The Batman movie: A riddle a day makes the bat go away

I have (like the rest of you) been excited to watch The Batman on the big screen for a long time, and that time finally came. So, with the chance to catch the film early, I share my spoiler-free thoughts, below.

I try my best to limit my expectations of films because I don’t like to be disappointed in a character I love. I have been for a long time connected to Batman as my favorite comic book character. I loved the idea of the Batman being a vigilante hero who is just trying to save people and take down the bad guys.

Batman/Bruce Wayne is an interesting combination that I’m not sure has been done right on the big screen. The writing either favors one side, or the actor portraying the role can only do one side. Unfortunately, none have knocked it out of the ballpark. Bruce is a guy who watched his parents die and seeks out revenge with his vigilante-style of work. But Bruce doesn’t have superpowers like Superman or Captain America, he is a grounded superhero and when you take him out of that element, the character never thrives.

The Batman sucks you into the world of the bat

Matt Reeves grounds Batman in a way that we haven’t seen, not even in the Nolan trilogy. One of the things that stands out all the time is that Batman’s adversary is always the talk of the town and that is not different here. The Riddler isn’t some big evil villain who can burn the city down with his eyes. Instead, Edward Nashton is a regular guy seeking revenge because of a chain of events that happened in his life.

The cat and mouse game between Riddler and Batman is the best writing we have seen in this universe to date. At times, you see some similarities between Nolan’s Batman and Joker, but the stakes felt more personal here, which I loved a lot. Batman played detective, not some overblown superhero, but he worked next to Detective Gordon to solve each of the riddles.

Speaking of The Riddler, Paul Dano gives an incredible performance. I remember walking out of the theater and saying, “I wish we got more of him in the film.” However, looking back on how Reeves built his arc, it gave us this man behind the mask for so long that it leads up to one of the greatest, if not the greatest, acted scenes in any comic book movie history. If this is your introduction to Paul Dano, I highly urge you to check out his other work because he is one of the best working actors. Even writing this, thinking about this scene, I get goosebumps because it is that good.

Another thing I am sure you are all wondering, is how was Robert Pattinson as Batman? I will say that I wish I could go back in time and whip away any memory of any other actor or my thought process on who Batman is because if this is the introduction to this character, it would be perfect. Pattinson didn’t blow me away, but he did little things within the role that stood out. He is hands down the best Batman we have had to date.

My most significant bone to pick with the movie is that, when it gets away from The Riddler story, it kind of loses its way, which causes the film to feel a tad long at times. You have A LOT going on and Reeves tries to tie those pieces together and while he does an excellent job of it, I think he could’ve easily cut a piece or two out and the story and it would have been equally as good (if not better).

It is a technical masterpiece when it boils down to the score from composer Michael Giacchino, the cinematography from Greig Fraser (some of the most beautiful shots you will see this year) and VFX, which all blew me away. Gotham is a dark, gritty type of place and they all enhance it by bringing their A-game to the table.

Overall, Reeves’s writing humanized Batman to show that he is human, can make mistakes, and doesn’t always have the answers. As a result, we have an introduction to a world full of riddles that tie together so beautifully that when you walk away, you are sucked into the world of the bat.

The Batman hits theaters on March 4, 2022.