Count: 20 / 20
Current Page: 10
Review by CinemaSerf
- Username: Geronimo1967
OK, shoot me now - but you can tell when you are watching a film at the cinema and the audience start to get a bit restless. Well mine did with this overlong, and frankly rather dreary film. The opening few, somewhat dystopian, scenes reminded me of "Blade Runner" (1982) and we do hit the ground running. Amidst an hotly contested mayoral election, a chap in a gas mask ("The Riddler", we learn later) brutally takes out the sitting candidate enticing the "Batman" (Robert Pattinson) to come help his policeman pal "Gordon" (Jeffrey Wright) to investigate. Seems that the killer wanted that to happen because he leaves our caped crusader a card with a clue. Soon the great and the good of the city are dropping like flies and a web of corruption and deceit at the top echelons of government is emerging. Personally I found this all a bit dull. It flows terribly slowly, and after a while the relentless darkness and a really pretty soporific, moody, effort from Pattinson just started to bore me. There are loads of plot holes - not least just how the "Riddler" manages to pull off some pretty heavy duty crimes without having to scale any tall buildings, or sneak past the heavily guarded victims of his spree. The scenes with the completely unprotected DA (Peter Sarsgaard) in a dimly lit street are just plain daft. Colin Farrell is probably my highlight as the duplicitous "Oz", and Zoë Kravitz ("Cat Woman”) offers us some decent acrobatics but otherwise, this is an hugely over-rated affair that has a serious paucity of dialogue, is heavily scored and during it's almost three hours, not enough actually happens. Indeed, it is very reluctant to let us leave. I will admit that my first guess at the ending was a bit optimistic, but it could conclude at least another four times before we are finally allowed to stretch our legs. It might look better second time around, but for now it's nothing at all to write home about.
Review by JPV852
- Username: JPV852
Good albeit not great, this newest incarnation of Batman is well done if not also incredibly dark. I did like Robert Pattinson's portrayal and didn't employ the annoying voice that kind of ruined The Dark Knight and more so, The Dark Knight Rises. As a whole though I did like the plot (parts inspired by The Long Halloween) and a good supporting cast, with Paul Dano giving a creepy performance as The Riddler and looking forward to seeing more from Zoe Kravitz's Selina/Catwoman. **4.0/5**
Review by Horseface
- Username: Horseface
I am so tired of superhero movies. Still, being down with a mild case of Corona, I wanted something to watch that'd go down easy, and The Batman was available, so I picked it. I have to say that this, to me, is one of the rare superhero movies that appeal to me. And that's after having seen every other Batman movie since Tim Burton's 1989 one. And, I dare say, even with me being fed up with superhero movies, I think this is the best attempt. At three hours, it feels like binge-watching a three-part miniseries. And by that I mean both that to the extent that it is three acts, they almost perfectly align with an hour each, and also that the pacing is great, and I never got bored. The cast is excellent. Also, for the first time ever, I'm not thinking that it's ridiculous that no one recognizes Bruce Wayne as Batman. The half-mask actually makes Bruce Wayne unrecognizable. I'm not sure if they thought of that during casting, but it's really quite impressive. It's also nice to not have to suffer through a pathetic attempt from Batman to make his voice sound cool. Oh dear, Christian Bale trying to look and sound cool was just so cringey. Robert Pattinson is by far the best Batman I've ever seen. The almost depressive mental torment he conveys does not come off as fake or pretension, and that's a first for the Batman franchise as far as I'm concerned. The mood is bleak without being depressive, the score is fantastic, if a bit too much, the cinematography is amazing, I really have very little to fault here. If anything, it may come off as a little pretentious and self-indulgent, but that's also part of the attraction, and if I'm being completely honest, I think it's more to do with my own "people need to grow up and stop watching these childish things" prejudice I have, when in fact the 15-year-old inside of me f...ing loves it, and I need to embrace that childish part of me rather than hate on it. If there's anything I would change about this movie, it's what I feel is somewhat of a PG-ification of Batman. I would love to see this movie with all its bleak desperation and lust for vengeance on the depravity and evil in the Gotham world, but with a seriously anti-hero, all-violent, bringer-of-death Batman. I would love to see him - in a more crude outfit, with less bells and whistles, and definitely without the cape - destroy, slay and kill, with exploration of the terrible aftermath it would bring, including the impact on his psyche, rather than the beat-up-and-let-go strategy that he is using in this movie. That part just feels to not align with both the doomish mood that sets the story and the seeming existential depression of our masked protagonist. I think that would warrant yet another installment in this franchise. I'm actually surprised how much meat there is on this character. Also, if the movie overall is consistently a bit too much, the ending takes it one notch further on that scale. Regardless, I now have two superhero movies that I keep in my movie collection. The other is Watchmen (Director's Cut). 1 star deducted for Catwoman being racist without it being presented as a problem. The casting of her is perfect, by the way. Much better than Michelle Pfeiffer.
