The Batman (2022)

(On Cable TV, April 2022) I was really not convinced that we needed The Batman, or this specific incarnation of it. The idea of a grittier, darker, more realistic Batman is really not what I thought I wanted – we’ve gone that route with the Nolan films, so why not go wilder this time around? (It’s not for nothing that I think that The Lego Batman Movie is as good as it is.) But as The Batman put its pieces together, I was gradually intrigued, then satisfied by the way it integrated the “Greatest Detective” aspect of Batman’s character (often given short thrift in film adaptations), its overt New Hollywood 1970s influence, and its willingness to give us not quite an origin story but neither a polished superhero yet. It’s got a good sense of realism even in putting forward the ridiculous gallery of Batman villain, and it does spend some time exploring personality facets of what it would take to be The Batman. Even the actors do much better than I expected: Robert Pattinson is surprisingly solid as Wayne/Batman, while Zoe Kravitz is suitably slinky/sexy as Catwoman. Decent actors in supporting roles also help, from an unrecognizable Colin Farrell having more fun than ever as an antagonist, to John Turturro being quite menacing as a gangster. It all amounts to a good contemporary take on the character, one that makes Batman a more modern figure while trying to pay homage to his multiple decades’ worth of backstory. Writer-director Matt Reeves successfully translated his fondness for the character in a film that should convince many skeptics and launch a new trilogy. Where my appreciation for the result reaches its limits is in the over-the-top three hours running time, especially during a third act where the rhythm should accelerate rather than keep going, and going, and going – the extended farewell between Batman and Catwoman being a particularly egregious example. Still, I am a convinced viewer, happy to have been proved wrong in my initial skepticism. Now let’s see the sequels, considering that Reeves has given himself plenty of room in which to manoeuvre Batman’s character development.