THE BATMAN starring Robert Pattinson (2022) 13 13

[Straw-Man]

On 3/3/2022 at 7:00 PM, D84 said:

I know I'm gonna get shredded for this, but I thought it was pretentious and boring.

It could EASILY be cut into a two hour movie.

honest impression:  you "dislike endgame;"  i'd be more concerned about how i might feel about the batman if you had said you liked it.  g.a.tor may think wuerffel is a better qb than elway--he's entitled to that opinion, but i'd likewise be entitled to be dismissive of his opinions about qb's.
 

[Bosco685]

 

 

[William-James88]

I'd like to talk about the costume and physicality of Batman, something that I was not won over from the trailers or shots or anything until I saw the film.

I did not like how "bulby" the head was, nor how thin the ears were, but I now see how it all fits because there is that very "batman" pose that artists do where his head is tilted to the side and you aren't seeing him dead on (examples below). And at that angle, everything works. You get that perfect composition with the ears where, it's always at a variation of what you see below but brought to life on the big screen. They nailed the angle of the nose and the brow and how it's part of the texture of the cowl with the folds. They also ace something even modern artists mess up with their takes on the cowl, that angle at the side where the cowl is cut to expose the lower half of the face. These are small details to some, but to me they are huge and make a world of difference. I did not like the seams on his nose, but there are some great shots where you see his face through some obscured glass and it goes away, giving you just that Batman look from the comics. I really like And I found him very imposing. That chest armour is very "arkham games"-y and looks great, the armour around the torso area and the way the cape wraps around the shoulders makes him look very broad. It was just all around a very good take on the bat suit at least for an early era Batman. I much preferred this suit and cowl to the Ben Affleck version which I feel didn't make him imposing (but I never liked shorter ears on the cowl).

 

Anyways, this is the angle I was referring to (all from my personal collection):

 

[paperheart]

Since debuting with previews on Tuesday night, the Matt Reeves directed movie has racked up $21.6M. Between special one showtime only previews, largely Imax, on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, The Batman rang up $4M, which means Thursday shows after 3pm did $17.6M. Batman was booked in about 3,300 theaters for previews, and its theater count rises to 4,217 today.

-could pass entire US run of Eternals this weekend #diversity

[William-James88]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:17 AM, paperheart said:

-could pass entire US run of Eternals this weekend #diversity

I don't get the need for that last jab, especially when this film has elements of diversity as well with two prominent characters being black instead of white.

[William-James88]

The score is being praised by some but I just felt it sounded like half the notes from the main part of the Imperial march on piano being repeated over and over. Did anyone else hear is that way?

[Bosco685]

[eastriver400]

Rewatched TDK last night in anticipation of seeing the Batman tomorrow.  TDK is still the Gold Standard for me and I’ll be happy if the Batman could fill 80% of those shoes. 

[Jesse-Lee]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:27 AM, William-James88 said:

I don't get the need for that last jab, especially when this film has elements of diversity as well with two prominent characters being black instead of white.

I don't want to go down a precarious road here, but I thought the handling of Gordon and Catwoman being Black was done deftly and seamlessly. I'll be 100% honest - I don't usually love the changing of characters from the overall established canon; I, like many fans, grew up with certain characters and have an ideal in my head of who they are, how they look and act, etc. But I feel like it can be done in a way that makes sense in the overall mythos. Here's what I mean by that - I always thought that one of the strengths of the Marvel movies was that they make the characters jump off the page. Downy Jr. just is Iron Man, from the look to the swagger and more. Cumberbatch is Dr. Strange; Hemsworth is Thor, etc. They look like they were pulled straight from the pages of the comics. But on the same hand, Jackson is Nick Fury. He looks nothing like the original Fury obviously, but he played the role so well that he became what we think of when we think of Nick Fury.

I feel like Jeffrey Wright is Gordon; I have an ideal version of Gordon in my head, and really, I think Gary Oldman probably fit that best for me on the screen. But seeing this movie, and seeing Wright (with my criticisms aside that I shared in the spoiler thread), I was like, oh yeah, that's James Gordon to a tee. And Catwoman - if you read Year One, I thought Catwoman was Black anyway. But Zoe Kravitz embodies Catwoman. She's strong, smart, sexy, and she holds her own like you'd expect Catwoman to do, with Batman and other characters in the movie.

For both of them, it wasn't about the race of the characters, it was about how they fit within the story and the world-building taking place. Sure, there's one line that a lot of people will probably glom on to as some form of virtue signaling (I won't call it out here), but even that line seemed to fit the character perfectly and didn't seem out of character to me at all.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 3/4/2022 at 11:34 AM, William-James88 said:

The score is being praised by some but I just felt it sounded like half the notes from the main part of the Imperial march on piano being repeated over and over. Did anyone else hear is that way?

I feel like you and I should have just gone to see it together at this point... I 100% was sitting there, thinking, did they just steal the Imperial March? How did they get away with that?

