The Batman Review

 The Batman 

by Akshat Agarwal

There are few times when I have been happy to be wrong and the Batman was one of them. When the reviews started coming in for the Batman, I was incredibly nervous. I hadn’t heard of Matt Reeves before and Batman movies don’t have a great track record when it came to having more than 2 villains. 

I wasn’t able to watch the movie until a week after it came out but all my friends told me that it was amazing. Obviously, this raised my hopes. Not to mention, the trailers were absolutely phenomenal. 

After watching the movie, I could definitely see the inspiration that was drawn from Batman: The Long Halloween, especially with regards to Carmine Falcone and his relationship to Bruce as well as Thomas Wayne. Zoë Kravitz’s Selina Kyle also draws some inspiration from The Long Halloween, being the illegitimate daughter of Carmine Falcone.

I think that it was a really interesting to focus heavily on the character of Batman, but I do feel that it was at the expense of Bruce Wayne. It definitely fits the idea that Batman is his primary identity and Bruce Wayne is his cover, but I think that the three hour runtime would have been better justified if there was at least a little more exploration of the Bruce Wayne character. 

My least favorite part of the movie was Alfred. Before the angry comments, I am just not a fan of how Alfred was portrayed. Andy Serkis did a great job with Alfred’s demeanor and speech, but the distant relationship he has with Batman is a change that no one needed. I wanted him to be more of a father figure like he is shown to be in the comics. 

Aside from these small issues, I really liked the new film. I thought that Paul Dano’s Riddler definitely has the eerie serial killer vibe he was going for, and that Zoë Kravtiz did an amazing job with Catwoman. 

John Turturro also gave an amazing performance of a Mafia boss. I think he worked with his son, who works at DC Comics, to develop the character, and I think that it paid off. His Falcone was simultaneously gentle-seeming yet also menacing. 

Also, if I didn’t know the cast ahead of time, you could not have convinced me that it was Colin Farrell playing the Penguin. His stellar performance and the ending of the movie suggests that this Oswald Cobblepot will be a serious villain in the sequels. 

Seriously, though, can you guys believe that this is really Colin Farrell?

I also think you guys should check out the deleted Barry Keoghan Joker scene. It seems like Barry Keoghan’s Joker is very similar to Heath Ledger’s but with key physical differences. Matt Reeves has said that this Joker was born with a permanent smile and awful scars. We can also see that this Joker doesn’t have a lot of hair. 

I also think that Matt Reeves chose a really good stage in Batman’s career where he has enough knowledge to be an effective and interesting vigilante but not enough to realize that his work as Batman needs to be followed up with charitable contributions courtesy of Bruce Wayne. I think by showing how the Batman inspired the Riddler, Reeves did a good job of providing Batman with the catalysis necessary for him to grow as a character. 

I am incredibly desperate to spend more money watching the next two movies of this trilogy. 

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