If you loved movies in the Dark Knight Trilogy; Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, you’ll absolutely love The Batman starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz. The acting in this movie is amazing and it keeps you thinking. You can tell while watching that there was a lot of thought and creativity that went into this movie.  

In The Batman, Batman ventures into Gotham City where a sadistic serial killer (The Riddler) leaves behind a trail of cryptic messages to Batman at each of his crime scenes. As the messages begin to lead closer to uncovering Batman’s identity and the goal of the Riddler’s plans become clear, The Riddler seeks revenge in the city that failed him through corrupt leaders and mobs puppeting the government. As the attacks worsen the race for Batman to unmask the criminal and bring justice to the city by correcting the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the Gotham City Government/police department, also ramps up.

Along with a well written and entertaining plot, the cast in The Batman is phenomenal. Robert Pattinson plays the main character; Batman/Bruce Wayne. Pattinson has starred in many other famous films including the Twilight series, Tenet, The Devil All the Time, Remember Me, The Lighthouse, and many more Pattinson has multiple awards including MTV award for best male performance, best breakthrough performance, people’s choice award for best on-screen chemistry, and many more. I personally think that Pattinson portrayed the character Bruce Wayne very well. Pattinson usually plays the soft boy loving character in his other movies but he really had to switch his character skills to play Bruce Wayne. Bruce is a very serious, introverted, and determined character. He doesn’t want anyone to get close to him. Another character Pattinson has played like Edward Cullen from The Twilight Series, is a very kind, light hearted, and compassionate character. Zoe Kravitz plays the second main character; Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Kravitz has starred in other movies/tv shows like High Fidelity, Divergent, Big Little Lies, and others. She also did an amazing job of portraying the character, Selina Kyle. Selina is very stubborn, impulsive, and thrill-seeking and Kravitz’s acting kept me intrigued to her character.

One comparison I can make is between Batman Begins (2005) and The Batman (2022). The Batman offers a new perspective on the hero but lacks his alter-ego. In the two years since his arrival in Gotham City, Batman has proven that he can use his brutality and tactics to help the city by deterring the criminals with fear, even when he isn’t there. Batman Begins explores Bruce’s origin but loses focus on his world and focuses on his motivations to become Batman from his childhood all the way to his first night in the suit. 

The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, is a perfect example of how to bring a comic book to life. This movie instantly became one of my favorite stories put to screen. The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is one of the best soundtracks that I have ever heard and the way it is used in the film just elevates everything being seen. The casting is also spot on with Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman with the supporting cast of Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Jeffery Wright as Commissioner Gordan, and Colin Ferral as the Penguin. Every single actor brings their A game, creating a lived-in feel to Gotham that creates a sense of grittiness. This movie showed me that films can still have an impact on them nowadays; so many studio films these past couple of years have been over processed, soulless, cash grab movies just churned out to make a quick buck. It’s good we still have directors with creative visions that try to please the fans in the best way possible.