• It is very good.
• It builds for something which has a lot of sequel/spinoff potential.
• It is also has the best portrayals of some iconic characters ever.

But it has some problems.

First up, lets talk about what’s good and of course, no spoilers.

The acting from Colin Farrell & Zoe Kravitz playing Penguin and the Catwoman.

Colin Farrell is bar none the best actor to ever play the Penguin. The previous actors all went a very campy approach, but this was the gangster. They also gave him just enough weird personal traits to detach him from being a typical mob gangster.

Next up, Zoe Kravitz is easily the best Catwoman. Didn’t rearly care for the Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman as being too silly. Anne Hathaway also I felt played the role way too safe and didn’t get enough in her script.

Zoe Kravitz is key to the story, has some clear conflict and is the portrayal everyone wanted for years. Also, best part is it didn’t reference her as Catwoman yet or really fully develop the character, so if there was a spinoff movie just with her, that’d work.

After that, the tone, action scenes, story and everything else really work.

In the first 10 seconds, anyone watching this will know it’s going to be a very different Batman movie over what has been done before and does play well into the detective angle.

The movie also has a very concentrated story, where it despite being very long moves along quickly and nothing gets forgotten.

But problems exist and it feels bad almost calling them problems, but more of mixed directions.

For the movies core problem, there’s very little breathing room and ambience built. It also feels like there’s something bigger being kept, but turns out to be a little more obvious and after that becomes something bigger that might be avoided.

Another issue I’d say is how they wrote Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon.

Wright is an extremely good actor and did the job of Gordon well, but he was sort of just a hand holder to Batman. His character doesn’t add much to solving the riddles and doesn’t contribute in any emotional way.

I think most are going to walk out saying it was forgettable on his end.

Those are the only issues, after that, there’s the things which are mixed.

First thing, Batman himself with Robert Pattinson.

Is Robert Pattinson a very good actor doing this role?

Yes

Is he as good in the part as Christian Bale?

No, not even close.

Pattinson in the beginning calls himself a nocturnal animal and that’s what his character is. He really only has one personality to him and that’s being Batman. No other focus in his life or other desire shown, besides being Batman.

Part of the problem I believe is they avoided doing an origin story and while I get the reason, it doesn’t fill people in enough on what’s this guys story. He very clearly has a different background over previous Batman’s, but it’s mainly ignored.

Christian Bale as Batman played several characters. The billionaire playboy, the actual Bruce Wayne and Batman. The biggest thing though was his character was a knight. He’s the guardian and protector, where it’s really tough to envision him ever having issues.

Pattinson gets shot a lot and him just basically having this magic suit that makes him immune to bullets coming from AK’s felt a little silly.

I could get why some people may like Pattinson more, but most will prefer Bale.

After that, the main villain the Riddler.

Really hard call on this.

The build up is great and gives Batman a detective element the other movies never really did.

The issue though is his story, where I initially thought it’d be a more grounded plot of a serial killer. That sort of happened and didn’t happen. The Riddler’s story wasn’t what I think anyone will expect and I guess that’s a good thing.

When the reveal happens and the audience learns more on the character, it gets a little weirder. The riddler in the comics is known for being annoying and this 100% holds to that. A very different and darker way over other versions, but even though his screen presence isn’t that long, I just wanted to punch him.

For Paul Dano, I don’t really think his acting was what was important, but the buildup which they did perfectly. There seems to be some plan for where that character can go, but I think the acting shown will fit it well.

Which that’s the final thing. There is a big cliffhanger here.

Won’t even dare hint at the spoiler, but will say the scene it happens in isn’t very good. It felt a little like “Oh hey, that’s where they are going” and I’d not be shocked if people call it the worst part of the movie.

That being said, it’s a 45 second scene and could lead to some cool stuff.

Final thoughts

The way this movie was done, I almost think it would have been better if Bruce Wayne was never shown and it’s 100% Batman.

Batman takes up about 80-90% of the screen time already and the Bruce Wayne scenes weren’t that impressive or adding much.

It may have been a bigger dice roll, but probably mugh more rewarding to not tie this with Bruce Wayne as a character, only show Batman without his mask on once or twice and put this more from the perspective of characters like Catwoman or Gordon.

All said and done though, this was still absolutely amazing to watch and a movie I really hope a sequel and spinoffs come from.