely can't wait to see it again. And, yeah, is this totally a movie you should definitely check out. And so, everyone, that's my review for The Batman. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

Spoilers:

Okay, so, there's a good amount to talk about in the spoiler section. The first thing I wanna discuss is the first shot when we see someone spying inside a house and we learn that it's Riddler spying on a mayor who Riddler then kills. Again, just amazingly directed with how we spend on that shot from his point of view and then when he actually kills him, it's pretty intense. And that's when we see Batman for the first time fighting that gang like we saw in the trailer but then we get that scene where they're investigating the crime scene like we saw in the trailers too and we get to see that the police don't trust Batman yet and it's really just Gordon who does and that was great. And, like I was saying, some of the gadgets we see Batman use were great. The main one I was talking about were those camera lens things he could put into his eyes that could record what he was seeing. And, again, the different riddles that they were having to solve were fun to watch, especially the one with that USB stick. It was creepy with that scene, but cool to see them figure it out. And that whole scene in the police station was cool too with Batman being surrounded by those police and then he and Gordon make a plan to get out of there and another great new thing we see here is when he jumps off the building, he uses some glider suit to glide through the air instead of using his cape and it was really unique. And then the following car chase with Batman and Penguin was really fun and riveting. And then, I like how we discover Riddler's plan and motivation. I know something like this was discussed in the Dark Knight movies with the corruption of the police and things like that that's used here too, but I honestly found it more interesting here and it's interesting that that's part of Riddler's motivation. And then, and this is what I meant when I was talking about some great twists in the movie, we eventually learn that Thomas and Martha Wayne we actually did some bad things as well that they tried to hide from the public like Thomas hiring Falcone to kill someone and other things like that like Martha being in Arkham Asylum. And we get an amazing scene with Bruce and Alfred in the hospital where he tries to explain everything to him. That part right there is where I felt Robert Pattinson and Andy Serkis were both incredible in this. Speaking, I like how a lot of Pattinson's performance in this had a lot to do with him just looking at people. That's a big aspect to Batman's character and he did it great. And then, another big twist is when we find out that Falcone is actually Selina's dad. I didn't see that coming at all either and I felt it added a lot to the end of the movie when Selina is about to kill him and Bruce stops her. And really, just how a lot of these plotlines are brought together at the end is really smart. And, in terms of something like the prison scene after the Riddler's captured, that scene in particular, I thought Paul Dano did a great job with showing how psychotic and unhinged he really is and then we get the biggest part of the movie where Riddler's plan is revealed to destroy the dam around Gotham and flood it. And we even get some fights there where Batman is against some of Riddler's followers and that even had some great small moments there as well like when one of the guys says "I'm vengence" and Batman gets really surprised to hear him say that and he just looks at him. But then, as soon as Batman helps some people, the climax is over. That's what I meant when I said the climax of this movie takes the idea of a traditional comic book movie climax and just flips it on its head because that's usually not how these kinda things work, but this movie makes it work because this is a different kind of comic book movie and I like how it stuck to its tone of being a super dark and ground detective mystery that took itself seriously. And, another amazing moment that I really loved was towards the end when he's helping a woman to a helicopter strecher and she keeps holding onto him and doesn't want to let go. I thought that was really powerful and did a lot for this movie. Given eveything this movie was setting up, that little moment I thought did great to convey it even more. In terms of the scene where Riddler is in prison and he talks to someone there, that was pretty cool, although, a little confusing because we don't see who it is. It's more than likely Joker, but we never see him and I was really hoping we wouldn't see Joker in this. I know we don't technically see him, but I was really hoping we wouldn't see the Joker in a movie again because I feel like that's been overused too much. But, we'll just have to see what happens with that next and I really hope we get more sequels for this movie because I loved this movie so much. Again, I'm really, really happy with how this movie turned out and it's amazing to think that a movie like this and Spider-Man: No Way Home both happened during Coronavirus and they still managed to make movies this amazing. I'm just really excited to see this movie again and I still believe everyone involved did an incredible job. And so, everyone, that's my review of The Batman. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.