It's beautifully shot but irritatingly slow. Its far too long and I dont like R. Patz as Batman. He plays him as an emo broody and emotionally constipated man with zero facial expressions. Batman vs superman was bad but this is also a disappointment.
Haven't really liked anything with Bats in it since Dark Knight so it's been a long time for me. The overall mood is rather interesting. It's dark, but in ways that even the Nolan trilogy didn't touch on. They really excelled in giving the impression that it's Batman and Gordon alone, standing on that skyscraper and all of Gotham corrupted to the point of no return below them. It manifests an interesting amalgam of emotions ranging from "this Gotham absolutely needs Bats like it needs oxygen to breathe" and then eventually by the end "it's too far gone, let it all burn." Paul Dano is great, haven't seen him ever give a bad performance. Pattinson isn't bad either. Farrell was great as the penguin but he's wearing enough prosthetics that it could just be anyone underneath them.
Part of me couldn't help but wonder though if a lot of people are honestly tired of DC putting Bats back on the movie treadmill yet again. I mean, this will probably be the common thing now, we can probably expect another recasting of Superman and yet another trilogy of films. Marvel has their own problems with fatigue and making all kinds of unknown heroes into movies while DC has the same kind of fatigue in a different way with sticking their heroes on a carousel and endlessly spinning it.
Very good neonoir.
Dr. Mabuse like villian with all the classic Batman hallmarks. Recommended and in a par of epicness with the Nolan's trilogy although a slight notch down
I fully get the poor dialogue moments hence why it's an 8/10
Felt too much like I was watching one of those dark, edgy British detective series with the horribly flawed but equally brilliant sleuth who is out to stop the psychopathic/sociopathic serial killer before they strike again. Great actors made the most of the weak writing they had to work with. About an hour too long, but like I said ... "those dark, edgy British detective SERIES".
A 3-hour long movie that somehow leaves you wishing you had seen more of the various characters - not just in terms of movie minutes, but in terms of actually seeing them. I am still wondering when Hollywood will stop confusing dark themes with visual darkness. Also, if Gotham City is this corrupt and hopeless, I can't quite fathom why anyone would bother trying to improve it. It would be nice to know what redeeming features Bruce Wayne thinks the city has, seeing as he is devoting his life to saving it.
Anyway, the casting is great, and I like that the Batman is mostly silent - kind of like the Witcher - but the problem is that many of the few lines he has are redundant as he is merely stating the obvious, especially in the scene where
he is watching events unfold through Catwoman's contact lenses
. It seems odd that a man so taciturn would suddenly decide to narrate what everyone can see.
The costume is great and I love how Batman's eyes are so prominent. Sadly there is very little of Bruce Wayne in this film - so little in fact, that you could easily cut all the scenes he features in and still have the film make as much sense. To be fair, the film is called The Batman. Hopefully, the next film will be called The Bruce Wayne.
There are so many good things in this movie that I feel bad for not really liking it. Unfortunately I disliked one of the most important aspects of the movie, the plot. The plot is so unbelievably uninteresting that it's completely baffling that's the story they chose to go with. You never care about any of the people the Riddler kills because they're all corrupt anyway. So to me that storyline is a complete failure. I also didn't give a flying fuck about the boring mob storyline that also involved catwoman, who's really boring in this movie by the way. I can't really reccomend it but you might like it. If you like looking at Batman's costume this is the movie for you.
Had low expectations for yet another reboot, but this pretty good serious (sometimes a bit too much.....its missing some fun) thriller. Very dark, great cast and movie looks terrific but at least 45min too long. Really hurts the movie. Pattinson makes a good Batman but a very boring Bruce Wayne (BW is hardly in the movie). Entertaining and looking forward to the next chapter.
This didn't need to be three hours long, and it's not that interesting. Dano and Farrell are great, but sadly I felt Serkis (of whom I'm a big fan as an actor - he's brilliant as Ian Dury) was miscast as Alfred, and the character had very little impact considering the film's length. Michael Caine was always going to be a tough act to follow, but you could cut all Serkis' scenes from this film and it would very little difference.
It all felt a bit too teen-angsty to me, so I'm guessing I'm not the target audience. If you're a Robert Pattinson fan I imagine you'll think it's the best thing you've ever seen, whereas if you've actually seen most of the previous Batman films you already know it's not as good as Nolan's. It's not terrible, but it rarely climbs above 'pretty good' and at times genuinely drags. Obviously, expect a couple of sequels and then another reboot in a few years.