[Bosco685]

 

[William-James88]

On 3/4/2022 at 6:26 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

I feel like you and I should have just gone to see it together at this point... I 100% was sitting there, thinking, did they just steal the Imperial March? How did they get away with that?

Oh man I would have loved to watch it with you but i got the second best thing: the chance to discuss it with you here

One positive thing about the score is that the key melody is incredibly basic on the piano (easier than the imperial march) so it's something even I can do.

[piper]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:34 AM, William-James88 said:

The score is being praised by some but I just felt it sounded like half the notes from the main part of the Imperial march on piano being repeated over and over. Did anyone else hear is that way?

Loved the soundtrack.

[piper]

I liked it a lot.  Favourite Batman film? Perhaps…. Need to see it again.

 

[▫️]

My wife and daughters are watching this tomorrow. Unfortunately I can’t and will have to wait for the digital release. I’m curious what their impressions will be. 

[Larryw7]

Deep, dark and great. Lots to digest, but this felt more like reading a Batman comic than any other iteration of the character.

[chrisco37]

On 3/5/2022 at 3:35 AM, Larryw7 said:

Deep, dark and great. Lots to digest, but this felt more like reading a Batman comic than any other iteration of the character.

Agree here.  It was a lot to digest. I don’t want to spoil anything in this thread, but I think it was the most “realistic” Batman movie to date.  This version was more “crime-fighting vigilante” than “super hero”.  Minimal use of the “bat gadgets”.
I liked the entire cast.  I thought they did an incredible job with Colin Ferrell’s make-up; couldn’t believe it was him.  Usually when they make someone up, you can still see a hint of the real person but not here.  
I liked Pattinson  in the role.  He did a fine job.  This was definitely a movie about “The Batman”, not Bruce Wayne.  BW might’ve had 10 minutes on screen. And I actually liked the take on Wayne; a brooding, tortured, tired figure.  Not the globe-trotting playboy.  I can see how some people might not like it but it worked for me.

The Riddler was a good villain although there were a few times where I thought it was overdone a bit.  He was scary for the most part, but also a little over-the-top.

   
I’m still up in the air about the suit.  For the most part it was good, but something was off for me if I have to not-pick.  Same with the soundtrack.  I thought the Nirvana song was out of place.  Again, not-picking here.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t say it was a little long.  They could’ve trimmed a little off the run time, but I never felt bored.  I was engaged the entire time.

I still think TDK is the better movie, but this was a very solid effort.  I really liked it.  

Edited March 5, 2022 by chrisco37

[Bosco685]

I guess the length of time was not such a dealkiller after all.

[bentbryan]

On 3/5/2022 at 9:15 AM, Bosco685 said:

I guess the length of time was not such a dealkiller after all.

I’m not a fan of going to the theater for 3 hour films but I have to say this kept me engaged and I didn’t feel like it dragged much.  My wife and her friend thought it was too long but what do they know? 

Edited March 5, 2022 by bentbryan

[KingOfRulers]

I saw The Batman last night.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I think it is worth seeing once. Not a multiple viewing experience for me though.

In general, I enjoyed Robert Pattinson as Batman, however there were some issues I had with the character. I think the depiction of Batman was pretty one-dimensional. The character really only showed intense emotion twice in the movie. Outside of that, he was emotionless throughout. I'm not sure if that's how he was directed to portray the character, or if that was his own decision. It was enjoyable, but I prefer Christian Bale's range of emotion more. Robert Pattinson's voice is spot on as the dark knight. I prefer his voice as Batman over Bale's voice, as it seems more natural (less forced). 

I thought the casting was good. Even with those criticisms, I liked Batman and the surrounding cast of characters. They were all good!

The movie harped on the same tone throughout. That's my biggest gripe. It was an extremely one note flick. Very little range of any of the characters. Every character was very serious all the time. There was no counter personality types to any of the characters. For example, in the Nolan trilogy, Alfred and Lucious Fox offered up steady bits of quippy humor to counter Batman/Bruce Wayne's usually serious demeanor. This movie has NONE of that. No satire or humor whatsoever. Nothing to break up the monotony. I think this point would've been less noticeable in a 1.5 hour movie. With the movie being 3 hours, it really made that lack of variety very apparent.

The movie was way too long. I don't mind a 3 hour movie if it takes 3 hours to properly tell the story. I kept waiting for this movie to end though. There were multiple points where it could've/should've ended. Even the villains' "diabolical" ace in the hole plan concerning the levies seemed to fall flat for me, and could've been cut.

Nirvana is my favorite band, but I thought Something in the Way was a very odd song selection. It didn't fit well, in my opinion.

Why is it always raining in Gotham? In almost every outdoor scene it was raining. And the couple of scenes where it wasn't raining, it was overcast and about to rain or had just stopped raining. I was hoping we'd get some humor, and we'd hear Bruce voice over all the types of rain they were having: "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain, and big ol' fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night." Is Gotham located in the south Pacific? 

These are just me voicing my criticisms though. All those criticisms being accounted for, I still enjoyed the movie and recommend seeing it.