"The Batman" review — Matt Reeves' noir-inspired film is Batman in top form

“When that light hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.”

This film was featured in my Best Films of 2022 list.

It’s Halloween night and the light of Bat-Signal hangs in the dark sky above Gotham City. A ceaseless stream of rain pours down on the city as Batman, filled with raw, seething anger, watches the grime and filth of the city. “Fear is a tool,” he says in his voice-over at the beginning of the film. Gotham is plenty aware of the man who haunts the shadows. He could be hiding behind any darkened corner or street. Yet, Batman wonders if he’s doing any good. He comes across a gang of painted-faced youths causing trouble at a train station. He emerges slowly from the shadows, his boots land heavy on the ground. “What the hell are you supposed to be?” one of them asks. “I’m vengeance,” says Batman, drops of rain falling from his cowl, before lashing out at them all. That same night across town, Batman’s greatest and most dangerous adversary begins his sadistic, twisted plot to tear Gotham apart.

Matt Reeves’ The Batman is hardly a superhero movie in the traditional sense. In a refreshing and distinctive take on the beloved character, the film exchanges spectacle for noir-ish sensibilities. Taking from the work of David Fincher, Jeph Loeb and Time Sale’s The Long Halloween graphic novel, and a long history of noir and neo-noir filmmaking, The Batman plays like a hardboiled detective story where the protagonist happens to be a man dressed in armour vaguely in the form of a bat rather than a police officer. More The Third Man or Se7en than Justice League, this superb cape-and-dagger murder mystery is supremely engaging and finally earns Batman the title of “world’s greatest detective,” a title he has long held in the comic medium, on the big screen. This isn’t the Batman we’re used to but it’s certainly the Batman we need.

Set about two years into Batman’s one-man crusade against the criminal element of Gotham City, the film starts with a masked murderer going by the moniker “Riddler” (Paul Dano) targeting Gotham’s most influential men. First, it’s the mayor, then it’s the police commissioner, and later, the DA. Batman (Robert Pattinson), still forging his identity as the Caped Crusader, is pulled into the mystery by his ally on the GCPD, Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). Soon, Batman realizes that the Riddler’s games and the unfolding mystery strike close to his family and that the way he sees Gotham will change forcer. Along the way, he encounters a young Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), a work-in-progress version of Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), and the ruthless crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).

Jeffrey Wright and Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022). © Warner Bros.

Director Matt Reeves has a strong knowledge of what makes Batman such an iconic character and, for all its differences, The Batman is full of what we expected from a Bat-flick. There’s the Bat-Signal, a uniquely re-designed Batcave, and a slew of recognizable names taken from the Batman lore. But what makes The Batman such a remarkable film is how different it is from all of its peers. The Batman is by far the darkest Batman has ever been on screen, both aesthetically and tonally. The lighting is moody, coloured by shades of orange, pops of neon, and plenty of black. The story takes notes from real-life serial killer “The Zodiac Killer,” complete with a cypher and several grisly murders. The action, which is considerably sparse across the nearly-three-hour runtime, is brutal, unglamorous, and often shot in silhouette. While there are plenty of exciting bursts of action — one particularly enthralling car chase with the Penguin comes to mind — the film prefers to let the sick, twisted puzzles of the Riddler push the story.

The film is full of brilliantly directed sequences and memorable moments. The Riddler’s puzzles, including one tension-filled scene in a church, are all quite notable. Cleverly constructed, they’re delightfully grotesque and involve traps more akin to a Saw film — bombs strapped to necks, face-eating rats, and the like. The action is quite excellent with its dramatically shot, brutish fight choreography. The CGI works seamlessly with the practical elements with the digital elements used primarily to expand the worldbuilding, rather than provide many large-scale effects. The execution of the central mystery is nearly flawless. It’s large, expansive, and manages to connect the entire cast in a delicate web of intrigue, but without losing focus or pulling too far away from the battle of wits between the Riddler and Batman. If you’ve ever wanted to see Batman rummage through a stack of old files in search of clues, this is your opportunity.

Robert Pattinson is phenomenal as this iteration of Batman. The eleventh actor to play the character in a live-action film, Pattinson embodies a strangeness that other Batman performers have consistently shied away from. The cocky, playboy personality that has defined Bruce Wayne throughout the years is replaced by an anti-social, reclusive weirdo. Pattinson’s version of Batman is genuinely scary. Complemented by cinematographer Greig Fraser’s stunning work, Pattinson has an immense presence on screen. He feels like a monster that everyone, the righteous and the sinners alike, are terrified of. Zoë Kravitz works wonders as Selina Kyle, better known over the years as Catwoman, the film’s second lead. This is the most sympathetic portrayal of the character who, in both comics thanks to Tom King and external media, has become more of an anti-hero than a villain. Kravitz is incredibly likable in the role, complete with a slightly altered backstory, and lands a well-deserved spot amongst the memorable characters in the Batman films.

Paul Dano as the Riddler in The Batman (2022). © Warner Bros.

The rest of the ensemble is remarkable as well. Jeffrey Wright, playing the man who will become Commissioner Gordon, is the film’s unsung hero. His moments of investigation alongside Pattinson’s Batman are among the film’s many highlights. My complaint here is that I wish we had seen more of the two together. Paul Dano is excellent as the Zodiac-like Riddler, a far cry from the garish Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey versions. He’s terrifying in his trench coat and mask and all the more creepy outside of it. Colin Farrell, utterly unrecognizable in his part, is a solid addition to the cast as a rookie version of the Penguin. With an HBO Max series on the way, it is clear Farrell has a lot more to give. John Turturro and Andy Serkis round out the cast with, like the rest of the cast, new takes on the characters of Carmine Falcone and Alfred Pennyworth, this time with a scar on his face, respectively.

The events and characters of The Batman are all beautifully stylized with excellent production design. With production designer James Chinlund at the helm, Gotham City is depicted as a sort of timeless imagining of a crime writer’s dreams with a beautiful blend of London’s gothic and New York’s art deco architecture. Reeves relocates the Batcave and the Wayne family home to the centre of Gotham city, rather than a mansion in the countryside, which makes creates this wonderful contrast between the far-removed Waynes and the average men and women on the streets below. It also allows for the Batcave to be set in a decrepit train station, adding to Batman’s more haphazard operation. Greig Fraser’s cinematography makes the film, with his use of extreme shallow focus, tight framing, and grimy colouring. Michael Giacchino’s dramatic, brass-heavy theme will be resonating throughout my head for days to come.

While long and with a plot that takes its time, the film hypnotically drags the viewer into a demented, nightmare version of the city that never changes. Shadowy and breathtaking, The Batman manages to find the perfect line between crime epic and conspiracy thriller all with a healthy dose of superheroics, although Batman isn’t quite a hero yet. It manages to avoid the trappings of a run-of-the-mill origin, while still giving its characters a long way to go. Reeves, Pattinson, and the rest of the film’s talented craftspeople manage to redefine the legend of the bat for a new age. While it may revel in Batman’s ceaseless quest for vengeance against those who took his parents’ lives, by the end of its excitement-heavy third act, The Batman manages to find some hope along the way. Even Batman can’t deny that.

Score: 5

The Batman is now playing in theatres.

The Batman information
Directed by Matt Reeves
Written by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig
Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, and Andy Serkis
Released 4 March 2022
176 minutes