Review by Peter McGinn
- Username: narrator56
Oh boy, yet another review here on TMDB about this movie. What is it about comic books that garners so much interest? I am no longer a comic hero fan, either in movies or the source comic books. I have seen some of the Marvel series and the only one that I would watch multiple times if it came across my screen in Ant Man and the Wasp, with its wit, action and humor. I did read superhero comics as a kid, however. I stuck to DC comics. I especially liked the Legion of Superheroes, though I also read the Justice League, Superman and Batman. This was the Silver Age of comics, I believe, before they restarted and complicated the field with reimagining the comic universe (or whatever it is they did). Anyway, I was a DC boy so I gave The Batman a look see. It is a dark film, both in its themes and its camera work. No wit and humor to speak of here, just grim and introspective comic book noir. But it was intriguing and interesting enough to hold only my attention. There were a couple of interesting twists on traditional Batman villains, for example. As with a lot of current thrillers, there is quite a body count, when sometimes with violence, I think less can be more. It is not a film I will watch multiple times or anxiously await a sequel for, but I do not regret the time spent watching it.
Review by mahmus
- Username: mahmus
_The Batman_ is the best live-action Batman movie yet. It's the type of Batman film I've been waiting for my whole life. It's dark and realistic, but also stylish and large-scale. It's not limited by a commitment to realism like the Dark Knight trilogy, nor is it burdened by a shared universe like the DCEU. It is its own thing. A moody, disturbing, visually stunning, David Fincher-inspired, three hour long detective epic with some of the best interpretations of the characters ever put on screen. Robert Pattinson is fantastic as a younger, moodier, and yes, more emo Batman. Paul Dano is straight up terrifying as the Riddler. Colin Farrell is unrecognisable in more ways than one as The Penguin and Zoë Kravitz is easily my favorite live-action Catwoman. Massively underrated is john Turturro as Carmine Falcone. This movie kept me hooked all the way through. It's almost three hours long but it feels like two. This is the best Batman movie. The Dark Knight is good and all, but Reeves finds the perfect mix of gritty realism and style (Nolan would never even dare to have a snorricam shot of Batmam gliding over the city), and finally gives us a live-action Batman that lives up to the title of "World's Greatest Detective". Not that there's much competition, since he's like the only one to actually do any detective work (no, Christian Bale magically finding a fingerprint on a broken bullet doesn't count).
Review by Kay Cee
- Username: kaycee2000
The movie was one of the best Batman movies in my opinion, but, I honestly didn't like thus portrayal of Batman. This didn't feel like Batman, more like BatDude. Like a man in real life that grew up watching Batman and decided to fight crime under his name. Overall it is definitely worth the watch!
