They think I am hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows.
What's up Nerds and Nerdettes! Tyler Mac here. This is obviously a review for The Batman; so if you haven't seen it, please ignore until you do. There will be spoilers. You have been warned!
The batman is an almost 3 hour movie of a living graphic novel. It's dark. It's noir. It's sad. There isn't really a moment of levity. If you are looking for a feel good comic book movie, don't go see this; and then complain afterward. It is Batman, after all. Pattinson delivers in the role. As someone that didn't believe he could do it in the beginning, I am very happy to have been wrong. He definitely takes his place as one of the top Batman performances. Many say that his Bruce Wayne leaves something to be desired. I believe that is purposeful. I think that we are in Year 2. We are at a place where Bruce feels that he needs to be more Bat and less Billionaire. He hasn't found the happy medium that we are so use to in our Batman IP. Even the first of Christopher Nolan's trilogy had a moment where Alfred told him he had to keep up appearances, if he intended on living a double life. This Bruce hasn't learned that lesson. It appears in the end, that maybe he does, but that remains to be seen. That is the performance we get. A Bruce that doesn't go out a lot. A Bruce that doesn't try to hide his voice or alter it just yet. A Bruce that would rather be The Bat more. That is the place we are at. He's young! With that youth comes so much inexperience. Yes, he is allowed to be inexperienced. He falls. He gets hit. He falls down. He's scruffy. That is where he would be in Year 2. So for the complaints of his inexperience, where would you be? Would you be perfect? Would you have it all figured out?
Now let's move to Catwoman. Zoe Kravitz gives us a beautiful, haunting, sad, and hurt performance in the role of Selina. She has moved her way to my favorite Catwoman. Her performance comes from a place of pain and sadness. The secrets she carries can be seen as a weight or chip on her shoulder. It's like watching someone fight back tears. It's a better moment than seeing someone cry fully. Its powerful. Her Catwoman is amazing. The connection she has with Falcone is one we don't see often. Her suit isn't up to date. It's make shift and in the early stages. She too isn't purrrrfect at everything. She isn't sexualized as much as previous Selina's and that is ok with me. You may feel different and that is also ok. That is what is beautiful about this country, and our Nerd Culture. We can both be right to many degrees, but say different things. Bravo to her Catwoman.
Now for somewhat of the more polarizing performance and character. The Riddler. This was one I was most interested in seeing. This Riddler is like Jigsaw meets Zodiac with a hint of The Unabomber. I liked it. It was something we haven't been given before. Now, before you say, "Different isn't always best;" I agree with that. Look at Rogue in X-Men live action franchise. Different....and bad. This performance however, was a dark and scary different. I am always in for something out of the box and this performance wasn't even near the box. This performance destroyed and burned the box to ash. It worked very well for the world that is being built for this Gotham. Plus, how do we know that he won't evolve with time. We could easily get a different version of him in the next one or a third one. That's where I am with most of these characters and the story. This is Year 2 for Batman. So it is pretty much Year 2 for a Batman in Gotham. Things will evolve over time. Things will change over time. Be patient.
Now, let's talk about someone who stole the movie...The Penguin. Colin Farrell, in his few moments given, stole this movie out from everyone. This is unlike any Penguin we have ever gotten as well. He looks, as if he was loosely based on the Arkham Games, but he isn't. He is a total new rendition and I am here for it. See, my favorite Penguin is from The Arkham Games with the 90's Animated Series a close follow up. However, this version has cracked its way into my top 3; possibly the top 2. I also enjoyed Jon Tuturro as Carmine Falcone. He brought and oddness and even a creepiness to the role we haven't seen. It added a level to the movie that we haven't seen either. We also can't forget or fail to mention the amazing performance of Jeffery Wright as Jim Gordon. It was so personal. His Gordon is tight and to the vest. He rarely is seen as erratic or over the top. This one is so smooth and so concentrated.His performance is like the unyielding object in the height of a storm; nothing moves or falters him.
The story is pretty solid in this Batman. I liked the somewhat win / lose ending. Even thought The Riddler was caught, he still won. His plan came to fruition and Gotham lost a lot. Lives were lost, the city was changed, and left needing a lot of fixing. It draws from No Man's Land a lot. I loved that. I love when there isn't always a big happy bow tied on. That is life. Not everything is a big happy ending. Batman succeeded and failed at the same time. We rarely see this. We saw it in Dark Knight and that was another time I felt it was the most real to me. It's not a happy ending. It's more like a leaning curve. I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect.
Well Nerds and Nerdettes, that's it. My thoughts on The Batman. I know some of you reading will agree. Some of you will not. That's fine. I want to hear your thoughts. You can't do that by emailing us at 30andnerdypod@gmail.com or leaving a voice mail at speakpipe.com/30andnerdypod cause we want to hear from you! What did you think of The Batman? What do you expect to see in the future of this version of The Batman?