There's some interesting stuff here, and it's well-made, but I don't see that it adds much to the franchise (which, ultimately, is all this film serves). I did like the detective story focus they were aiming for, and Pattinson is a decent enough Batman who I suspect will grow into the role over time, but it feels confused and I think it's pretty obvious that this film started life as something else (and with someone else).
As someone who has read pretty much all the Batman comics it is very apparent that Matt Reeves has not.
He's basically just decided that Batman is going to be a bit emo and completely ignored the fact that you need a decent story line to make a great Batman film. You definitely get the sense that Matt wanted Bruce to be more like Kurt Cobain that the Bruce from the comics.
You could easily cut out 90 minutes from this movie.
Robert was miscast.
Zoe was miscast.
Colin was a very good penguin (pretty much the only highlight of the movie).
The Riddler character seemed more like a whiney teenager that an actual villain.
Alfred was basically a throwaway character.
The film is predictable from start to finish, can't believe anyway is saying this movie has twists are turns. It's glaringly obvious what's going to happen.
Hope they don't make this into a trilogy as it doesn't deserve to be one.
Dark city, dark secrets, dark times. Next chapter in the Batman series tells You what happen next in the Gotham City.
Robert Pattinson is good choice to be a man without any visible emotions. Liked that there is no action overdose.
- Visual quality was very satisfying.
- Colin Farrell's Penguin, I like it very much.
He has craziness, fear, boldness which can develop into a solid villain. Colin Farrell was the best actor in the movie in my opinion
- I like the idea of more vulnerable Batman, at the start of his crime fighting career. Lots of mistakes and emotions were involved. Still haven't developed two different personas (Bruce Wayne and Batman) in one mind. However, it was not consistently presented.
Is he weak or not? He rushes into the den of his enemies, yet I hadn't felt any danger for him. He just walked in for a hand to hand combat, sustained multiple gunshots without any major damage. In none of the scenes I felt any peril. Ok I get the twins joke but does he have to walk in from the front door every time? He seemed to have lots of gadgets on him, yet he sparingly used them. Ok, he might not have developed tactical skills to utilize them but let us know that. I think they should've emphasized his lack of skills, emotional control, and his reckless nature better. Also, I think Bruce Wayne should've more screen time to build up his character and Batman. Anyways, I am a little more hopeful for the second movie, if there is ever going to be one
- Other characters were extremely weak.
- Commissioner Gordon was an insult to Wright's talent. Most of the lines were there to rephrase what Batman just said as a question. No real impact on how the story proceeds other than helping Batman access crime scenes. He could've played a better part in solving the crime, since Batman is not a fully developed crime fighter. He could've helped Batman develop his detective skills. Missed opportunity in my opinion. They could've created a very strong character, which could've develop into a spinoff movie series.
- Alfred was an insult to Serkis's talent. There is not much to write about him. Man, the movie was 3 hours long.
- Falcone was an insult to Turturro's skills. Is he a mob or a goofy agent in Transformers, I couldn't tell. There were absolutely nothing intimidating about him. Is he a though mob? I don't know. There were nothing though or violent about him other than a sound recording of him strangling a woman and his confession of strangling Selina's mom. Is he good strategist? I don't know. There were nothing cunning or elaborate in what he did other than the whole movie people saying he owns the city by owning everyone one way or another. His whole scheme was torn down by Riddler alone.
- Riddler was ok. I'd love to see more of Dano.
- Selina was ok. She could've killed Falcone without a weapon. The last scene was extremely dull. She can beat Falcone's men without sweating but she needs a gun to kill him? Even after knowing that he strangled her friend? Come on!
- Overall movie
- The whole scheme was apparent when all the characters were revealed. Solving mystery was not fun, no twists, no mystery within mystery, just straightforward crossword puzzles.
- The last shooting scene was a disaster. How could lots of masked people enter into a complex that a newly elected mayor was addressing the city? Or Batman had time to plant lots of explosives to blow off the roof but no real plan to take on all those amateur shooters? At least he could've used something from his utility belt to reduce visibility. Even he was not able to cut a cord without putting himself in harms way.
- The last scene between Batman and Selina sums everything up about the movie. Batman sneaks behind Selina at her mother's grave, yet at the end of the talk we see that Batman's motorcycle is there. Throughout the movie he banged the streets with it's engine's voice yet he sneaks behind her riding it without her noticing it.
