The Batman (spoilers)

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Stuff I loved:

- the casting, everyone did a great job. I love andy serkis. paul dano is a legit creep. Colin Ferrell is the perfect penguin. jon turturro was amazing as falcone.

- zoe kravitz made nolan/hathaway's silly catwoman seem campy. She played that part perfectly.

- a proper no man's land?!?!

- the score

- the movie just looked beautiful

- most of the plot/story. batman doing some not ridiculous tech explained detective work (i'm looking at you balistics in TDK). It was interesting, engrossing, tied together several threads (bruce being a slacker with his philanthropy and being obsessed with vengeance, his relationship with selena, his parents etc)

- the costume. not quite batfleck good but pretty damn good.

- the comic references. This felt way more true to the comics. Matt Reeves understands batman in a way nolan never did.

- the monologue!! more comic movies need a monologue. It's underused. Even in this movie, it could have used more.

- that batmobile is badass. damn that was cool.




Stuff that could've been better:

- the whole seawall thing came out of left field. It didn't need to be THE AUTO PILOT IS BROKEN!!! obvious but they could have at least mentioned it in the mayoral campaign or that the wayne's helped fix it or something

- Riddler being a serial killer. I don't need full Jim Carrey but somewhere in between would be nice. I never liked the hardcore Seven version.

- further to the above, it was a little too dark. I don't mean visually, I mean thematically. It literally could have been a sequel to Seven. That's too dark, even for Batman. Minor gripe.

- the fact they didn't really explain how those 50 randos got into sniping position. They could have solved that by a quick "and follow my plans to infiltrate the building" in the video from riddler.

- the martha arkham thing. ugh. just no.

- the last 30 mins or so fell a little flat to me. The riddler's big mystery felt like kind of a dud and his army of QAnon losers didn't feel well developed. But whatever, the message was done well enough.


Not good or bad, just an observation, they really went all out with Batman just being a regular dude. No flying cape, no appearing and disappearing from rooms/rooftops etc. This batman walks thru the front door like a regular joe.

[Cole436]

I posted this in the other thread


Overall really good. I feel it was simultaneously the most comic accurate and grounded Batman movie. You can tell the creators are big fans of BTAS and the Telltale games.

I thought the Year 2 world was gripping, and I could watch Batman fighting against the mob all day. The art direction and use of shadows was really stunning. I felt the opening 15 minutes use of tension and fear were masterful. This movie has a lot more in common with Zodiac or Se7en than anything.

I really enjoyed Robert Pattinson’s take on Bruce Wayne. Bruce being an isolated, nearly psychotic, loner is very in line with where Batman would be at this stage of his life. I felt that his arc was well written and emotionally hit the right beats. This was an origin story for Batman in a non-traditional sense, as he evolves from being an agent of “vengeance” to one of “hope”.

Paul Dano had too little screen time, but what was there was mesmerising. The interrogation scene was a masterclass of acting.

Colin Farrell’s turn as Penguin was brilliant. He was hilarious and stole most scenes he was in.

The rest of the cast was on their A game. John Turturro and Zoe Kravitz were great. Jeffery Wright was good but I always feel he’s overacting and I can’t take him seriously.

There were some negatives. The movie was way too long. They should have cut this down by 30 or so minutes because 3 hours was too much.

Also I felt some of the movie was a Dark Knight remix in spots. Specifically the villain intending to get caught to further his plan and the interrogation scene. It took a bit away from how unique the rest of the film was.

Overall a solid 8.5/10

[Nadal Fan]

I didn't like the Joker scene in jail. I really don't want another Joker story, I'd much rather Reeves does a proper Mr.Freeze or even Court of Owls in the sequel. Give me a sequel to Joker instead

[speede5]

Didn't love it didn't hate it. Too dark imo.

Emo bruce wayne was a bit overdone but all in all RP and the rest of the cast did a great job. I had no idea who the Penguin was til the credits.

I do like the direction of more detective less superhero.

Riddler was too creepy, I didn't want full on cartoon but a little bit lighter would have been nice.

[Cole436]

Originally Posted by speede5

Didn't love it didn't hate it. Too dark imo.

Emo bruce wayne was a bit overdone but all in all RP and the rest of the cast did a great job. I had no idea who the Penguin was til the credits.

I do like the direction of more detective less superhero.

Riddler was too creepy, I didn't want full on cartoon but a little bit lighter would have been nice.

I’m actually surprised WB allowed it to be this dark. The comics have gone through extended periods where the tone is similar, but I thought it would have been a step too far for mainstream audiences.

My only concern is that this will start a new Snyder trend where everything has to be dark for the sake of it being dark.

[Coach]

Loved it Probably the most Batman a movie has been. The narration, the style, the story, it was like watching a comic book.

Only think I didn't like was the Joker cameo. didn't need it. Super lame. Leave that character alone for a while.

