The Batman. Better Than Many That Have Gone Before.

I just got through watching The Batman.  Thanks to the pandemic and my old guy anti-crowd feels, these days I'm pretty much waiting for home digital release even for stuff that I'd have beaten down theater doors to see just a few years ago.  It's a priority shift I wouldn't have predicted, but there it is.

So, what I likes:

Big fan of the way they threw this new Bat right into action rather than rehashing poor wee Bruce watching his parents die for the umpteenth time.  Seriously.  There's a dude living in a cave in the Himalayas who's never seen a movie or comic book and even he knows that story.  And that Superman rocketed from Krypton and a radioactive spider bit a kid named Peter Parker.  For the next 50 years or so, it should be a criminal offence to retell those origins on film.

Also a big fan of throwing Batman into real world situations where he walks though the world in the (low) light of day.  Usually in the movies when Bats needs to do stuff in public he is either doing it as Bruce Wayne or in a disguise.  Not here.  For the pretty much the first time since the 66 Adam West series, Bats walks (relatively) casually though active crime scenes, mingles with cops, and crashes the club scene in full regalia, without once offering a moral platitude or doing the batusi.

I also am stunned to say I dig the costume.  Static shots of Robert Pattinson in the suit looked kinda...iffy.  I also (as always) wish that they had at least added some blue to the costume but was unsurprised to be disappointed on that front.  Still, in action this outfit is one of the better versions of the suit ever filmed.  Batman can turn his head like a normal human, useful when being attacked by half a dozen dudes at once.  The cape is gathered at the shoulders, so it blows out to a massive size at times, something very often shown in the comics.  The cowl is meant to be a sort of helmet but they kept it thin and tight to the skull so it looks sleek and badass, as opposed to the rubber fishbowl with eyeholes that Michael Keaton had to deal with.  

 

Seriously.  Alfred could serve salad in that thing.

I wasn't big on the squared off nose but it only looks bad in straight on shots, disappearing into shadow and looking okay in semi or full profile.  

 

The nose might be off but at least it doesn't look like "Cowl by: Tupperware"

I prefer a cloth batsuit but accept that the tactical armour look is pretty much a permanent change and this version keeps it minimalist, with Batman looking svelte enough to do the gymnastic/karate stuff he does, unlike a lot of the over armoured versions we've seen.

And they FINALLY had Bruce Wayne in eye makeup when he removes the cowl.  One of my biggest pet peeves in EVERY film was that it was obvious that whoever was under the cowl was wearing black makeup around their eyes and yet it would magically disappear as the cowl was removed.  Since Michael Keaton's first unmasking, it's been driving me...batty.

I wasn't a huge fan of Pattinson's Bruce Wayne, eye makeup or no, but I did like the idea of Wayne being the reclusive mourning billionaire instead of the playboy.  It's a variation on the theme that I had never considered and the change actually makes a whole ton of sense even if it doesn't offer the "hide in paparazzi sight" cover that Wayne's traditional alter ego does.  I can see it being an evolving plot point over a couple of sequels if they do them.

Zoe Kravitz was a great Catwoman.  She stays away from the cliche cat stuff, isn't over costumed and generally comes off as the right tone for the world they're building.  Her Catwoman never seems over awed or over matched by Batman, giving as good as she gets and better.

Jeffery Wright's Jim Gordon also works very well.  When you racebend a core character like Gordon, the best way to silence the haters is with a performance that works on every level.  Wright is as good here as any Gordon I can remember and better than many.

The plot is solid and Paul Dano's Riddler is as far removed from any previous version of the character as Pattinson's Batman is from Adam West's.  We actually get a villain here that is easily the match of Batman without any of the silly physical trappings associated with the character.  It's a solid take on a character that rarely fares well on film.

The film isn't perfect but there have been more than a few Batman films that would rank well below it for me.  It ticks most of the boxes and avoids some of the stuff that drags Batman films down.  Absolutely worth the 3 hours, but definitely nice to be able to pause for a potty break.   Waiting for the home release isn't all bad...