Review by Nathan
- Username: TitanGusang
Batman returns back to its detective roots, and it is a breath of fresh air. Robert Patterson is stunning as Batman. The twists and turns the new Riddler take is a fun ride. **Verdict:** _Masterpiece_
Review by Per Gunnar Jonsson
- Username: Dark Jedi
To be honest, this is a really good movie. Hang on? So why did I only give it 2 out of 5 stars? Well, this is really personal but, to me, it is not a good Batman movie. I really had problems writing this review because it is a very good movie. I just did not like it as a Batman movie. The movie is really dark, gritty and noir. Not really a problem. It works for some movies. But it is also quite slow at the beginning and the first quarter of the movie was actually boring. Remember, this is a three hour movie so a quarter is more than half an hour of “boringness”. The “boringess” was broken up by a pretty cool car chase. Some people seem to not really like the batmobile and I have to say that it was not very inspired but it was not all bad either. Unfortunately the movie turned rather boring for a while again after that. The movie tries to bring out more of the detective part of Batman than the previous movies, which is fine, but there is just too much moping around with Batman / Bruce Wayne walking around oozing sadness all around him. Actually, this brings us to my main gripe with this movie. The choice of actor for the Batman is just wrong for me. He is more like a sad puppy than the Batman. The script that makes him mope around, have emotional outbreaks and, occasionally, being downright stupid like just staring dumbfounded when explosives go off in his face does not really help of course. To me the Selina Kyle character had more charisma than the Batman, especially when the Batman was in his Bruce Wayne alter ego. And I really, really dislike that twist about Bruce’s parents. That was such a lazy Hollywood writer hack thing to do just to create (unwanted) drama. Then we have the Riddler. Compared to the charismatic villains that we have come to expect he is just a sad little psychopath with a bunch of equally sad fanatical internet followers. Now, all of this would have worked great if it had been a movie about some, unspecified, vigilante. The movie is really well done. The detective story, the action (especially towards the end) and the noir setting would have worked great. Even at its three hour bloated length it would have been great although cut down to two hours or a bit more would have been even better. If it had not been a Batman movie!
Review by JPRetana
- Username: JPRetana
The Batman is not a terribly bad movie, but it would be twice as good if it were half as long. How a film that likes to take shortcuts – especially with the Riddler’s ‘riddles’ – can still take almost three hours to get to where it’s going, I haven’t the foggiest (but then this is a rather strange enterprise that gives us Andy Serkis in the flesh and covers Colin Farrell in prosthetic makeup and a fat suit). Director/co-writer Matt Reeves very wisely avoids origin stories and takes for granted relationships, which have already been well established in a decades-long canon, between certain characters; on the other hand, he allows his movie to become bogged down at the halfway point in a deluge of backstory. The obvious problem is that there is enough material here for at least two films, and Reeves attempts to cram it all into a single one. Why? We all know there are going to be sequels, so why not save some for the next chapter? Or better yet, why not leave some of it on the cutting room floor? There is absolutely no reason for the Penguin to be in this movie; he might as well be the Imperceptible Man (an actual Batman villain, mind you) for all that he’s given to do. Catwoman has been pretty much played out, and as far as the Riddler, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Jim Carrey did a much better job with the role than does Paul Dano – an otherwise fine actor that inexplicably chose to play the character as the bastard child of Heath Ledger’s Joker and Tom Hardy’s Bane. That leaves Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), who provides the most intriguing plot points; why not make him the main, or even – dare I say it – only villain? Now, The Batman is long enough to try the patient of a saint, but at least it’s great to look at. Like the first Tim Burton Batman (as described by the unerring Roger Ebert), it “is a triumph of design over story, style over substance - a great-looking movie with a plot you can’t care much about.” Gotham City in particular is a winning combination of Burton’s faux noir texture and Christopher Nolan’s plausible architecture. The best scenes involve Batman (Robert Pattinson) and Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) – and indeed Pattinson has an uncanny knack for playing off veteran character actors – as a sort of pre-Robin dynamic duo; their adventures are poignant because they appear to happen in the real world, or at least as real as a world can be wherein a grown man disguises himself as a giant bat (compare last year’s Zack Snyder's Justice League, with its unending CGI assault on the senses).
Review by Dean
- Username: Ditendra
This was the worst Batman I have ever seen. Firstly, Robert Pattinson was the worst choice for the Batman role. In Twilight he was alright, but in Batman he definitely failed. He was more like a sad, depressed goth kid with no emotions. He tried too much to fit the role, but in fact we got this depressive, dead and empty Batman. Secondly, there were other small things that sucked about this movie, for example, Cat Woman had a very simple and stupid mask. Even older movie versions had a better mask than here. Batman's batmobile also sucked. Looked like a downgraded version. He also rode just a simple bike and lastly, he couldn't even glide with his default Batman suit. Also, don't know why but James Gordon was played by a black actor, while in every movie and even in every game this character is white. Riddler character also seemed stupid, wearing stupid mask and acting stupid and wasn't intimidating at all, but laughable. So, in general cast and acting was disappointing in this movie. Lastly, the movie itself... It was dull, boring and depressive. They tried to make it masterpiece with 3 hours long, but in reality movie became just plain boring and I almost fell asleep. Overall verdict: Disappointing.
