Review of The Batman (2022) by Mattyice — 10 Mar 2022

Although the film's runtime could've been cut by about 30 or so minutes and the romantic chemistry between Robert Pattinson's Batman and Zoe Kravitz's Catwoman felt really off, The Batman mostly lives up to the lofty expectations set by fans of the character and The Dark Knight movies that came before.

The acting from the heavy majority of the cast is great, especially Pattinson when he's donning the cowl (less so as Bruce Wayne, where he comes off as kinda creepy), Kravitz, Paul Dano, and an unrecognizable Colin Ferrell.

The riddles laid by The Riddler are both clever and digestible, the atmosphere around Gotham is very well-done, and the action choreography is fantastic. While it treads some similar ground to other Batman films before it, two things it does exceptionally well are making Batman do actual detective work and giving him a real character arc, something no Batman movie has really done before this one.

Finally, in spite of the film's bloated runtime, it's paced really well and the pressure/intensity built up through the direction and score is great as well. While it could've been potentially streamlined a bit, The Batman should satisfy most comic book movie fans, as well as most movie fans so long as you're willing to enjoy the film through its 3 hour runtime.