The Batman, 8/10
A pleasant surprise and another example of trailers making something seem worse than it is alongside Arcane, I really enjoyed this. There's lots of things to appreciate about it and how it goes against the grain of current superhero trends, but perhaps most of all is the fact that this doesn't feel like a movie that was made because there needed to be another Batman movie to balance the books. There's actual thought and purpose, and even passion behind it. This would fit snugly into the Nolan Batman continuum, except it's even darker and more than deserves its R rati... wait what??? This is rated PG-13??? Holy smokes! Yet its darkness feels purposeful and like a stylistic choice instead of the Zack Snyder style of just throwing shock value at the screen. It's very grounded and human in how it depicts broken systems and broken people, and it never really becomes overbearing. But holy moley is it not afraid to get dark. This makes Dark Knight look (ironically enough) light and breezy in comparison.
When I say this goes against the grain of current superhero trends I mean it. It's small scale, tightly focused, almost 3 hours long yet it never drags except maybe right at the very end, it just assumes we already know what the characters are about and is more about the investigative element and worldbuilding than big setpiece blowouts. When talking about Far from Home I mentioned a specific scene where I'd have appreciated them using less special effects for a fight scene enormously. Well come to find out this movie does almost exactly what I wished for, and it's so refreshing! Visually it looks great, but what's even better is that there's actually thought and style put into the visuals. There's lots of interesting POV shots and playing with focus and lighting in a way that makes it look more like Se7en than any superhero movie. Oh, and by the way, this movie rips off (or homages) Se7en so much that if you've seen that movie even once it at times treads on eye-roll territory in how blatant it is with its inspiration.
Pattinson makes a great choice for this style of Batman. His performance is rather muted in comparison to his predecessors, which helps distinguish him from them. This version of Batman is less of a growling demonic brute and more creepy and unsettling. It also helps that for the first time this millennium a live-action Batman actually speaks in a normal voice and not like a throat cancer patient. Hooray! We've come all the way from square one to square one. I've seen some criticisms of this movie not distinguishin between Batman and Bruce Wayne enough, but to me it was pretty clear that this version of Bruce Wayne is less of a tabloid-hogging playboy and more of an isolationist weirdo billionaire. And since the movie focuses like 90% on Batman and not on Bruce Wayne that's a tiny complaint anyway.
I feel the Riddler is where this movie is going to divide people the most. I'm sure if you start thinking about the movie you can make a joke like "He's called the Riddler because he riddles the plot with holes", but for me it was gripping all the way through. The gimp mask is where the movie goes maybe a bit overboard with the darkness, but he's shown sparingly enough that he just avoids becoming completely ridiculous. Towards the end his acting starts to go a bit too much into over the top camp, and that's where the movie faltered the most for me. I don't blame Dano for this, he does a great job with what he's given. And it's very refreshing to see a villain in a Batman movie for once that's not either the Joker or a punching bag. Another thing I really appreciated is how the movie actually manages to bring in the old theme of Batman creating his villains as much as he fights them in a surprising and genuinely effective way. The rest of the supporting cast are all superb. John Turturro is great as a sleazy slimebag, Colin Farrell is literally unrecognizable as Penguin, Zoë Kravitz is just AWOOOOGA hot, and Jeffrey Wright makes for an excellent Gordon.
I absolutely loved the score. Yet another way how this movie goes against the grain is its very subdued and minimalist music that at the same time doesn't draw attention to itself yet you can't not pay attention to it. It goes for a more ominous ambient feel than trying to create the next classic film score, and it reminded me of Demon's Souls of all things with its solemn percussion and strings. I can't think of a more fitting score for this film. Hats off to Michael Giacchino!
So yeah, one of the most interesting mainstream superhero movies to come out in years. Highly recommended.
