The Batman

[SOJA]

15 hours ago, d-dave said:

Man, I really wanted to like it.  My students raved about it.  I thought Robert Pattenson would be a cool change up for the Batman character.

I had major issues with the second half of the film.  It was was so boring!  Laborious!  Painful!  I really liked the Riddler character and the themes about extremism. But there was exactly ZERO joy in the film.  It was three hours of negative emotions.  Also, Andy Serkis was criminally underserved.  He's a fun actor, and they didn't use him enough to really push the heart of Bruce.

That's not to say it was a waste of screen for me.  The use of light and shadow was amazing.  I loved so many of the shots.  There were some great looking images created out of the film.  Despite the whole batmobile "thing."  When it punched through that concrete, that was a great looking shot.  I really loved the production design on the film.

At the end, the final reveal about Daddy Wayne felt so weak.  There wasn't catharsis at all.  I hope that Reeves learned something for his next film.  I actually like Pattenson, and I think he's an interesting Bruce Wayne.

I agree I liked it a lot but the second half, particularly the third act felt like a let down. They really needed some better editing in that third act it was dreadfully long and drawn out. 

 

I also noticed half way through the movie I had not laughed like one time. I'm not expecting Whedon's Avengers levels of wise cracks but a one off joke here or there wouldn't hurt 

[d-dave]

5 hours ago, SOJA said:

I agree I liked it a lot but the second half, particularly the third act felt like a let down. They really needed some better editing in that third act it was dreadfully long and drawn out. 

 

I also noticed half way through the movie I had not laughed like one time. I'm not expecting Whedon's Avengers levels of wise cracks but a one off joke here or there wouldn't hurt 

Balance is an important aspect of storytelling.  In the case of the Avengers, they leaned into the fact they were a comic book brought to life so humor is expected.  Also, a lot of the Marvel movies (not all), lean into the JOY of the story.

The Batman did not.  Everything was grimdark without even the slightest sign of hope.  90% of the movie happens in the rain for the love of pete!  In previous Batman films, Bruce Wayne tended to be much more comedic.  Robin was added for some youthful levity.  In a story that centers around Bruce Wayne discovering who his father was, there were plenty of character who could have been much funnier.

Sadly it was all lost for a meandering revenge/discovery story.  One day, it might be fun to take a digital version of the film and cut it to pieces and re-edit it...But that will take a LONG TIME.

[Basbear]

On 4/21/2022 at 9:12 AM, Khyber53 said:

Did we see the same movie? Watched it last night. 

Three hour snooze fest obviously written in someone's angst-filled Forever 21 journal. Pattison walking around with the black makeup around his eyes just made me think he was Robert Smith of The Cure fighting crime.

At least Halle Berry isn't the worst Catwoman anymore. Wow, Zoe Kravitz is to acting what her dad Lenny is to classic rock. And worst mask of all time... did no one even go "Hey, are you sure you want it to look like a toboggan with a chinstrap that's being used as a nose wiper?" 

The Riddler and his Army of Incels, well, that was definitely a new take. Basically it turn Oliver from the Brady Bunch into a psycho. 

So many things were ripped off to make this movie, and poorly in the process. Se7en was lifted from whole cloth and the scene with the capture of Riddler began with a riff on Edward Hopper's The Nighthawks. 

Honestly, they did the whole thing better on Gotham, and Gotham wasn't that great. 

And don't get me started on the Batmobile. It was like some kind of trailer park fever dream kit car, that was inexplicably rear engine AND rear-wheel drive. Step on the gas and that thing is just going to start doing donuts whether you want it to or not. And the big car chase? How many people died fiery deaths and neither Batman or Commissioner (soon to be) Gordon don't bat an eye for even a moment.

Sound was terrible and the dialogue was nearly inaudible for the first quarter of the movie. Lighting was non-existent in that "I wanna be edgy and film noir AND let's not put too much into the scene dressings" vein of direction. 

The one moment that the movie becomes self-aware and laughs at itself, the flying squirrel suit escape, did crack up my whole family, but we couldn't even try to take it seriously from then on out.

