After a series of pandemic-related delays, Batman finally begins again with his first solo movie in a decade.
Thankfully, it was worth the wait. Robert Pattinson is a perfect fit for the cowl and cape in this gritty, pacy and achingly stylish adventure.
“Two years of nights have turned me into a nocturnal animal,” growls Wayne in a hard-boiled voice-over.
It’s Halloween in a rain-lashed Gotham City and a not quite fully-formed Batman is prowling the streets in an outfit that looks like it was cobbled together in an Army & Navy Store.
This is early in Wayne’s vigilante career and while he’s earned the uneasy trust of Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), he hasn’t developed the high-tech gadgets enjoyed by Bale, Affleck or even West.
A run-in with a gang of hoodlums on a subway platform sets the tone for this grittier take on the caped crusader.
“I am vengeance”, he sneers before taking on the gang in a refreshingly messy fist fight. This more vulnerable Batman can definitely packs a punch, but his main weapon is an almost suicidal urge to pick himself up after a beating.
But if you’re expecting an action movie, Pattinson’s caped crusader may take some getting used to.
The almost black and white The Batman (colour is used very sparingly) is more reminiscent of the gumshoe movies of the 1940s than the superhero spectaculars of the 21st century.
When Gotham’s mayor is brutally murdered in his home, Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) shocks his colleagues by inviting the costumed “freak” to the crime scene.
The Batman surveys the room like a moody Sherlock, before quickly solving a dastardly riddle left by the killer.
When more bodies pile-up, it’s clear this is the work of Paul Dano’s The Riddler, a far creepier proposition to the flamboyant loon played by Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey.
In Batman’s hidden lair (not a cave but a disused train subway station), reclusive billionaire Wayne and his loyal butler Alfred (Andy Serkis) set to work on tracking down the murderous oddball, their findings sending Batman into the underbelly of Gotham’s underworld.
An unrecognisable Colin Farrell raises much-needed laughs under layers of prosthetics as a nightclub owner ominously nicknamed The Penguin. And Zoë Kravitz plays slinky femme fatale Selina Kyle, who works as a waitress in The Penguin’s mob hangout.
As Kyle leads a double life as a cat burglar with a pointy-eared balaclava, you don’t need to be a detective to decipher her place in comic book history.
Kravitz and Pattinson share a fizzing chemistry from the first moment they lock fists in a strangely flirtatious scrap.
There’s a spectacular car chase and a thrilling scene where Batman vaults from a skyscraper in a homemade flying suit. But director Matt Reeves uses his action scenes sparingly.
With a running time just short of three hours, this the longest Batman movie ever made. But great casting, stylish cinematography and dastardly plotting, make the time fly by faster than the batmobile.
