[Spoilers below]
“The Batman” (2022) was a release many were craving, with a classic story, original characters, and new actors. But it didn’t hit the mark many were hoping for. Dull fight scenes combined with the classic sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman and a fifteen-minute car chase led to an overdrawn three-hour movie.
It made a point of Batman being more closely related to the comic-book interpretation of the hero, seen by the gloominess and non-socialite aspects the other movies lacked. Instead of Bruce Wayne being a powerful man with lots of money and connections, he is portrayed as a recluse that people haven’t seen in years.
The classic Riddler brought chaos to Gotham through murders and riddles for the Batman to find, tired of living in the corrupt capitalistic society that the city was. The Riddler in this film differs from the comics; instead of an animated, colorful criminal, he is a deranged serial killer. He taunts the city, forcing its citizens to open their eyes to the hypocrisy of caring for the less fortunate only when it looks good or only caring about the poor orphan boy when he comes from a rich socialite family, abandoning the hundreds of children stuck with no home or family every day.
The commentary on society and capitalism is enormous and is the main focus of the movie, leaving the viewers thinking about their own system. It is a reimagined classic, but in my overall opinion, it could have been made into either two parts or a shorter story; I felt that there were a lot of unnecessary scenes and repetitive fights that could have been cut or shortened.
Overall the movie does a great job at sticking to the original comic Batman, but the overall length and dullness of the scenes can ruin the experience of an action-packed movie that many newer fans might have been expecting.
Rating: 2/5
