GAMERTIMES

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BATMAN. IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE MOVIE, WE SUGGEST YOU TO NOT READ THIS REVIEW. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

“THE BATMAN”, a reboot of the Batman Franchise, directed and written by Matt Reeves has to be one of the best reboots that have ever happened and I like his interpretation of Batman. In The Dark Knight, a dark movie, Christian Bale played Batman and brought some amazing realism to the Batman character. But what can you do that can make this movie better than “The Dark Knight”? Simple. Go Darker. The brutal, nearly three hours long movie has to be the best. To be honest, I am not that much of a DCEU fan, I’m more of a Marvel fan, but I do watch DC movies and really like Solo movies from them. Twilight’s Robert Pattinson really was the best choice to play The Batman as he literally acted so well.

I like how this movie didn’t have an origin story for Bruce Wayne because Matt Reeves knows that we know his past and how he deals with it and instead chose to show how Batman has been defending Gotham for two years. In case you didn’t know the past of The Batman, it’s not difficult to understand this movie since Matt Reeves at the start of the film explains where his version of Batman is. I think the reason this movie is great is that it questions the superheroes, will they only be a superhero because of their powers or use their intelligence and take a much better decision.

While Batman with his psychological way tortures the bad guys and focuses on punching local thugs by emerging from the shadows like the alleys, or subway platforms. The Riddler on the other hand emerges to expose the people with high powers. He wants to expose how they lie and continue to lie and the promise they make isn’t fulfilled, and we learned that both of these men are vigilantes. The only difference is that Batman fights for people’s rights by helping the police, whereas the Riddler kills to expose the men with high power.

So, the movie begins with the Gotham City Mayor, Don Mitchell Jr. getting murdered by a serial killer named The Riddler on Halloween Day. Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) Lieutenant James Gordon investigates the murder alongside the Batman with the Riddler wrapping the whole face with tape that says, “NO MORE LIES”, and leaves clues specifically for the Batman. After Alfred and Bruce solve the cipher clue which says “Drive” they go to the location where they find a thumb that has a pen drive attached to it which contains images of Mitchell with a woman, Annika, at the Iceberg Lounge, a nightclub operated by mobster Carmine Falcone’s lieutenant Penguin.

Batman then questions Penguin who pleads ignorance but notices Selina (Zoe Kravitz) who works there as a waitress, and also she is her roommate of Annika. After her disappearance, Batman sends Selina back to Iceberg Lounge to find clues or answers. Batman discovers that Commissioner Savage was on Falcone’s payroll, as his district attorney Gil Coulson. Batman learns that Selina and Falcone had a strange relationship and then she turns off her communication and removes the camera lens that she had in her eyes.

I like how this version of Bruce feels like a broken man filled with pain and that’s why we see him spend most of his time as Batman instead of Bruce Wayne. That part was brilliantly performed by Robert Pattinson. I really like his suit, it looks so amazing I mean I like how the cowl doesn’t have the lenses that cover his eyes but rather lets it show his white eyes which totally goes with the suit. During the opening, he says, “they think I am hiding in the shadows,” and then proceeds to say, “I’m the shadows.” I’m glad they went in this direction rather than showing him a billionaire who in the future will do something like Ben Affleck Batman does when Superman asks, “How did you get the house back from the bank?” and he replies, “I bought the bank.”

Batman speaks more with his eyes than we see him verbally speak. That badass body, attitude, and the way he emerges from the shadows are amazing. Robert Pattinson isn’t the only one whose performance was amazing, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle’s performance was really good. She is the perfect match for Robert Pattinson’s Batman as even she is vulnerable yet emotional at the same time. The chemistry between the two is undeniably good. Bruce’s partner Alfred who is played by Andy Serkis is a good side character whose performance was heartwarming.

A funeral for Mitchell takes place where Batman goes as Bruce Wayne to attend and of course, something bad is bound to happen as The Riddler abducted Gil Colson at the Iceberg Lounge and straps a timed collar bomb, and sent him to the funeral. The Riddler calls on Colson’s phone and wants only Batman to answer. Later he appears and answers the call. The Riddler wants Colson to answer three riddles, Batman helps him answer the first two and then Colson refuses to answer the last one which results in an explosion killing Colson and knocking Batman unconscious.

Batman and Gordon believe that the informant may be the Penguin and tracks him to find out that Maroni’s operation never actually ended. Selina exposes them when she arrives to steal the money. As the penguin flees, Selina discovers Annika’s corpse in a car trunk. Batman captures Penguin and finds out he is not the informant. Batman and Gordon follow the trails to the ruins of an orphanage of Thomas and Martha Wayne to learn Riddler was a resident and holds grudge against them. Alfred is hospitalized after opening the letter bomb.

The Riddler then leaks the evidence that Thomas had hired Falcone to kill a journalist for threatening to release some embarrassing details. Bruce confronts Alfred about this and he confirms the allegations but states that Thomas had decided to turn Falcone to the police, but Falcone had Thomas and Martha killed to prevent this. Selina explains that Falcone is her father and Annika was strangled because Mitchell told her that Falcone was the informant and resolves to kill him. Batman prevents Selina physically to kill him because she does not deserve to have her future destroyed by murdering him.

Falcone tells Batman that he knows all of Gotham City’s secrets and underworld dealings, and all he knows dies with him. Batman brings Falcone outside to the police and Riddler snipes Falcone through the apartment window. Unmasked as forensics accountant Edward Nashton, the Riddler who is incarcerated in Arkham State Hospital. Nashton is envious of the sympathy Bruce got for his parent’s murder and idolizes Batman who inspired him to target the corrupted and proposes a partnership but Batman rejects it.

The Riddler planted car bombs around Gotham which destroys the breakwater and floods the city. Batman fights The Riddler’s followers and defeats them but is almost killed by the last member who is about to execute Batman but is rescued by Selina and then she kisses him for preventing her from killing the Falcone. The member then attacks Selina and almost kills her as Batman injects himself with adrenaline, tackles the member and beats him savagely until Gordon stops him. Gordon then removes the mask of the member asks who he is and the man says, “Me? I’m vengeance.”

Batman swings on the power line past the crowd in the flooded water and uses his detachable bat emblem to sever it causing him to be shocked by the electricity and fall down into the water. Batman rises from the water, lights a flare, and leads the survivors to safety. Meanwhile, The Riddler who is now behind the bars is upset that his plan failed and makes a new friend in the prison.

In the end, I like the whole movie. That three hours long runtime was sufficient to give space for each character except I find the Penguin character a bit disappointing. He didn’t get much screen time which isn’t good since when I saw Penguin I thought he would have a big role in the movie but he didn’t had much time. The cinematography and lighting of the movie is just brilliant. The visuals and the performance were just top notch.

The Batman is one of the best I watched since the past DC movies and I cannot wait to see more since we do know a sequel is confirmed to be developed. The action in the Batman is the most entertaining I have ever seen and I am in love with it. They were very well choreographed.

“The Batman has to be one of the best DC movies I have ever seen!”