Although my overall impression is average, I believe it could develop into a good series if they improve side characters, make a more consistent Batman character and come up with a better story. Seeing characters' newly budding careers is a refreshing take.
It's amazing how my apathy there was for The Batman in my particular nerd circle until it came out and started making converts. I get it, no comic book fan (of a certain age) wants ANOTHER dark and gloomy Batman. But let's look at what's on the same nerds' wish list that the movie DID give us... 1) A Batman movie that actually focuses on Batman and not the villain(s) du jour (too often, Batman is a cipher to allow name-brand actors to chew the scenery, but Batman has an actual arc in this one). 2) Batman as detective (the movie is cousin to something like Se7en or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). 3) A Batman who is more than a monster to the underworld and can actually be a force for good in Gotham (in other words, they sell you a dark Batman tale, but turn it into something else by the end). 4) A Batman who refuses to kill. 5) For nerds tired of the "Bat God", a Batman who gets hurt, gets outplayed, is on the back foot a lot of the time, is GROUNDED in some kind of reality (this is where I think The Batman beats The Dark Knight - long held as the gold standard and with a similar villain playing mind games - because TDK has that unfortunate third act with the clunky Daredevil vision, oh, and Batman in a tank, that's no Batmobile). That's five ways the movie is closer to the comics ideal (I do say ideal because Nolan and Snyder's dark Batman has infected DC Comics for too long a time). I'll throw in a 6th item from the wish list: NO RETELLING OF THE ORIGIN (and yet, it looms large) and Batman already active for a couple years. In terms of the Riddler, some might be put off by him being a demented torture porn artist, but they movie understands the core of the character - that he must challenge Batman intellectually - and connected to real-world conspiracy nuts and other dangerous elements (it's almost too close for comfort). I don't quite get the point of hiring Colin Farrell as the Penguin if he's gonna be this unrecognizable, but between him, Catwoman and Falcone, we have a Gotham that doesn't require origin stories. It also looks damn good, dark but not impenetrable, with great uses of light and shadow. I liked the music, though Batman's theme sounds too much like the Imperial March minus one note. Well, maybe that was on purpose. I might quibble with the anti-stealth costume, but this is a Batman who trades a heck of a lot on intimidation skills (the Batmobile as Christine!), so it works for the character. And that almost 3-hour run time? I personally didn't feel it. So while I won't pretend it's the most fun (or require it be anyone's favorite), it might just be the best Batman film ever made.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 15 of 25
danisanna
It's beautifully shot but irritatingly slow. Its far too long and I dont like R. Patz as Batman. He plays him as an emo broody and emotionally constipated man with zero facial expressions. Batman vs superman was bad but this is also a disappointment.DisneyStitch
Haven't really liked anything with Bats in it since Dark Knight so it's been a long time for me. The overall mood is rather interesting. It's dark, but in ways that even the Nolan trilogy didn't touch on. They really excelled in giving the impression that it's Batman and Gordon alone, standing on that skyscraper and all of Gotham corrupted to the point of no return below them. It manifests an interesting amalgam of emotions ranging from "this Gotham absolutely needs Bats like it needs oxygen to breathe" and then eventually by the end "it's too far gone, let it all burn." Paul Dano is great, haven't seen him ever give a bad performance. Pattinson isn't bad either. Farrell was great as the penguin but he's wearing enough prosthetics that it could just be anyone underneath them.Part of me couldn't help but wonder though if a lot of people are honestly tired of DC putting Bats back on the movie treadmill yet again. I mean, this will probably be the common thing now, we can probably expect another recasting of Superman and yet another trilogy of films. Marvel has their own problems with fatigue and making all kinds of unknown heroes into movies while DC has the same kind of fatigue in a different way with sticking their heroes on a carousel and endlessly spinning it.
