The Batman (spoilers)

AcererakTriple6 said:

I finally got around to watching this movie. As someone that hasn't really seen many Batman movies (I've only seen the Christopher Nolan trilogy and Batman v Superman), this was probably my second favorite Batman movie. I liked it more than Batman Begins and the Dark Knight Rises, but I still prefer the Dark Knight to this one. And this is easily the best live action translation of Catwoman that I've seen (granted, this isn't saying a lot, but it's still notable). And they did a great job with the Riddler and how he contrasted with Batman.

There were some scenes that I feel went on too long, some story beats that I don't think worked that well, and clichés that I'm really tired of, but otherwise, I think that this is a great movie.

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You, sir, speak heresy.

Everyone knows that Eartha Kitt is the greatest Catwoman that ever was and ever will be.

embee said:

You, sir, speak heresy.

Everyone knows that Eartha Kitt is the greatest Catwoman that ever was and ever will be.

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Agreed, she was purrrrrfect

One of my favorite depictions of the character to date. I really liked how blatantly the movie calls out that taking out your childhood trauma on people you think deserve it by calling it vengeance doesn't actually help anybody.

Selina talking down to Batman that he doesn't understand anything when he said that her friend made her choices was also very cathartic. Kinda wish they had leaned into that a little more, but I'm still happy with what I got.

Edit: Removing mild vulgarity.

BrokenTwin said:

One of my favorite depictions of the character to date. I really liked how blatantly the movie calls out that taking out your childhood trauma on people you think deserve it by calling it vengeance doesn't actually help anybody.

Selina talking naughty word to Batman that he doesn't understand anything when he said that her friend made her choices was also very cathartic. Kinda wish they had leaned into that a little more, but I'm still happy with what I got.

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I really liked how this movie leaned into "Maybe having a privileged billionaire vigilante isn't the best solution for crime problems, even in such a scumbag city like Gotham." How he inspired the Riddler and had such a rigid and unempathetic ideology about crime was really well done, IMO.

AcererakTriple6 said:

I really liked how this movie leaned into "Maybe having a privileged billionaire vigilante isn't the best solution for crime problems, even in such a scumbag city like Gotham." How he inspired the Riddler and had such a rigid and unempathetic ideology about crime was really well done, IMO.

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And the movie all but outright stated that he could have had a much greater positive impact on the city if he had just paid attention to his father's family legacy project and prevented it from immediately becoming a free handout for the wealthy and corrupt and done nothing else.

embee said:

You, sir, speak heresy.

Everyone knows that Eartha Kitt is the greatest Catwoman that ever was and ever will be.

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I'll see your Eartha Kitt and raise you a Julie Newmar!

ART! said:

I'll see your Eartha Kitt and raise you a Julie Newmar!

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I like Julie, but Eartha was far more cat-like.

I liked this younger, less self-assured and sometimes vulnerable Batman. The sub-plot with cat women is very well done. The Riddler was properly unhinged and the root of his mania was believable.

The violence is more realistic in the sense that it's like a short-sharp-shock. Over and done quickly. No needlessly extended graphic battle scenes. He gets punched around a lot too.

The movie takes the time to tell its tale properly and everything is set up for the follow up movie. A well done 'Batman Detective' movie.

Maybe the dead Mayor's boy will become Robin?

In my top 3 Batman movies.

I enjoyed The Batman - it's over the threshold into "good even for Batman", but not my top, which is still Christian Bale.

One of the things I really like that differentiated it was how grounded it felt. All of this felt possible, not just four-color comics. I absolutely loved Penguin, and he rang true. Some for just about everyone else except Selena - they all felt like they could exist, including Batman and Riddler.

Not that I disliked Selena - she was fantastic! But with no explanation for her superior fighting style and such she felt more like a comic character and less "real world" than the others.

The very grounding make the violence more real to me, as it wasn't invulnerable people punching each other.

Pattinson's Bruce Wayne was jarring as a large shift in expectations, and when I first saw it I was moved to dislike it, but that slowly transformed into appreciation of how they used him in the story. The eccentric hermit who wasn't a proper custodian of his family wealth because he was consumed by being the Batman worked. And again, felt real.

On the other hand, I appreciated Pattinson's Batman from the beginning. He was just as much a detective as a pugilist, he came across as intimidating and unworldly. The feel the police had for him early film, and when one stopped him and he just stared without speaking really brought the point home, and how it transformed but kept that uneasy later in the film where he was ignoring a officer telling him nt to touch evidence and the officer was pretty clearly "whelp, that didn't work but I'm not going to try anything more drastic. guess he can touch it."

It was a long movie, and felt like a long movie, but I appreciated the pacing of just about every individual scene so I don't know how to change that without cutting things out.

One of the interesting things this movie does is make the Christian Bale movies look very, very mainstream in comparison. I mean, they're clearly meant to be mainstream entertainment, and I guess this one is, too?, but the very specific mood/tone/vibe of this one makes those previous movies seem more pedestrian. I don't mean that as a knock, so maybe "pedestrian" isn't the word.