The Batman (2022)

There is no shortage of Batman films, and yet Hollywood keeps returning to the well. The 39 Steps aside, few mystery thrillers carry quite the cultural weight of a new Caped Crusader outing, and by 2022 the character had already been portrayed on screen by Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck, among others. Matt Reeves's version positions itself as something of a reset: not an origin story exactly, but a portrait of Bruce Wayne in only his second year as Gotham's self-appointed vigilante, still raw, still making mistakes. The film pulls its tone from the noir end of the Batman comics catalogue, framing Gotham as a rain-soaked city rotting from the inside, its corruption running all the way to the city's founding families. A serial killer calling himself the Riddler is leaving bodies and cryptic messages across the city, and the trail leads uncomfortably close to the Wayne name.

Reeves, who had previously directed the well-regarded Let Me In and the two Planet of the Apes sequels Dawn and War for 20th Century Fox, was handed the project by DC Films and the production companies 6th & Idaho and Dylan Clark Productions. The screenplay, which Reeves co-wrote with Peter Craig, leans heavily into the detective side of Batman's character, something that earlier big-screen versions had largely set aside in favour of spectacle. At 177 minutes, it is one of the longer entries in the superhero genre. Cinematographer Greig Fraser, working alongside Reeves, gives the film a polished but brooding visual palette, and the production design goes to considerable lengths to present a Gotham that feels genuinely lived-in and grimy rather than the heightened, theatrical version audiences had grown used to.

The casting attracted considerable attention before a single frame was shot. Robert Pattinson, best known at the time to mainstream audiences for the Twilight franchise, was announced as Bruce Wayne and Batman, a choice that prompted the kind of internet scepticism that has become almost ritual for superhero productions. Alongside him, Zoë Kravitz takes on Selina Kyle, Jeffrey Wright plays Lieutenant James Gordon, and Colin Farrell is rendered almost unrecognisable under prosthetics as Oswald Cobblepot. Paul Dano plays the Riddler, a version of the character reimagined as a resentful, methodical killer rather than the flamboyant trickster Jim Carrey played in Batman Forever. As crime thrillers go, the film is aiming for the kind of procedural weight you might associate with something like The Raid 2, where consequence and atmosphere are meant to do as much work as the action itself. Whether all of that ambition pays off is precisely what is at stake.

A huge disappointment. Robert Pattinson just doesn't convince as Batman. The brooding, moody vibe feels more forced than compelling, and I never felt like he truly embodied the character. The Riddler, meanwhile, isn’t remotely threatening or anywhere NEAR as good as the Jim Carey version. His plot is more confusing than sinister, and his motivations lack any real depth. At nearly three hours, the film drags far longer than it should. I actually fell asleep in the cinema and had to force myself to rewatch it later. It’s a slog with some nice cinematography, sure, but it gets bogged down in its own self-importance. A lot of style, not enough substance. Definitely not the fresh take the franchise needed.

I had genuinely wanted this one to work. The ingredients were there on paper, and I went in with an open mind despite the runtime. But sitting through the better part of three hours waiting for something to click, and then having to go back and sit through it again just to give it a fair shake, is not what I call a good time at the cinema. Sometimes a film mistakes length for gravity and moodiness for depth, and this, for me, is one of those cases. If you are curious about Pattinson in a different kind of role, honestly, look elsewhere. There are far better ways to spend a Friday evening.

Rating: ★★  | Year: 2022  | Watched: 2025-04-10

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for The Batman (2022) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel
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Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · YouTube TV · tru TV · HBO Max
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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