boulderman
Very good neonoir.Dr. Mabuse like villian with all the classic Batman hallmarks. Recommended and in a par of epicness with the Nolan's trilogy although a slight notch down
I fully get the poor dialogue moments hence why it's an 8/10
Supposeably
Marty DiBergi : two word review "The Sh*tman"xianjiro
Felt too much like I was watching one of those dark, edgy British detective series with the horribly flawed but equally brilliant sleuth who is out to stop the psychopathic/sociopathic serial killer before they strike again. Great actors made the most of the weak writing they had to work with. About an hour too long, but like I said ... "those dark, edgy British detective SERIES".Neens
A 3-hour long movie that somehow leaves you wishing you had seen more of the various characters - not just in terms of movie minutes, but in terms of actually seeing them. I am still wondering when Hollywood will stop confusing dark themes with visual darkness. Also, if Gotham City is this corrupt and hopeless, I can't quite fathom why anyone would bother trying to improve it. It would be nice to know what redeeming features Bruce Wayne thinks the city has, seeing as he is devoting his life to saving it.Anyway, the casting is great, and I like that the Batman is mostly silent - kind of like the Witcher - but the problem is that many of the few lines he has are redundant as he is merely stating the obvious, especially in the scene where
The costume is great and I love how Batman's eyes are so prominent. Sadly there is very little of Bruce Wayne in this film - so little in fact, that you could easily cut all the scenes he features in and still have the film make as much sense. To be fair, the film is called The Batman. Hopefully, the next film will be called The Bruce Wayne.
chicachica
I miss the Batusi.Toastinator
There are so many good things in this movie that I feel bad for not really liking it. Unfortunately I disliked one of the most important aspects of the movie, the plot. The plot is so unbelievably uninteresting that it's completely baffling that's the story they chose to go with. You never care about any of the people the Riddler kills because they're all corrupt anyway. So to me that storyline is a complete failure. I also didn't give a flying fuck about the boring mob storyline that also involved catwoman, who's really boring in this movie by the way. I can't really reccomend it but you might like it. If you like looking at Batman's costume this is the movie for you.Earring72
Had low expectations for yet another reboot, but this pretty good serious (sometimes a bit too much.....its missing some fun) thriller. Very dark, great cast and movie looks terrific but at least 45min too long. Really hurts the movie. Pattinson makes a good Batman but a very boring Bruce Wayne (BW is hardly in the movie). Entertaining and looking forward to the next chapter.Toljus
This didn't need to be three hours long, and it's not that interesting. Dano and Farrell are great, but sadly I felt Serkis (of whom I'm a big fan as an actor - he's brilliant as Ian Dury) was miscast as Alfred, and the character had very little impact considering the film's length. Michael Caine was always going to be a tough act to follow, but you could cut all Serkis' scenes from this film and it would very little difference.It all felt a bit too teen-angsty to me, so I'm guessing I'm not the target audience. If you're a Robert Pattinson fan I imagine you'll think it's the best thing you've ever seen, whereas if you've actually seen most of the previous Batman films you already know it's not as good as Nolan's. It's not terrible, but it rarely climbs above 'pretty good' and at times genuinely drags. Obviously, expect a couple of sequels and then another reboot in a few years.
There's some interesting stuff here, and it's well-made, but I don't see that it adds much to the franchise (which, ultimately, is all this film serves). I did like the detective story focus they were aiming for, and Pattinson is a decent enough Batman who I suspect will grow into the role over time, but it feels confused and I think it's pretty obvious that this film started life as something else (and with someone else).
7/10
chunkylefunga
As someone who has read pretty much all the Batman comics it is very apparent that Matt Reeves has not.He's basically just decided that Batman is going to be a bit emo and completely ignored the fact that you need a decent story line to make a great Batman film. You definitely get the sense that Matt wanted Bruce to be more like Kurt Cobain that the Bruce from the comics.
You could easily cut out 90 minutes from this movie.
Robert was miscast.
Zoe was miscast.
Colin was a very good penguin (pretty much the only highlight of the movie).
The Riddler character seemed more like a whiney teenager that an actual villain.
Alfred was basically a throwaway character.
The film is predictable from start to finish, can't believe anyway is saying this movie has twists are turns. It's glaringly obvious what's going to happen.
Hope they don't make this into a trilogy as it doesn't deserve to be one.
greenhorg
when you get done watching a 6 hour batman movie with no intermission:CodeV
Dark city, dark secrets, dark times. Next chapter in the Batman series tells You what happen next in the Gotham City.Robert Pattinson is good choice to be a man without any visible emotions. Liked that there is no action overdose.
What does a liar do when he's dead?
selimgonen
- Visual quality was very satisfying.- Colin Farrell's Penguin, I like it very much.
- I like the idea of more vulnerable Batman, at the start of his crime fighting career. Lots of mistakes and emotions were involved. Still haven't developed two different personas (Bruce Wayne and Batman) in one mind. However, it was not consistently presented.
- Other characters were extremely weak.
