Jack Wolfsohn | News Editor
March 11, 2o22
The highly anticipated The Batman starring Robert Pattinson premiered on March 4, 2022, and it did not disappoint. Oftentimes, superhero movies receive lower ratings from critics but good audience ratings, as movie critics might not have the same knowledge of a character that devoted fans have, so they view them through a limited lens. The Batman is no exception to the wildly diverse ratings from various notable movie critics.
For anyone who hasn’t yet seen The Batman, the plot is expectedly about Batman fighting crime, more specifically portraying the history of the second year that Bruce Wayne has taken on the character. The Batman is not like the previous movies where he has high-level weapons and vehicles at his disposal. This lack of technology forces an important plot feature that other Batman movies didn’t quite achieve: an emphasize on detective work. The Batman is an investigation of murders, not an origin story or crime thriller. We’ve seen too much of Batman attempting to clean up the streets of Gotham and fighting villains along the way, but this was almost entirely centered around the careful steps involved in catching a serial killer and less on the importance of combat.
Batman is played by Robert Pattinson, his love interest Selina Kyle is played by Zoë Kravitz, and his detective partner Jim Gordon is played by Jeffrey Wright. All three actors received some backlash from fans, but for different reasons. Pattinson is a well-rounded actor who has been in many different movies, but many viewed him as being too popular with teenagers as he starred in the Twilight series. They believe he was casted based on his usefulness in marketing to a broader audience and not necessarily on his ability to play Batman. (Tramadol) However, Pattinson’s performance was outstanding—definitely on par with Christian Bale’s Batman, if not better. Kravitz and Wright faced criticism on the basis of skin color. Selina Kyle was originally a white woman, and Jim Gordon was originally a white man.
“I don’t think it really matters what the race of the character is,” San Clemente High School junior Trever Novak said. “Marvel went through some very similar things after they cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, which was different from the comics.”
“I feel the backlash is undeserved because the actors did a great job and their race did nothing to change the characters in a negative way,” junior Chase Greinke added.
What should be obvious is that the cast was chosen because they were the best suited for their roles, regardless of race. It’s more important to portray the accurate personality of a character than an accurate image.
In my opinion, The Batman was an almost perfect movie: a 9/10. What keeps it from perfection is essentially just the lack of screen time that Bruce Wayne received. Bruce Wayne is an important part of Batman, but he’s barely shown, and when he is, it’s usually just Bruce in the Batcave. The movie is almost entirely Batman, which leaves much to be desired with Bruce Wayne’s character and its development. Every other aspect of the movie was perfect. From a purely cinematic standpoint, it’s a 10/10, and from a comic book integrity standpoint, it’s also a 10/10. The best newly introduced concept is the lack of lighting. For a villain or criminal, fighting Batman is one of the scariest possible events, like a horror movie in real life. No other Batman movie has tried to capture that idea, but The Batman accomplishes it effortlessly.
#twilightwasbetter