Arts & Entertainment

If you want dark and gritty, The Batman is for you

by Caleb Lubbers–If you are looking for an upbeat, fun, and action-packed superhero movie, I would not recommend The Batman.

However, if you want to watch a dark, gritty crime drama with an intense third act that keeps you guessing for a majority of the run-time, I would recommend The Batman.

Robert Pattinson plays the titular character in the film, who might be just as pale in this movie as he was in the Twilight Saga. It was difficult to associate Pattison with Bruce Wayne rather than Edward Cullen. Not so much a dig at his acting chops, but rather it shows the staying power of the Twilight films.

For most of the movie, we follow Batman, Catwoman (played by Zoë Kravitz), and Lieutenant Jim Gordon (played by Jeffrey Wright) as they follow the clues left by The Riddler (played by Paul Dano) in an attempt to stop his final master plan and bring him to justice. While there is action, it is often counter-balanced by the same amount of detective work before it occurs.

The main antagonist of this film is The Riddler, who’s mentally unstable and views himself as a righteous man. He exposes the corruption and greed in Gotham City’s inner circles and starts to one-by-one kill prominent city figures. Along the way, he leaves clues directly to Batman, which are reminiscent of those left by the Zodiac Killer.

There isn’t a lot of light present in the movie. Even during inside scenes, there is often a single lamp attempting, and failing, to illuminate the entire room. The sky is always gray outside, and it’s always raining. This darkness contributes to the serious and bleak atmosphere the movie sets out to create. 

Bucking the trend set by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Batman has very little humor to go around. The dark, gritty atmosphere of the film does not allow for many one-off jokes or silly puns to be included. The one notable exception to this is the Penguin (played by Colin Farrell), who provides that right amount of wit and sarcasm to offer brief moments of light-heartedness.

The film, while a part of the DC superhero universe, isn’t really much of a superhero movie. Of course, Batman, Catwoman, and the batmobile are all present, but they aren’t integral to the storyline. You could very easily remove all references to Batman, and it would still be a competent standalone cat and mouse crime mystery.

Overall, clocking in just shy of three hours, The Batman is certainly a time commitment. Before you sit down to watch this, make sure you understand what you’re getting yourself into. This isn’t a superhero movie, but that’s not a bad thing. 

The Batman earns three out of four stars. 

March 31, 2022

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