The Batman
Directed by Matt ReevesWhen a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, the Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.
The Batman Ratings & Reviews
- MikeOctober 11, 2024The Batman is a dark and gritty detective Noire, with very strong characters and a captivating story "They think I'm hiding in the shadows... but I am the shadows." After releasing multiple Batman films throughout the years, Matt Reeves brings us a very dark and gritty version of Batman that is heavily inspired by the comics and Arkham games. This Batman film is not an action packed film like we are used to, but it is a detective Noire film. The focus is on the riddles Batman has to solve with his detective skills, unfortunately these riddles can sometimes be a bit predictable. The cinematography by Greig Fraser is just beautiful. He found a great way to depict Gotham as a dark character. He does this by focussing on strong lighting contrasts and the absence of color. He uses the shadows to create fear and mystery, adding horror elements to the film. He emphasizes the strong emotions of the characters with close-ups. He also frames them like comicbook characters, which shows the beautiful costume design. The longer shots, blocking characters so they all focus on the speaking character and the staging that simultaneously focuses on speaking characters and surroundings, all place the focus on the dialogue, which makes it even more interesting to listen to them. It also visualizes the dark and characteristic set design very well and transports the viewer right there with the characters. The versatile score by Michael Giacchino was amazing. Every single scene had a very distinctive score that heavily contributed to the creation of a specific and strong mood throughout the film. I loved how Franz Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ is the Riddler’s favorite song and that his theme score is a slower, darker and horified version of that. The overall score didn’t only sound amazing, but the timing with the visuals was also very well done. The timing between the visuals and sound design was very well done too, to the part where the visuals and sound design trick the viewer and is strongly involved with the storytelling. I’m referring to the scene with Alfred and the phone that rings. The staging is also wonderfully done. It makes Gotham come to life. I would say the overall aesthetics are somewhere between Tim Burton’s Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Batman. The overall slow pacing of the film, combined with the focus on the dialogue, strong characters and dark Noire aesthetics, are very immersive and complement the interesting Batman story. This slow pacing creates a strong contrast with the action sequences, which makes them stand out. Especially since these action sequences do not hold back. Not only do these action sequences have great fighting choreography, but they also focus on character emotions. Read full review at Letterboxd: Mike_v_E
- Steven Anderson3d agoI will admit there are some real corny moments I did not like, but maybe seeing Batman a little vulnerable brings out his human side more. Either way this movie is awesome. More so because vengeance is what the real world needs a lot moe of these days.
- AngusMcNutzFebruary 21, 2025Without letting the Batman-obsessed nerd in me spiral here, I adore everything about this movie. Exactly the tone, aesthetic and grit that I would want and that, I hope, continues into the sequel. Felt like a genuine attempt to capture the gloom and starkness of the original animated series while maintaining an insane level of brutality that isn’t too far and fits where it needs to. Pleasantly surprised with how well the entire cast sort of falls into their respective characters while keeping things fresh. Can’t wait for more.
- frederi110March 11, 2026Way better after a 2nd viewing 2 years later.
- jkljlk1197March 5, 2026"All everyone wants to do is unmask you but they're missing the point. You and I both know I'm looking at the real you right now."
- tellumFebruary 28, 2026For me this was like 2 different movies stitched together. First half is excellent as a noir detective story. Second half becomes family melodrama and drags badly. Paul Dano is very good, but the last hour is a chore.
- DEXAPLEXNovember 10, 2025This is truly is the perfect and definitive Batman movie. More-so than any Batman movie before it.
- Kevin WardJuly 14, 2025Matt Reeves has delivered what feels like a quintessential Batman film. The noir detective story feels extremely reminiscent of David Fincher’s Se7en. Zoë Kravitz kills as Selina Kyle, possibly my favorite performance in the film. The baddies, were fantastic. John Tuturro, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell all seemed pitch perfect. Paul Dano even gets a song credit for his vocal performance of Ave María. Andy Serkis and Jeffrey Wright also seemed absolutely perfect for their roles. While I thought Pattinson made for a great Batman, there didn’t seem much difference between his Bruce Wayne. To be fair, there is very little Bruce Wayne in this film, so I’m probably just nitpicking. The car chase is one of the best I’ve seen and the fight scenes are punishing. On the flip side, this film is too long. It never really drags, it just doesn’t feel like it truly earned the long runtime. There are a few minor missteps as well. Without getting too specific, there’s a moment where Batman is told something by someone who should be untrustworthy, and he appears to take that persons word at face value. The very next scene he finds out that it was indeed false. Felt like a needless detour that diminished Batman’s acuity and unnecessarily padded the runtime. Last nitpick is that there’s some people that get involved in the final skirmish, that I just didn’t really buy their motivations, or at least it didn’t feel fleshed out very well. Essentially, they were there solely to be fodder for the action set piece. Please consider these critiques to be only very minor nitpicks. Honestly, this film delivered very nearly exactly what I wanted out of a Batman film. I am so down for the inevitable sequels that Matt Reeves has in store and they can’t come fast enough. Edit: I somehow failed to mention that the cinematography and score are superb as well. Bonus points for featuring a Nirvana song actually performed by Nirvana and not a down tempo cover with pop vocals.
