The Bat Is Back

In 1939, a comic book icon was born. Batman has become a world-renowned popular culture character. After the varying success of multiple attempts in telling the story of The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers Studios and Director Matthew Reeves offer up another interpretation with 2022’s The Batman.

The film’s leading cast consists of Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Andy Serkis, Paul Dano, and Jeffrey Wright, to name a few. With this new cast and fresh off-the superhero blockbuster reboot truck, Director Matthew Reeves brings us a unique interpretation of the character and world of Batman. This Batman deals directly with threats not too dissimilar from our modern-day life while still holding to the quintessential detective Batman from the DC comic books.

The Batman shows us a dark and gritty Gotham far more gothic and fuller of grime than any interpretation that precedes it. Pattinson’s role in the film is a far younger and more traumatized version of the Bruce Wayne/Batman persona. Rage, trauma, and a hopeless grasp for control displayed by Pattinson’s Batman are something that early on separates the tone and overall development of the film from all the others. Reeves cites growing up in Los Angeles and the “utter chaos” of the city as one of the sources of inspiration for writing both Gotham and Bruce Wayne.

When cinematographer Greg Fraser spoke about how Reeves wanted to approach this new Batman, this is what he had to say:

“He wanted to make sure that we were extremely focused on our main character,” Fraser told IndieWire in a recent interview. “Everything had to be driven by Bruce Wayne’s point of view, and that’s how we had approached ‘Let Me In,’ too. So it was very much

Paul Dano takes the lead as the primary antagonist for this film, featured in all marketing material as “The Riddler.” Paul Dano’s Riddler strikes a very relevant chord with today’s real-life villains adding to the suspense of the overall plot. Utilizing anonymity on social media while committing horrendous crimes is not necessarily a unique concept. Still, Reeves and the screenwriting team were able to make this villain relevant and fantastic in methodology to keep him grounded in the larger world of Batman.

Overall, The Batman has been well-received, scoring an 8/10 on IMDB and an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition, the film has surpassed the $600 million mark at the worldwide box office as of March 21, 2022. If you have yet to watch the latest Batman installment, it comes to streaming on HBO Max on April 17, 2022.