Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Batman," a Warner Bros Pictures release. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)
The powers that be have pressed the reset button. The curtain once again rises on Gotham City, where the streets are dank and grimy. Violent crime is on the rise, but the muggings and strong-arm robberies are a symptom of a deeper rot that reaches all the way to City Hall and beyond. As one Joker quipped nearly 33 years ago, this town needs an enema. It also needs the kind of justice a compromised police department is not equipped to dole out.
Cue the pointy-eared mask, sweeping cape and intimidating scowl. Batman may lack the special abilities of other do-gooders brought to the screen from the pages of a comic book, but what he lacks in superpowers, he more than compensates with an uncanny ability to problem solve, as well as a gift for connecting the dots between elements that might seem unrelated, but taken together hold the key to solving a mystery. The better to keep attention away from the enigma at the heart of this silent sentinel born with a silver spoon.
In “The Batman,” the latest big-screen incarnation of the DC Comics crime fighter, director Matt Reeves displays a keen and thorough understanding of this nocturnal denizen intent on disinfecting the mean streets of the gloomy metropolis he calls home. The filmmaker also has a few ideas, mostly borrowed from some very grown-up sources, about how to upgrade the character to appeal to a viewing public that may not gravitate toward “comic book stuff.” On paper, at least, it sounds like a sensible direction for this intellectual property that made its debut back in 1939, even though it sounds a little too close for comfort to Christopher Nolan's “Dark Knight” trilogy and leaves fans of campier, kitschier versions (and we are legion) out in the cold.
Let's give credit where credit is due. Despite the similarities to the trio of Batman adventures from the “Inception” auteur, “The Batman” is very much its own animal. Unlike the aesthetic uniformity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is very much a filmmaker-driven venture that brings its director's vision to fruition with little sign of studio interference. This is precisely the approach Warner Bros. ought to continue pushing.
Zoe Kravitz and Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Batman," a Warner Bros Pictures release. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)
So it gives me no pleasure to report that the movie is a joyless slog.
At nearly three hours, “The Batman” lurches from one scene to the next with the momentum of a funeral procession. You feel like you're being smothered by a viscous goo that slows everything down to a crawl. The trailers may promise suspense and chaotic vehicular pursuits, but this is not an action film. I even hesitate to call it a thriller, even though all the elements in place to fit that description. It's a long, slow meditation on institutional malfeasance and family skeletons that's low on levity and high on self-importance.
Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) aims to turn this tale of the evil eating away at the soul of Gotham City into a crime epic. Think of “The Godfather,” but with Michael Corleone wearing the Crow's heavy eye shadow, or a version of “Chinatown” where Los Angeles kind of looks like it does in “Blade Runner” and Jack Nicholson's Jake Gittes is crippled by lingering daddy issues.
The latest A-lister to don the tights as the alter ego of orphaned millionaire Bruce Wayne is Robert Pattinson, former “Twilight” heartthrob and, unbeknownst to many who won't stop making fun of the role than turned him into a household name, an accomplished, versatile actor. The choice might seem to come out of left field, but it bears pointing out that many fans didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for Michael Keaton, Tim Burton's choice for the role, back in 1989. It's almost become tradition to roll the dice and cast against type.
Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Batman," a Warner Bros Pictures release. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)
As for the villain, don't look for the mustache-twirling kind. This time, Batman (or excuse me, The Batman) finds himself in the middle of a deadly cat-and-mouse game against the Riddler (Paul Dano). There's no garish green suit with question marks in sight. This sociopath with a quivering voice and his own plan to cleanse all wickedness from Gotham wears what appears to be an olive-colored bondage mask, matching jacket and nerdy glasses. That voice I kept hearing in my head seeing this Riddler was Hannibal Lecter's: “This is a very shy boy.”
That's because Reeves treats his antagonist and his path of destruction with the sobering gravity of a David Fincher serial killer film, only here the bad guy aims to unveil the web of corruption holding Gotham City hostage rather than pick victims at random à la “Zodiac.” The problem is that the director takes the character so seriously that it teeters on the precipice of self-parody. If the menacing social videos this murderous dweeb posts bring on the giggles, the humor, I assure you, is decidedly unintentional.
This is a lot to take in, from a conceptual and thematic point of view, and it gradually becomes evident that the filmmaker's reach exceeds his grasp. It doesn't help that Reeves and co-screenwriter Peter Craig (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay”) over explain every one of the Riddler's moves, thereby leeching the story of anything resembling tension. You feel the strain, and every minute of the running time. By contrast, “Zack Snyder's Justice League,” which also possesses a mournful, funereal tone, flows briskly and actually feels shorter despite being a full hour longer than “The Batman.”
What does work here is the fraught, rather touching bond Wayne-as-Batman forms with Selina Kyle (a shrewdly cast Zoë Kravitz), who, despite her affinity for felines, has not yet become Catwoman. Even though they sometimes find themselves at odds, the duo are also collaborators, because they discover they have a common enemy. This is where the film's noir roots are at their most effective, with the Caped Crusader as Humphrey Bogart to Kyle's Lauren Bacall, only instead of Max Steiner's music acting as backdrop, it's the booming chords from frequent Reeves collaborator Michael Giacchino keeping them company. They're ably accompanied by a sturdy supporting cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis and Colin Farrell. The latter cast member, unrecognizable under pounds of latex as the Penguin, is the only one here having fun.
The verdict regarding Pattinson? He's a serviceable Batman but a terrible Bruce Wayne. To be fair, this is less the performer's fault than the way the character has been reconceived. Reeves' version of Wayne is no longer the moneyed playboy who puts up a spoiled rich kid façade to keep his secret identity, well, secret. Wayne has been turned into a socially inept lone wolf who can't stand public appearances and struggles to even form the words that are lodged in his mind. He doesn't hide the fact that he's broken, which makes his nighttime vigilante work even more overtly an extension of his id, and as such, a mirror image of the Riddler, as they stand on opposite sides of a very rigid line dividing right from wrong.
LEFT: Paul Dano in a scene from "The Batman," a Warner Bros Pictures release. RIGHT: Jeffrey Wright and Robert Pattinson in a scene from "The Batman," a Warner Bros Pictures release. (Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)
Because for all the ambiguity at the municipal and law enforcement levels, there's a moralistic streak coursing through “The Batman” that turns it into a far more superficial portrait of a city's demons than Reeves would have you believe. The filmmaker's clumsy juxtaposition of personal vendettas and thoroughly unsurprising reveals cuts off his ambitious agenda at the knees. You end up thinking more about the references Reeves is making to a wide array of films and literature, including a handful of Batman graphic novels, than how they actually help tell this story. When you take away all the smoke and mirrors, all you're left with is a potentially gripping procedural that should have never sailed north of the two-hour mark. Despite its nods to classic Hollywood and visual cues that pay tribute to past Batmen, what “The Batman” ends up feeling more is a moody one-hour episode of “Law and Order” stretched out to three.
In this age of instant reboots and IP-driven nostalgia, maybe “The Batman” works best as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of drawing from the same well too often. It's early in the year, but Reeves' lumbering misfire is a strong contender for the great overreach of 2022. This is not my Batman.
“The Batman” has swooped into theaters in wide release, including IMAX engagements at Regal South Beach, AMC Aventura, AMC Sunset Place, CMX Cinemas Dolphin 19 and the AutoNation IMAX at the Museum of Discovery and Science in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