- ርልዪረFebruary 12, 2025They tried, but the execution led to a repetitive story line that bored me. The entire movies was 1. Riddle me this 2. Tries to figure it out 3. Rinse and Repeat. A 3 hour movie of batman constantly doing the exact same thing over and over again. the only thing interesting about this film was the side story with penguin in the club. The main story completely bored me and not even half way in the movie you can tell that this is the approach they took making this movie and it absolutely bored me since i could expect everything that was happening. Here is what another reviewer by the name of Matt Yancey said that I completely agree with "This man is struck with thousands of bullets, and shows no signs of pain or wavering until the plot calls for it in the climax. This miracle armor is never explained. Also, instead of the character’s usual tendency to investigate a crime scene solo, Robert ‘Bat’tinson insists on awkwardly shuffling around the room with every other cop, like he’s just some cosplayer Gordon brought in for a ride along. And he is the least intimidating Batman to date, and yes, that’s including TV’s Adam West. In the Dark Knight, we got the interrogation scene where Bale beat Joker to within an inch of his life. Chills. But in this movie? Batman talks to Riddler through a phone…behind glass…and he throws a tantrum asking “What have you doooone?!” over…and over…and over. Lame. Well, at least Bruce Wayne is portrayed well in this mov-haha! No. Bruce is a moody brat and a recluse that looks like he’d be more at home at a beach bonfire party with a guitar, singing about his ‘deep emotional soul pain!’ Riddler was an embarrassment. He looked like an annoying dweeb. His costume was a gimp suit. I actually forgot about him halfway through the movie because he wasn’t adding anything to the plot. He did get one thing right though: Batman is dumber than he thought. Seriously, why would he think the “rat with wings” would be Penguin? They don’t have wings, so much as they have flippers. Catwoman was unnecessary. Her outfit was uninspired, and her motivations were confusing, which brings me to: Annika was…well, actually I have no idea who she was. In the car, Selina calls her “babe”, so my first thought was ‘lover’? But then maybe just a roommate too, I dunno. But Annika is kidnapped by Falcone for…reasons. And her strangled scream is sent as a voicemail to Selina, who in turn goes after Falcone, her (plot twist) father, and tries to shoot him, claiming, “This is for my Mother!” Wait so, is Annika her roommate, friend, lover, sister, mother, or whatever?! I don’t even care, their relation is never clearly established. And some other irks here and there. I don’t think we even got a clear shot of the batmobile. It was too dark, but it looked uninspired, like something you’d see at a rally track. Batman assaults Gordon and escapes the entire GCPD in a gunfight, then a few scenes later turns in Falcone to the police in person, as if he’s a duly deputized citizen of the law. What the actual hell. Batman only caught Riddler because he let himself be caught. HOW did the mayor not only survive a sniper shot, but appear in enough health to give a ‘hope speech’ in what would appear to be 1 or 2 in-world hours later?! HOW!?! This movie is a disappointing flop. There are thousands of better things to watch."
- TanalienNovember 2, 2024The Batman makes you feel the justified anger shared my many in Gotham City and makes it easy to sympathize with their instinct to burn everything down. As we understand the severity of moral decay, you may want to join them.
- KratouilleDecember 25, 2025A tad long, otherwise great movie !
- Neon GhloesFebruary 8, 2026We had 3 in a row of Batman with nubbins, and now we're back to batforks again! Woof! Nubs 'ur nuthin! C'mon Bobby. Be a real Ben here, and nubber up!
- dddwwwhhhJanuary 25, 2026meh. visyslly beautiful. not a thing about the plot stands out. mistly was falling asleep
- Jay Marie BaileyJanuary 21, 2026Hard work watching this, had to make many adjustments on home theatre system in order to be able to understand the vocals otherwise it would of been unwatchable. Have read many reviews stating how dark the video footage is, which is correct but for me this is done to add atmosphere. Batmans have tradionally been night movies as bats are by nature nocturnal. It is no Dark Knight thats for sure. Only reason I persisted in watching it was because I wanted to understand the starting point for The Penguin series.
- YabberNovember 2, 2025Diddle me this Batman. Why do they commit 50% of the crime while only being 15% of the population?
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The Batman Trivia
The Batman was released on March 1, 2022.
The Batman was directed by Matt Reeves.
The Batman has a runtime of 2h 56m.
The Batman was produced by Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves.
When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, the Batman is forced to investigate the city's hidden corruption and question his family's involvement.
The key characters in The Batman are Bruce Wayne / The Batman (Robert Pattinson), Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright).
The Batman is rated PG-13.
The Batman is an Action, Drama, Crime film.
The Batman has an audience rating of 8.7 out of 10.
The Batman had a budget of $185M.
The Batman has made $772.8M at the box office.