The Batman

After being postponed several times, the highly anticipated movie The Batman directed by Matt Reeves on a script he co-wrote with Peter Craig is finally released this week in theaters. Very often the most awaited movies disappoint as their trailer tends to show the best scenes and spoils the discovery of the movie. In the same way, after Tim Burton's mythical version of Batman (1989) and its equally successful sequel Batman Returns (1992), Christopher Nolan's very successful trilogy with Christian Bale in the main role and the DC cinematographic universe in which Batman occupies an important place, we were waiting as comic book and DC universe fans for the return of one of the most appreciated characters on the big screen. 

After Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck, it is Robert Pattinson's turn to play the Gotham City vigilante. After playing the character Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter saga and Edward Cullen in the Twilight saga and some successful roles in films such as Cosmopolis (2012), The Lost city of Z (2016), High Life (2018) and more recently in The lighthouse (2019), we were rather confident in the choice of this actor who has never stopped trying to break his image too smooth model of fashion magazines. We must admit that he easily imposes himself at the level of actors Christian Bale and Michael Keaton as he is as comfortable playing a schizophrenic and tired Bruce Wayne as in the role of Batman, a vigilante who seems almost invincible and with a strong thirst for justice.

While we could expect a first part of a new trilogy with the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, how he created the character of Batman by falling into a cave to inspire fear in many criminals, the script by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig makes the wise choice to set the story two years after the beginnings of Batman and above all in a very realistic and violent world worthy of the best crime movies. If you look at the universe described here, it seems to move away from the very colorful universe of Batman to a world close to the one of Seven by David Fincher. This approach is even more noticeable by a real will to propose a new look to the characters of Catwoman, the penguin but also and especially the Riddler. The Batman is also one of the closest adaptations of the character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in the sense that his interpretation here reminds us in many ways of Sherlock Holmes who was with the Shadow the two main inspirations for the creation of this character.

In The Batman, we follow Bruce Wayne/Batman's crusade in the underbelly of Gotham as a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of enigmatic clues and numerous deaths. As evidence begins to mount about the Riddler's true intent and the scope of his plan, Batman must not only forge new alliances with Selina Kyle / Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) but also with Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). With law enforcement corrupted and the city's mafia seemingly pulling the strings with crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Torturro) and Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot / Penguin (Colin Farrell), Batman's mission looks to be a perilous one, especially as it will bring him face to face with a heavy family past.

The very inspired and successful direction of Matt Reeves makes us easily forget the too smooth version of Zack Snyder's films and especially allows us to find all the visual strength of Christopher Nolan's films. Even if the approach of Matt Reeves is different and especially seeks to find all the strength of gangster films while incorporating a difficult love story between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne. A real atmospheric film, we don't doubt for a moment the important influence of Frank Miller (Batman Yean One) as well as of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (Batman: The long Halloween). The director has not only managed to find intact the essence of the comics but also to show that Bruce Wayne is a being tortured by his past and by his will to honor the memory of his dead parents and to fight against his inner demons.

By constantly trying to propose a credible universe of Batman, the director Matt Reeves avoids all the supernatural elements and other monsters already shown in the movies or in the numerous Batman comics but also allows us to find on the big screen the time of a scene one of the most known enemies of Batman and we suspect a serious lead that will be revealed in the next part of The Batman. The film also takes care of its photography and the numerous settings (the bat-cave is superbly represented on the screen) but also the psychological complexity of the characters, whether they are main or secondary.

The Batman is certainly one of the best films dedicated to this superhero without superpowers but also a Hollywood blockbuster of a rare intelligence that does not try to impress us with a tiring sequence of spectacular scenes but is oriented towards a thriller really captivating and to bring us to think about what should be a perfect adaptation of a comic book universe to the cinema.

The Batman
Directed by Matt Reeves
Written by Matt Reeves, Peter Craig
Based on DC characters
Produced by Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves
Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell
Director of photography : Greig Fraser
Editing: William Hoy, Tyler Nelson
Music: Michael Giacchino
Production companies: DC Films, 6th & Idaho, Dylan Clark Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date: March 2, 2022 (France), March 4, 2022 (USA)
Running time: 175 minutes

Seen on March 1, 2022 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 11 IMAX seat  E18

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