THE BATMAN
After a quiet few months at the box office, THE BATMAN (trailer here) is finally here to shake things up with a thunderous $100M+ domestic opening on the horizon this weekend. I’m pleased to report that I had a great time with this latest iteration of Gotham’s caped crusader, which feels less like the lazy product of a gargantuan corporate machine and more like its own contained noir-ish detective drama. While it draws heavy influence from CHINATOWN and SE7EN, it still stands on its own two legs with its compelling, bleak, singular vision. Taking place in a dreary Gotham—where it is perpetually raining and no one cares to turn on a lamp (~vibes~), Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN follows a brooding Bruce Wayne (played hauntingly by Robert Pattinson…I’m still giddy about his performance) in his second year working as a vigilante. A serial killer (Paul Dano’s The Riddler) is targeting some of Gotham’s highest ranking officials to expose the city’s deep-seated history of corruption and abuse, leaving cryptic clues at his crime scenes addressed to The Batman. As Batman and Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) work against the clock to piece together the bigger mystery, an exciting array of supporting characters come into the mix, complicating the story with twists and turns aplenty. But the true standout among them is Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle (Catwoman!), who teams up with Bruce Wayne to save the day. While a number of actresses have taken a swing at the iconic character over the years, Kravitz imbues Selina Kyle with a blistering sense of humanity that earns the film a ton of emotional mileage, especially when its three-hour runtime might begin to test you (seriously, use the bathroom beforehand). Her relationship with Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is achingly romantic, and Selina Kyle finally feels more like a fully-realized character than a perfunctory fantasy. In addition to Kravitz’s wonderful performance, I’d be remiss not to mention Greig Fraser’s painterly cinematography and Michael Giacchino’s unbelievable score, which has instantly become my new default “deep focus and work" playlist. If you’re looking for a grand, epic film to completely sweep you away this weekend, go see THE BATMAN on the biggest screen possible.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