- Commissioner Gordon was an insult to Wright's talent. Most of the lines were there to rephrase what Batman just said as a question. No real impact on how the story proceeds other than helping Batman access crime scenes. He could've played a better part in solving the crime, since Batman is not a fully developed crime fighter. He could've helped Batman develop his detective skills. Missed opportunity in my opinion. They could've created a very strong character, which could've develop into a spinoff movie series.
- Alfred was an insult to Serkis's talent. There is not much to write about him. Man, the movie was 3 hours long.
- Falcone was an insult to Turturro's skills. Is he a mob or a goofy agent in Transformers, I couldn't tell. There were absolutely nothing intimidating about him. Is he a though mob? I don't know. There were nothing though or violent about him other than a sound recording of him strangling a woman and his confession of strangling Selina's mom. Is he good strategist? I don't know. There were nothing cunning or elaborate in what he did other than the whole movie people saying he owns the city by owning everyone one way or another. His whole scheme was torn down by Riddler alone.
- Riddler was ok. I'd love to see more of Dano.
- Selina was ok. She could've killed Falcone without a weapon. The last scene was extremely dull. She can beat Falcone's men without sweating but she needs a gun to kill him? Even after knowing that he strangled her friend? Come on!
- Overall movie
- The whole scheme was apparent when all the characters were revealed. Solving mystery was not fun, no twists, no mystery within mystery, just straightforward crossword puzzles.
- The last shooting scene was a disaster. How could lots of masked people enter into a complex that a newly elected mayor was addressing the city? Or Batman had time to plant lots of explosives to blow off the roof but no real plan to take on all those amateur shooters? At least he could've used something from his utility belt to reduce visibility. Even he was not able to cut a cord without putting himself in harms way.
- The last scene between Batman and Selina sums everything up about the movie. Batman sneaks behind Selina at her mother's grave, yet at the end of the talk we see that Batman's motorcycle is there. Throughout the movie he banged the streets with it's engine's voice yet he sneaks behind her riding it without her noticing it.
Although my overall impression is average, I believe it could develop into a good series if they improve side characters, make a more consistent Batman character and come up with a better story. Seeing characters' newly budding careers is a refreshing take.
Siskoid
It's amazing how my apathy there was for The Batman in my particular nerd circle until it came out and started making converts. I get it, no comic book fan (of a certain age) wants ANOTHER dark and gloomy Batman. But let's look at what's on the same nerds' wish list that the movie DID give us... 1) A Batman movie that actually focuses on Batman and not the villain(s) du jour (too often, Batman is a cipher to allow name-brand actors to chew the scenery, but Batman has an actual arc in this one). 2) Batman as detective (the movie is cousin to something like Se7en or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). 3) A Batman who is more than a monster to the underworld and can actually be a force for good in Gotham (in other words, they sell you a dark Batman tale, but turn it into something else by the end). 4) A Batman who refuses to kill. 5) For nerds tired of the "Bat God", a Batman who gets hurt, gets outplayed, is on the back foot a lot of the time, is GROUNDED in some kind of reality (this is where I think The Batman beats The Dark Knight - long held as the gold standard and with a similar villain playing mind games - because TDK has that unfortunate third act with the clunky Daredevil vision, oh, and Batman in a tank, that's no Batmobile). That's five ways the movie is closer to the comics ideal (I do say ideal because Nolan and Snyder's dark Batman has infected DC Comics for too long a time). I'll throw in a 6th item from the wish list: NO RETELLING OF THE ORIGIN (and yet, it looms large) and Batman already active for a couple years. In terms of the Riddler, some might be put off by him being a demented torture porn artist, but they movie understands the core of the character - that he must challenge Batman intellectually - and connected to real-world conspiracy nuts and other dangerous elements (it's almost too close for comfort). I don't quite get the point of hiring Colin Farrell as the Penguin if he's gonna be this unrecognizable, but between him, Catwoman and Falcone, we have a Gotham that doesn't require origin stories. It also looks damn good, dark but not impenetrable, with great uses of light and shadow. I liked the music, though Batman's theme sounds too much like the Imperial March minus one note. Well, maybe that was on purpose. I might quibble with the anti-stealth costume, but this is a Batman who trades a heck of a lot on intimidation skills (the Batmobile as Christine!), so it works for the character. And that almost 3-hour run time? I personally didn't feel it. So while I won't pretend it's the most fun (or require it be anyone's favorite), it might just be the best Batman film ever made.Showing items 1 – 15 of 25