Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves start a new era of live-action Batman films with a fantastic opening instalment – a rain-soaked, neo-noir detective story, that weaves Batman’s fledgling ‘rogues gallery’ into a dark tale of conspiracy, corruption and serial killers.

Premise: Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is in his second year as Gotham’s masked vigilante, but crime in the city is worse than ever. When the serial killer known only as the Riddler (Paul Dano) starts leaving messages for the Batman, it draws him and Lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) into a mystery reaching from the lowest underbelly of the city to its top elected office.

Review:

Riddle me this: how do you avoid the seventh big-screen live-action version of Batman feeling like a copy of what’s come before? The answer is, reinterpret the comic book material to focus on the themes and elements that haven’t been centre stage before. Adam West’s era of Batman was camp and colourful, Michael Keaton’s era was a gothic fairy tale; Val Kilmer’s era was neo-drenched and excessive, and George Clooney’s era was … mercifully short lived. Christian Bale’s era was grounded and psychological, and Ben Affleck’s era was mythical and universe-spanning. So where next for The Batman?

Director and co-writer Matt Reeves’ solution was to focus on the one Batman moniker that has never been the main focus of a movie before, and that’s his status as “the World's Greatest Detective”. The plot to The Batman focuses far more on the main character’s investigative skills than any of the previous movies, as Batman becomes entangled in a battle of wits with the psychotic Riddler.

“…the tone of the Riddler storyline is definitely closer to ‘Se7en’ than ‘Batman Forever’…”

Paul Dano’s interpretation of the Riddler could not be more different from Jim Carrey’s Lycra-clad portrayal of the character in 1995’s Batman Forever. Dano’s Riddler is clearly inspired by the real-life Zodiac killer, from his menacing hooded appearance to his obsession for leaving cyphers and coded clues at his crime scenes. And make no mistake, The Batman earns its 15-rating with some fairly dark themes and scenes, and while a lot of the violence and injury is left to the audience’s imagination, the tone of the Riddler storyline is definitely closer to Se7en than Batman Forever.

The approach to the Riddler is indicative of the way that the filmmakers have approached every element of The Batman. Yes, it is still set in a pulpy, heightened reality of costumed superheroes, but in some ways, it’s even more grounded than Christian Bale’s era of Batman was. In The Batman, there’s very little soaring through the skies of Gotham on a batwing glider, and even the Batmobile itself is a souped-up muscle car rather than a prototype military vehicle.

“…uses Batman’s ‘rogues gallery’ to great effect…”

The storyline itself is also the most mystery-based of any Batman movie, involving as it does murders, conspiracies and corruption in a way that has more in common with films like L.A. Confidential and Chinatown than it does with most superhero movies. In this film, the Riddler’s goals are more focused on destroying the soul of Gotham City, rather than physically destroying the city like previous villains have attempted. As well as drawing inspiration from several different classic comic book storylines, The Batman also seems to have been inspired by some of the ideas and themes from the underrated 2016 videogame Batman: The Telltale Series, which also re-examined the Wayne’s legacy in Gotham City.

The Batman also uses the character’s “rogues gallery” to great effect, by making the world feel populated with these classic characters, but without making the film feel overcrowded. Previous Batman movies (most noticeably, Batman Forever and 1997’s dire Batman & Robin) have sometimes failed to do justice to all of the villains they included (and other, non-Batman, films have had similar struggles, like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3), but The Batman avoids those pitfalls by doing a lot with a little.

“…the supporting cast are all fantastic…”

Colin Farrell, for example, is only in a handful of scenes as mid-level underworld boss Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot – better known as the Penguin – but he’s great in those scenes, and it makes it feel like in the world of The Batman, Oz was around before the events of this film, and he’ll be around after the events of this film. Meanwhile, Zoë Kravitz gets to play at the other end of the spectrum with her portrayal of Selina Kyle at a time when she is just beginning to take the first steps on her journey to becoming Catwoman. The chemistry between Batman and Selina Kyle in The Batman is very evocative of the connection the characters shared in classic stories from the comic books (such as 2002’s Hush), and it brought a fresh dynamic to both characters in the movie.

The rest of the supporting cast are all fantastic, from John Turturro as aging mob boss Carmine Falcone, to Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham's district attorney, and Andy Serkis as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s only confidant in his one-man war on crime. But the biggest surprise was arguably Jeffrey Wright’s portrayal of James Gordon, not because I didn’t expect him to be great (as he always is), but because I didn’t expect his character to get nearly as much to do in the film, given how the character has often been side-lined in some of the other Batman movies.

“…Robert Pattinson finds new notes to play as the seventh live-action Batman…”

Of course, with this being a Batman movie, to a degree it lives or dies on the central performance, but in this regard, The Batman has nothing to worry about. Robert Pattinson finds new notes to play in his portrayal, despite being the seventh live-action Batman, and his voiceover narration that bookends the film really captures the tone not only of a hard-boiled detective-noir movie, but also the sense of being inside the main character’s head that you get from reading the internal monologues in the comic books. There may be some critics who say that Pattinson’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne (rather than Batman) is underdeveloped, but that’s missing the point – this film takes place at a time when the character has completely neglected his “Bruce Wayne” persona, to the extent that the public now consider him to be an eccentric recluse. And without giving away any spoilers, although The Batman tells a complete and satisfying story in its own right, it’s also clearly setting up threads to be explored (hopefully) in later films, and Bruce Wayne’s character arc in particular feels far from over by the end of the film.

As well as co-writing the film, Matt Reeves does a great job with the direction. He leans into the more noirish elements of the central mystery, and captures the pulp-fiction essence of a dark city illuminated by flickering streetlights in the never-ending rain (potentially another nod to Se7en). Reeves’ use of shadows is also particularly evocative, and used to great effect in two memorable scenes. The combat scenes, meanwhile, are shot with a tangible sense of brutality, while an impressive mid-film car chase is shot with intimate close ups capturing the characters’ perspectives more than the action itself.

“…arguably the most ambitious & risky of all the Batman films…”

They may be some that complain the film is too long (it’s a sliver under 3 hours), but I was never bored. There’s so much to cover with the central mystery and all of the supporting characters, that the film never dragged, and there’s nothing that I would have liked to have seen cut from the final film. This is an ambitious film – arguably the most ambitious and risky of all the Batman films – but it’s also a very timely film, touching on themes like radicalisation and incels, through its depiction of the Riddler’s obsession with using his murders to “unmask the truth” behind Gotham City.

I also need to specifically mention Michael Giacchino’s amazing score. His repeated use of a simply four-note refrain is set to become an iconic new Batman theme, and his score builds a tremendous amount of atmosphere in a number of key scenes. I’ve already been listening to the score on repeat, and expect to be doing so for some time.

“…a triumphant start to the next era of Batman films…”

All in all, this is a triumphant start to the next era of Batman films. The Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale trilogy left some big shoes to fill (I’m not counting the Zack Snyder/Ben Affleck films, as they were “Justice League films” rather than “Batman films”), but Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson seem more than up to the task. The Batman provides all the elements you want from a Batman film, as well as plenty you’ve never seen before, and delivers a film that’s not only a great standalone movie, but also a tantalising first chapter in a new larger story.