Reviews:
“The Batman is a stunning descent into organized crime and an exploration of the psychological toll it takes on Gotham. The murder-mystery pulls both its titular vigilante and the viewer deep into the complicated, richly textured world that prompts questions of character motivations and morality. Reeves entrenches his flawed characters in a grimy, gritty city washed in blood red and pitch-black shadows.” Bloody Disgusting
“The least “super” of any superhero flick. Which sometimes works and sometimes flops – in the case of The Batman it sings. It may be 3 hours long but it feels right, for it to weave its threads, pulled from a number of classic Bat-storylines. The gritty realism of Gotham and this approach to the Batman and the Riddler etc. does lead to a climax that really put me on my heels…” Ceastlick
” …there’s more than just a sense of the mysterious to Reeves’ rain-soaked epic. With his labyrinthine plotting, tragically human ensemble of characters, and an especially broken Bruce Wayne (a portrait in aloofness by Robert Pattinson), Reeves has crafted a richly realized Gotham City where there may be heroes and villains, but no one is innocent.” 4.5/5 Den of Geek
“Fully embracing the “world’s greatest detective” comics reputation that cinematic Batmen often forget, Reeves thus plays things out like a twisty David Fincher-esque thriller […] Occasionally the knottiness of the plotting will leave you feeling that near-three-hour runtime, but it is never boring, the narrative propelled by a series of grisly conundrums through Gotham’s seedy underbelly.” 4/5 Empire
” …Robert Pattinson’s damaged young billionaire may be the Darkest Knight yet: He journals, he broods, he plucks a single blueberry from a silver urn and gazes at it mournfully. For nearly three hours he gives great mood — and while that is not quite the same thing as a great movie, writer-director Matt Reeves nearly wills it to be in his sprawling, operatic update.” Entertainment Weekly
“Matt Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig trust the audience has the patience to watch this story unfold with unwavering precision […] Through the nearly three hours of relentless fight scenes, betrayals, and corruption, what makes the ending so uplifting is seeing a Dark Knight who embraces the Knight aspect to his persona more than ever.” First Showing
“It is tremendously designed, visually spectacular with great set pieces and juddering, sternum-shivering impacts coming at you out of the darkness […] But the film is overlong; the Riddler’s puzzles aren’t particularly ingenious or even important to the story and there’s a pretty feeble non-ending which sheepishly sidesteps The Batman’s existential crisis.” 3/5 The Guardian
“Reeves delivers a lot of movie. Does it stretch the definition of escapism to immerse ourselves in a fiction so reflective of the toxic cynicism that pervades our 21st century reality? Perhaps. But this glowering study in crime and punishment is meticulously crafted, vividly inhabited storytelling with a coherent, thought-through vision, and that makes for muscular entertainment.” The Hollywood Reporter
“The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves. Robert Pattinson is great as a very broken Batman, but it’s Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano who steal the show, with a movingly layered Selina Kyle/Catwoman and a terrifyingly unhinged Riddler. Writer/director Matt Reeves managed to make a Batman movie that’s entirely different from the others in the live-action canon, yet surprisingly loyal to Gotham lore as a whole.” 10/10 IGN
“The Batman didn’t need nearly three hours to tell what is, at heart, the relatively simple story of its hero’s moral awakening, but it’s a feat in itself that the film has its own voice and perspective, instead of coming across like the Frankensteined creation of every Bruce Wayne that came before.” 4/5 Independent (UK)
“Writ large, the biggest impediment to Reeves’ caped incursion on a foreign genre is that “The Batman” is so eager to blur the line between a superhero movie and a serial killer neo-noir that it isn’t particularly good at being either of those things. Its portrait of Bruce Wayne as a revenge-obsessed recluse is psychologically thin even by the standards of a Batman story.” Graded B IndieWire
“The mystery is intense, gripping, and detailed. There is a point where Matt Reeves reaches perfection. Then goes on for another thirty minutes. The final act somewhat dilutes achieved greatness. But there’s an understandable philosophical lesson that the film wants to teach. The Batman is going to blow audiences out of their chairs.” Movieweb
“Director Matt Reeves’ downer movie embraces the realism of The Dark Knight — the opposite of Tim Burton’s purple-hazed funhouse — only without the payoff of excellent writing and acting. There’s an unshakable feeling here of “What’s the point?” Not to mention the nearly three-hour length. Holy runtime!” 2/4 New York Post
“The murder-mystery plot might contain The Batman’s weakest elements, on occasion threatening to undermine Reeves’s obvious ambitions for a reimagined Batman and a reimagined Gotham, but despite a few slow, languid spots here and there (especially in the second half), those elements rarely slip into boredom or banality. As Bruce Wayne/Batman, Robert Pattinson has the Master Brooder/Emo vibe cornered, sometimes to a frightening degree…” Screen Anarchy
“The Batman is a fantastic superhero flick, exciting and experimental in its exploration of the genre in ways that are compelling and refreshing. It demands a lot of its audience with its runtime and uncompromising aesthetic and storytelling, but it also gives a great deal in return, making for a thoroughly enjoyable cinematic experience.” 5/5 The Upcoming
” …flimsy world-building and the notable thematic similarities this film ends up bearing to Todd Phillips’ 2019 Joker are a big part of what makes The Batman feel like one of the lesser entries, substance-wise, in the grand Batman cinematic canon. It’s a perfectly passable return to Gotham with a spiffy car in tow — but it’s not the absolute jolt to the system the beleaguered Bat-movie franchise needs.” The Verge
MOVIES & MANIA rating:
The Batman received an official rating of PG-13 from the MPA for “Strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.”
Release date:
The Batman was scheduled to be released on June 25th 2021, however, due to the ongoing health situation and some reshoots in the UK, this was delayed until March 4th 2022.
Cast and characters:
Robert Pattinson … Bruce Wayne / The Batman
Zoë Kravitz … Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Colin Farrell … Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin
Paul Dano … Edward Nashton / The Riddler
Andy Serkis … Alfred Pennyworth
Peter Sarsgaard … District Attorney Gil Colson
John Turturro … Carmine Falcone
Jeffrey Wright … James Gordon
Con O’Neill … Chief Mackenzie Bock
Alex Ferns … Commissioner Pete Savage
Jayme Lawson … Bella Reál
Technical details and possible ‘Director’s Cut’:
The Batman runs 2 hours 55 minutes! The original cut that was shown at test screenings was apparently even longer and there is already speculation about a ‘Director’s Cut’ appearing sometime in future.
Previously, the longest of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies was Dark Knight Rises (2:44). Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever was two hours and one minute, while The Dark Knight was two hours and 32 minutes.
The Batman director Matt Reeves recently told TechRadar that some of the “cool” scenes he shot with actor Barry Keoghan might end up being released:
“There were scenes we cut that I liked. In fact, there’s a scene with the unseen prisoner (Keoghan), who appears at the end of the movie in Arkham [Asylum] with the Riddler. There was an earlier scene where Batman went to Arkham to try to profile the Riddler, and Barry is in that scene. It’s a very cool scene, and I’m sure we’ll release the scene after the movie comes out, because it’s a really cool deleted scene.”
‘The Bat and the Cat’ trailer:</strong
Japanese trailer:
Trailer:
TV spot:
Cat burglar clip:
Moonlights as a cop clip:
I got you final clip:
Interview with Matt Reeves:
