Review, with mild ***** SPOILERS *****
You may or not be aware, but Ive been a Batman uber-nerd since grade school. To say the least, I’m a tough audience. For me, it’s always been 1966 and 1989 only.
No second Keaton/Burton (it was terrible). The Schumacher films were insultingly bad. Nolan/Bale was too much of everything and to me they haven’t aged well at all. Ledger should have gotten an Oscar for scene chewing. 1 or 2 viewings and I said goodbye. They look like cosplay at a comic book convention.
Skipped all the Affleck films. No interest. DC lost me with their inability to understand their own characters. Don’t get me started. Which brings me to this new film;
Pattinson nails this darker version. Plus - Batman as a detective - and the villain isnt the focus of the film, Batman is. What a novel idea. Oh, and FINALLY, we don’t have to watch Bruce’s parents being murdered. Zoë Kravitz Is the best Catwoman since Lee Meriwether. She is a perfect live action version of Catwoman as she’s been drawn and portrayed for the past ten years. Several of the Batman/Catwoman scenes looked like they used the current comic books as storyboards. Really well done.
I like that the film doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t. It tells a story of Batman and does it unapologetically and without pretense. That’s something I didn’t care for with the Nolan films. There was this sort of air about them that they were to be the true and authentic Batman. There isn’t one after 80 years of the character and all the changes in the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Modern ages of the comic books.
My other favorites, ‘66 and ‘89, were authentic versions of specific periods in the comics. The TV show was an exact representation of what the comic books were in the 60s. Several episodes were direct lifts from specific issues.
Burton89 had Frank Miller’s fingerprints all over it. After Burton, each new take seemed to be insinuating that it was a correction to the previous mistake - whether either side of that argument is true or not. I can’t speak to Batfleck, so I won’t.
I very much appreciate that this new film is its own story and take. I like that, as a lifelong fan, I can sit and watch Batman without it having any franchise or fan base subtext.
It feels clean, as an entity. The way ‘66 and ‘89 did. It speaks to my outlook on the world at this point in my journey. After a few days of pondering it, as well as having these emotional reactions as the story progressed in the theater, this is my go-to now.
In short, I really liked it. I’ll see it repeatedly and buy it. Will elaborate if the discussion warrants it. Also, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack all day while I worked. It took a lot to back ‘66 and ‘89 down a bit, but this has done it. My Batworld is now ‘66, ‘89, and ‘22.
Second viewing in a few days, third a week later and then waiting for the home release.