I want those three hours of my life back. Is it the worst Batman movie so far? Nah, the Joel Schumacher Batsuit with Nipples ones take that cake, but woof this one was lousy. For someone to have such great starting material and lore, so much funding for the project and access to such top level actors (except as mentioned above), to turn that dreck out is pretty mystifying.

 

Terrible, not dumpster water bad...more mud puddle water bad. Agree about the three hour part, total waste and got womanwoman84 taste in my body. How does hollywood keep turning out multi-million turds for 20+ years. The fan made youtube movie was 10x better. 

[d-dave]

13 hours ago, Basbear said:

Terrible, not dumpster water bad...more mud puddle water bad. Agree about the three hour part, total waste and got womanwoman84 taste in my body. How does hollywood keep turning out multi-million turds for 20+ years. The fan made youtube movie was 10x better. 

Because there are always too many people trying to make a name for themselves.  When trying to set up a "cinematic universe" you need a ROCK SOLID plan and great leadership, which Marvel has.  Though for Marvel, we've become spoiled and we need more James Gunn and Taika Waititi than "boilerplate" superheroes.  

In the DC world, they don't have near the same level of control and execution and vision than the MCU has.  I have no problem with a Dan Reeves Batman series, but it doesn't have to connect with the Justice League.  Right now DC has Aquaman and Wonder Woman as it's two reasonably successful film franchises, and it could have something with The Batman.  But none of that compares to the quality of Peacemaker.

Since DC and WarnerBros don't have that level of strong, expansive leadership, they need to forget about the idea of the joint universes.  Don't force it.  If it can be organic, great.  Honestly, I actually don't mind the Monarch thing in the Godzilla/King Kong franchise.  I get that they need the human element, but the films are at their best when it comes down to the monsters instead of humans.  Just work on making one good story at a time.

[KSpan]

Finished it over the course of 3 or so nights and thought it was fine. I like the angle they took overall and think I would have enjoyed the movie a little more had I watched it in one sitting instead of splitting it up, but that is what it is. Catwoman's social commentary-esque rant towards the end felt pretty out of place and forced given the rest of the story. That batsuit is also apparently quite bulletproof. 

[OneBadCat]

I think the movie is a refreshing take by itself. But it's probably the most overrated decent movie to come out in a long time. The recency bias and Pattinson casting really overvalued this movie for me.

I loved the world building and the nods to the previous Batmans with the cinematography. Paul Dano was great. I thought RP was a decent  Batman, but I think he basically copied Christian Bales voice

My biggest gripe is Colin Ferrell in this movie. He's one of my favorite actors but his Penguin performance is basically  a Robert Deniro Raging Bull impression.

Edited May 5, 2022 by OneBadCat

[Shocker]

Personally I would say I liked the movie.  Best the Riddler has been in a Batman movie IMO.  The other characters were just ok.  I liked the realistic feel of things and I always think the darker the better.  Held my interest and I am personally one who has found these superhero movies pretty damn stale lately.  Will definitely watch the next installment

[Grace Haley]

I don’t want to scold the new “Batman” strongly - it seems that the creators tried and tried to make the film watchable: there is a plot here - not the strongest and most interesting, but there is, there is an atmosphere, a highlight - small, but present, and a couple of beautiful shots. The new "Batman" is more of a detective story than a superhero story, but I think the writers completely forgot that detective stories are based on suspense and intrigue. There is intrigue in the film, but on the way to it, the viewer can fall asleep. The timing of the picture is 3 hours, but the creators did not provide us with plot meat for 3 hours. The plot is tortured, boring, drawn-out, stretched out, just no; there is only the outline of the plot - a long, dramatic and pretentious introduction - the story of Batman, a more or less interesting plot (the first murder), then an extremely slow development of events until the climax (the main battle of "good" and "evil") and, of course, bombastically bombastic The conclusion is even more pretentious than the introduction. If you remove all the water from the plot, then there will be about one hour of action, no more.