[ComixZone]

This movie was bad.

Really, really bad. I am genuinely horrified at how bad it was. I’ll post more thoughts later in the thread after I can clear my thoughts on it…but god it was awful.

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

This movie was bad.

Really, really bad. I am genuinely horrified at how bad it was. I’ll post more thoughts later in the thread after I can clear my thoughts on it…but god it was awful.

I'm leaning this direction and also trying to figure out why. My only comment ATM is that the movie desperately needs better editing. The long run time didn't match the plot points.

[Erick Estrada]

Seems to be a little decisive as a lot of viewers seem to think it's too long and lacks the expected action of a Batman movie.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

That’s interesting because the Nolan movies were frequently critiqued for their terrible fight scenes.

People expecting a cgi fest will definitely be disappointed. This was like the opposite of recent marvel movies.

But Batman is and always has been a detective. Expecting a Batman movie to be non stop action is a mistake from viewers, not the filmmakers.

[TheScorpion]

I loved it. The scenes of Batman's detective work were outstanding. Probably the best live-action Batman performance and film.

[Sliver]

Boring AF. And three hours long? WTF. Two hours is absolute tops for any movie. This is out of control. Did Hollywood fire all the editors or something?

Edward was terrible as Batman. Brooding, boring, lacking any charisma. I couldn't have been less interested in him.

His car was stupid, but I did like when he was on his bike.

Overall, if you want to be bored out of your skull and leave the theater just wanting to go to bed whilst being pissed and losing 3+ hours of your life, this is your movie.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Boring AF. And three hours long? WTF. Two hours is absolute tops for any movie. This is out of control. Did Hollywood fire all the editors or something?

Edward was terrible as Batman. Brooding, boring, lacking any charisma. I couldn't have been less interested in him.

His car was stupid, but I did like when he was on his bike.

Overall, if you want to be bored out of your skull and leave the theater just wanting to go to bed whilst being pissed and losing 3+ hours of your life, this is your movie.

This has been an honest review, by Silver Screen Sliver.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I loved it. The scenes of Batman's detective work were outstanding. Probably the best live-action Batman performance and film.

This movie showed him as a moronic detective. “U R L”

I’m watching it again tomorrow because it just doesn’t add up that I disliked a Batman movie as much as I disliked this one. We’ll see if a 2nd viewing helps.

[Hockey_Ninja]

I enjoyed it. You definitely feel the length of the film, but it was good. The casting was well done and I really liked the set-up of Gotham in this film. I'm curious to see what happens next

[Muta]

I liked it. Good casting, fun storyline. I like Christopher Nolan's Batman better, but I love the refreshed approach and stylized cinematography this new one takes. Very emo but very Gen Z friendly, haha.

[blankall]

Overall really liked it. I'd say third best Batman film for me. The ending was weak though. The incel gang with rifles was kind of dumb. Surely they could have found a more detective/psychological ending, as opposed to the action sequence. I was laughing at Batman being shot so many times..... But not in the face somehow. Even with a shotgun.

[flames_fan_down_under]

I liked it. I agree with Cecil in that it leaned in a bit too heavily on how dark it was.

My brain almost couldn't believe that was The Joker in the final scene with The Riddler in Arkham. Please, can we please please please move on from The Joker. It does not need to be done again.

Anyways the casting was great. Score was well done. Paul Dano was a great Riddler.

I think the car chase scene was well done as well as the machine gun/strobe light fight scene was very unique and something I had never seen done before. Really cool effect.

[djsFlames]

If you went into it, realized it's not a pure action film, then went ahead and judged by the standards of a pure action film, then you're doing it wrong.

You kind of have to judge it by the type of film it was trying to be.

Pacing was still poor, and I think part of it is that segments of the clue hunt weren't particularly interesting and maybe too straight forward.

But aside from that it was pretty solid. And seeing BM working alongside the force at crime scenes was pretty cool.

Thought the characters were great, and I ####ing couldn't believe that I actually liked Selina Kyle/CW for a change! She balanced out Bruce very well and wasn't over the top like Anne Hathaway's.

Stylistically it hit it out of the park. Incredible job. But damn everything was so dark visually, I was laughing at how even the hospital looked like it had no lights on. Apparently power bills are just too expensive in Gotham.

We found emo Bruce to be pretty funny. I'm glad he cleaned up and went out into daylight at least once. I would still pick Bale's Wayne personally, but at least it's a fresh take on the character.

Liked how grounded it was. The Batmobile even looked a bit raggedy, and not like tech from 200 years in the future.

Inner nerd appreciated a lot of this one, the movie critic was lukewarm just because of how drawn out it was. Just slimming this one down would make it a great film I think. But outside of the slog aspect it didn't have any notable weaknesses.

[direwolf]

Saw it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Great film.