I enjoy superhero films, but “The Batman” was nothing new.
Just a decade ago, Christopher Nolan finished an excellent trilogy of Batman films. Between then and now, there was also the “Batman vs. Superman” film featuring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. One could argue it was a sequel to “Man of Steel” and thus a different series—but you get the point. We’ve seen plenty of Batman.
The latest with Robert Pattinson has the same basic elements that Nolan already did well—a psychoanalytic thriller with a mentally-unstable villain, a corrupt government in Gotham, and a pessimistic hero with a complicated past.
It seems to make this one different, the creators just upped the ante. More characters are morally dubious, including Bruce Wayne’s own parents, and the criminal activity involves more drugs, adultery, prostitution, and other gruesome human rights abuses. I was shocked to see a boy who looked no more than 12 years old in the movie theater. Is our culture desensitized to this?
The plot initially introduced many interesting premises and curious motifs that I was excited to follow, but few were carried to completion. All the building mystery about the crime rings behind the government was explained away so quickly that it was hard to follow and unsatisfying at best. Apparently, it didn’t matter too much to the plot, because the people who could fill in the gaps of the story were easily killed off.
Batman does learn a good lesson in the end: His actions and attitude have inspired a spirit of vengeance in the city, and now, instead, he wants to inspire hope. That motif was developed throughout the film and concluded nicely. But there were several other plotlines—like the questions about his family’s history, or his relationship with Alfred (does Alfred survive?!)—that are underdeveloped. The audience is left wanting more, which is probably what the creators want if this is to become a series. But that shouldn’t mean a single movie in the series can be unsatisfying.
Characters and threats that seemed larger than life met boring ends. A city-wide flood was only scary when it needed to be, but in the end didn’t seem to cause the massacre that a natural disaster of that size should have.
By the end it felt like I was watching a different movie than the one I started. It is almost three hours long, and it feels like about three half-baked plots thrown together rather than one good one. Which, unfortunately, is how a lot of superhero films from the past decade feel.
Why do producers keep making them? Because people like me keep paying to see if the creators have done something new.
A movie is good if you want to watch it again and are eager to share it with your friends, but I didn’t feel that way. Watching “The Batman” once was enjoyable, but just enough, because I felt like I had seen it before.
