The Batman

Robert Pattinson is The Batman

Despite its largely positive critical and commercial reception, I found Matt Reeves' The Batman to be a lugubrious bore. The narrative of the film is so freighted with socially significant signifiers ( class resentment, Occupy Wall Street, homelessness, vigilantism, 1/6/2021, internet paranoia, and, stretching back a bit, Hurricane Katrina) that it smothers any possibility of nuance or subtext. The pacing is extremely slow, a good fit for an opera or memorial service, but fatal to this slice of violent pulp.

The Batman has an outstanding cast, for the most part well chosen for their roles (though Andy Serkis seems too sinister to be an effective Alfred) , but they labor in vain. The film is a dark, elephantine genre piece devoid of subtlety, passion, and humanity.