The Batman movie review & film summary (2022)
Pattinson and Kravitz have insane chemistry with one another. She is his match, bodily and emotionally, each step of the way in which. That is no flirty, purring Catwoman: She’s a fighter and a survivor with a loyal coronary heart and a powerful sense of what’s proper. Following her lead position in Steven Soderbergh’s high-tech thriller “Kimi,” Kravitz continues to disclose a fierce charisma and quiet power.
She’s a part of a assassin’s row of supporting performers, all of whom get meaty roles to play. Jeffrey Wright is the uncommon voice of idealism and decency because the eventual Commissioner Gordon. John Turturro is low-key chilling as crime boss Carmine Falcone. Andy Serkis—Caesar in Reeves’ “Apes” films—brings a paternal knowledge and heat as Alfred. Colin Farrell is totally unrecognizable because the sleazy, villainous Oswald Cobblepot, higher referred to as The Penguin. And Paul Dano is flat-out terrifying as The Riddler, whose personal drive for vengeance offers the story’s backbone. He goes to extremes right here in a manner that’s paying homage to his startling work in “There Will Be Blood.” His derangement is so intense, you could end up unexpectedly laughing simply to interrupt the strain he creates. However there’s nothing amusing about his portrayal; Dano makes you are feeling as for those who’re watching a person who’s actually, deeply disturbed.
This isn’t to say that “The Batman” is a downer; removed from it. Regardless of the overlong operating time of practically three hours, this can be a movie that’s constantly viscerally gripping. The good Batmobile but—a muscular automobile that’s straight out of “Mad Max: Fury Highway”—figures prominently in one of many film’s most heart-pounding sequences. It’s an elaborate automobile chase and chain-reaction crash ending with an upside-down shot of fiery fury that actually had me applauding throughout my screening. Throughout a struggle at a thumping evening membership, punctuated by pulsating crimson lights, you’ll be able to really feel each punch and kick. (That’s one of many extra compelling components of seeing this superhero in his early days: He isn’t invincible.) And a shootout in a pitch-black hallway, illuminated solely by the blasts of shotgun hearth, is each harrowing and dazzling. Tremendously magnifying the ability of scenes like these is the rating from veteran composer Michael Giacchino. Finest identified for his Pixar film music, he does one thing completely totally different with “The Batman”: percussive and horn-heavy, it’s large and demanding, and you’ll really feel it deep in your core.
Working with artists and craftspeople working on the prime of their sport, Reeves has made a film that manages to be ethereal but weighty on the similar time, substantial but impressionistic. Cinematographer Greig Fraser pulls off the identical type of beautiful magic trick he did along with his Oscar-nominated work in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune”: By way of pouring rain and neon lights, there’s each a gauziness and a heft to his imagery. His use of shadow and silhouette is masterful, and does a lot to convey a way of foreboding and pressure. I may write a complete, separate essay on the movie’s many makes use of of the colour crimson to counsel power, hazard, even hope. And the costume design from the nice Jacqueline Durran—with Dave Crossman and Glyn Dillon designing Pattinson’s rough-and-tumble Batsuit—put simply the appropriate final touch on the movie’s cool, edgy vibe.
That is essentially the most lovely Batman film you’ve ever seen—even when it’s probably not a Batman film in any respect.
