Throughout the years Batman has had a dozen feature films that became big box-office hits and captivated our attention with the storyline. The first story, in the early 1940’s starred Lewis Wilson with a 15 series black and white story. From there Batman progressed with a 1960’s television series and a follow up movie that featured Adam West and Burt Ward which wasn’t meant to be taken seriously but I will say the Batmobile and Batcave were really cool.
Then the party was followed up by a dozen more motion pictures with major stars taking the lead role. The last Batman, “The Dark Knight Rises“, to hit theatres was in 2012 with Christian Bale sporting the suit with his hand-made toys. He was very popular but now the series takes a twilight turn with Robert Pattinson donning the cowl. His take on this Dark Knight reboot had me scratching my head at first. Robert Pattinson as The Batman? I thought about it after I attended a screening last week and yeah, it works. This story is much darker than any other versions offered to audiences previously.
Matt Reeves took over directing duties from Ben Affleck and lived up to his gritty word to change up the storyline. This is almost a horror film but since it is a darker movie the horror is kept at a strong PG-13 in lieu of a R rating. The story opens up on Halloween, Wednesday October 31st with Gotham city’s mayor being brutally murdered by a masked intruder leaving behind riddles as clues to what is forth coming. The world’s greatest detective, The Batman with his optical contact lenses that captures every clue, emerges from the shadows after laying low in semi-retirement and follows the footprints as one-by-one other grisly murders are taking place with the sadistic killer leaving riddled clues behind.
As Bruce Wayne/Batman comes closer to unmasking the perpetrator he teams up with Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) aka the villainess Catwoman in her skin-tight black costume with real claws, she grew out during the pandemic (welcome to the Bat and Cat show), the trail leads them close to home which causes him to forge new relationships and uncover corruption. Batman is vengeance and when you hear his hard thunderous walk like that of Michael Flatley tap-dancing on a wooden floor with many microphones capturing his ever sound, the crowd is in for some action that will make you grin. When the Bat signal is displayed, it’s a warning. I’ll quit on that part. Just see the film Friday.
Who is at the center of all this? With numerous players such as Riddler (Paul Dano), Colin Farrell’s Penguin or Catwoman, that’s enough to keep The Batman out of the shadows…for the time being. Who’s clean and who’s dirty? There is even a short glimpse of the new Batmobile which I would have liked to seen more of, but we do see his cape in the flying mode with a crash landing. He bounces right back up and carries on, shaken, not stirred (sorry Bond). The suit is nicely designed even with a flare to light up the night.
The film also stars Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, and Andy Serkis being Alfred and clocks in at 2 hours and 55 minutes, almost as long as Marvel’s Endgame and that’s without trailers attached. My biggest thought is are three hour movies really necessary? Why can’t the story be told in less time?
I did enjoy the new take on the cape crusader as it hits the big screens March 4 after covid push backs. The end credits even mention covid compliance teams and interesting enough, credit Selina’s nail tech. DC comics are trying to make a comeback and recent releases such as Uncharted and Dog are making their final stance and The Batman will emerge from behind you and take over the box office. Easy on the drinks so you don’t miss anything because, as far as I know, the bathrooms don’t have movie screens in them. But that’s just an idea. Grade B
