Let's Talk about "The Batman"

Spring has sprung and so has another Batman film… over the decades many newer versions of older stories have been recreated and honestly, made better with today’s special effects technology but is that to say that the newest version of any remake is better? Absolutely not… and The Batman is no different. The Batman released only earlier this month in theatres stars Robert Pattinson as Batman, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and to my surprise, Andy Serkis as Alfred! Directed by Matt Reeves who is known for the latest renditions of Planet of the Apes and the Cloverfield collection, The Batman definitely has the action scenes and grand cinematic-ish shots you may be familiar with, but I personally wouldn’t go so far as to say The Batman is better than his Planet of the Apes trilogy or Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and here’s why…

First off, I do love Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz and Andy Serkis, but the cool and calm demeanour of Batman through Robert Pattinson’s Batman didn’t really transcend to me. He just felt slow paced and tired. And rightly so, why not? If Batman over all these years and continuation has been protecting Gotham, the man would be tired. But to me, the character just didn’t feel engaging. Second, Zoë Kravitz was the sparkplug you know Catwoman to be, but it also felt as though her as this character was just falling short. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy just felt more fun and dangerous and therefore engaging, Zoë on the other hand was super serious the whole time. On a completely different note Andy Serkis as Alfred was a huge surprise! He has always been an antagonist-type character – even as Caesar in Planet of the Apes – so to see him in the role of a kind-hearted, caring and discerning butler to the Wayne family was a total change of pace. Furthermore, it was enjoyable to witness even if he wasn’t as big a player in the film.

Second, while there were action scenes, a standard car chase and omnipotent views of Gotham city, nothing really stood out as an epic image. Cinematography lacked in The Batman unlike Planet of the Apes or Nolan’s Batman. We instead got a lot of views of the newly built Wayne mansion which was completely recreated in gothic style, and a church in the city whose architecture is also, gothic. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some good gothic era architecture with spiers and the black and grey hues such buildings almost always seem to emit, but that was literally the only style in the film… so it felt redundant and made me question the interest in showcasing this design style this much in the film. City shots from up top were okay, nothing ever struck me as “woah look at the vast empire Gotham is”, and when emotion is lacking… can you even call it cinematography? With regard to car chases, special effects made them grand of course, but after it happened and the film was over later on, I felt like I could have watched it at home and not in theatres – which is so strange because I love watching action films on the big screen coupled with big sound, but as I mentioned before, nothing felt epic… it was just okay.

Lastly, let’s talk chemistry. Could Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz have been an it-couple on the screen? I think so! They’re both terribly good-looking people, but as I’ve mentioned earlier about this film basically just being “okay”, so too was the chemistry and relationship between Batman and Catwoman. Sometimes something would occur in a scene and you’re like “why did that even happen?”, “who wrote that into the script it’s so cringe”, or “this whole scene could have gone by without that happening.” Things felt random or thrown in, which took away from the demeanour and intensity one expects from Batman. It just ended up almost being laughable, which is not the vibe I was looking for! Were Batman and Catwoman awful? No. But were they awkward? Yes. So was this film awful? No. But was it awesome? Definitely not. My rating: 6.5/10 because 7 seems too high but it was slightly better than a 6. Watch it at your own will folks, but does it need to be in theatres? Nah.

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