Thursday, March 2, 2023

The Batman (2022)

The mayor is watching the news report of the debate with his challenger.  He is not pleased with the polls and thinks he should be winning easily.  Suddenly, a man in a mask appears behind him and beats him to death.  Lt. James Gordon (Jeffery Wright) arrives with the Batman (Robert Pattinson) to investigate the scene.  The other cops are horrified that Gordon brought Batman.  Batman surveys the scene, noticing several things that the detectives had missed.  Of particular interest, there is a card left for The Batman.  When opened, it offers a riddle.  What does a liar do when he's dead?  "He lies still," Batman states.  There is also a cypher to solve, which Batman takes to the bat cave.  Soon, there are more corpses and more riddles to solve.  The Riddler (Paul Dano) is exposing some dark secret related to city corruption and all the participants are getting eliminated.

Many of the standard characters appear: Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell), and Alfred (Andy Serkis).  Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) proves to be something of an enigma, a man who has a history with Thomas Wayne.  In a dramatic shift from the Christian Bale version, this Bruce Wayne is a brooding hermit reminiscent of Howard Hughes.  There is much more emphasis on Batman's skills as a detective; he solves most of the riddles, is frequently trailing suspects, records all his observations in journals, and discovers important facts through deduction.  He is active by day but not generally in costume.  Paul Dano's Riddler is very different from previous incarnations.  He isn't the cackling psychopath (Frank Gorshin) nor an over-the-top redhaired goofball (Jim Carrey).  This is more Unabomber/Zodiac Killer.

Though long, the pacing is good.  There are a few scenes that didn't work, especially the one where the police transport an unconscious Batman back to the police station without removing his mask, especially since the police are hostile toward this version of Batman.  Good popcorn fun!

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