I ordered tickets two weeks prior to “The Batman” movie showing on March 4, and throughout those two weeks I was eager to watch the film. As the days went by I began to build up expectations for the movie and I can confidently say that my expectations were crushed, crushed by a black gloved fist. 

Before watching “The Batman” I decided to rewatch Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film “The Dark Knight,” starring Academy Award winner Christian Bale. The acting in this movie and the plot was amazing and thorough. Bale played Batman as a vigilante that has a strong desire to distinguish himself as a hero and catch his villain, The Joker. Heath Ledger’s Joker was a work of art. From his makeup to his jokes Ledger, played the part of a psychotic man with only one objective, “to watch the world burn.” This film had thorough acting, intense scenery, innovative costumes and it was action-packed so my expectations for this new film were pretty high to see if it could compare to Nolan’s masterpiece.

Prior to watching the movie, I had heard a lot of negative comments towards the movie and its main actor Robert Pattinson. He was receiving a lot of criticism due to his previous role in “Twilight.” Not only this, but once a trailer was released on the movie people didn’t seem to like the way Robert Pattison was portraying Batman. This Batman was less of a hero and more of a vigilante with a vengeful drive, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start from the beginning. 

The movie begins with a pretty gruesome murder of a Gotham official in his home by a masked man. This masked man is known as “The Riddler.” He leaves a message for Batman and a riddle at the murder scene. 

This movie was directed by Matt Reeves who also directed “Planet of the Apes.” Reeves did not portray this Batman as heroic as previous batmans. This batman was a very serious and emotionless Batman with a vengeful drive. He even says in the film “I am vengeance.”

The scenes in the film are almost all shot at night and daytime scenes make rare appearances. This little detail made the whole theater dark and gloomy which matched the movie and its tone almost perfectly. The room got so dark that when a flash from a motorcycle light was displayed on the screen the sudden white light made a lot of people in the audience groan due to the light hurting their eyes. Robert Pattison who played “The Batman” spoke very slow and firm throughout the film and did not seem to react much when fighting criminals. He would punch them with no hesitation or remorse. This batman was on some demon time. 

Batman’s many demons haunt him throughout this film and he lives a life full of loneliness and isolation. The only person he really talks to is his butler (Alfred played by Andy Serkins). When we see Bruce at his home without the mask we see him with a face full of smudged black eyeliner which shows some authenticity with the character showing that he is not all prettied up and handsome too look good on the big screen. 

The costumes throughout the movie were good except when it came to “The Batman” mask. Don’t get me wrong, “The Batman” suit looks really cool with all the black matte finish and bat symbol across the chest but there is just something about his mask that was off. I think the ears were too pointy to the point where they looked more like antennas than ears. There is a scene in the movie where he is surrounded by cops and in that seen he looked very out of place and a little funny because everyone else was dressed up like detectives and you have a grown man standing in the middle of a crime scene with a black suit and big black boots talking in a raspy voice. 

The soundtrack used in this movie fit very well with the tone of the movie. The songs were sad and mellow and in action scenes it was upbeat and suspenseful. One of the songs used in the movie was “Something in the way” by Nirvana which was the main song in the movie. The song fit so well with the movie that the song started trending on Tik Tok. 

The movie’s symbolism carried throughout the film masterfully. It was well directed and showed us an even darker side of Batman that we don’t typically see. Pattinson was able to dive into the character and make his own Batman. The Batman is more vengeful than heroic and that’s what “The Batman” was in the comics, not so much a hero, but a vigilante protecting the dark city of Gotham.