This movie wants to be so much more than it ends up being. The tone and color palette are incredible for the majority of the movie until they inexplicably change to a pastel for the final sequence, which is jarring, underwhelming and feels like a sequence from Batman Forever being stuck into a Tim Burton Batman film.
Throughout the movie you feel like you really want to love it, you appreciate the quality of the production, and yet it feels soulless.
The movie is over-long with some sequences being held for so long that I'd occasionally nod off.
Batman is presented as a grounded emo-type loner who patrols the streets looking for signs of trouble, and his eventual reveal as Batman is quite basic. Yes, there is a scene in which he punches someone brutally, but the rest of the fight sequence is pedestrian.
Batman works a case in a noirish setting as a semi-detective who tends to just stand still, brood and gaze intently at things. And Inspector Gordon relies so much on him that one wonders whether the viewer is missing some prodigious detective skills of his.
The start of the investigation into a murder is drawn-out and, again, lacks any real punch.
The Riddler starts off as very mysterious and well-executed. The main issue is that he disappears for the majority of the movie only to leave clues for Batman to solve, à la the Zodiac killer, but no genuine riddles. Once he reappears at the end, he seems to lack motivation for his actions and fails to appear anything other than a deranged child. One can see they were going for a similar disturbed edginess to Heath Ledger's Joker but it doesn't deliver. And his final plot of flooding Gotham doesn't appear to be of super-villain proportions and I failed to see the genius behind that plan. Like... why?
Colin Farrell as Penguin and John Turturo as Falcons are brilliant. Bruce Wayne is too emo to appear as though he has any functioning life outside his mission as either a stalker or as Batman. Alfred is underused and his relationship with Bruce seems aloof. There is one scene at the hospital where the emotion finally sets in and it pulls at your heartstrings.
I loved the backstory of Bruce's father. It was a great addition.
Selina Kyle is excellent.
As mentioned at the start, the finale is a real letdown and underwhelming. It feels like they wanted to do something big for the finale but it just feels tropey. It doesn't feel like a natural place the story would lead to. Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton were great with the final payoffs. This movie doesn't deliver that. It's a mind-bogglingly silly "master plan" by the Riddler. And the Riddler loses all his initial mystique in the third act of the film when he finally reappears.
And don't get me started about the silly Joker tacked on at the end. You know the director is aiming for something nightmarishly disturbed and maniacal but it doesn't work. The Joker sounds like Jim Carrey and it's silly that it's him who says "riddle me this" instead of the Riddler. And their scene ends with childish maniacal laughter.
Paterson plays Batman well. His voice is excellent and his voiceovers at the start are brilliant. It's just too bad they didn't use more of his narration throughout the movie; it would've worked a treat.
The score is excellent although tends to primarily use the one theme with slight variations.
Is the movie good? Your brain tells you that you are meant to say "yes" because there is a lot of quality in the film itself, but the sum of the parts is where it doesn't live up to its potential. It's over-long, poorly paced, with underdeveloped characters and a main villain who shows great promise at the start but ultimately underwhelms and the finale is jarring for all the wrong reasons. It isn't epic in any manner whatsoever although you know that's what they are trying for: but all they deliver is something tonally very different from the rest of the film, and the villainous plan is a head-scratcher due to its mediocrity.
You will watch it once at the theatre and you will tell yourself "I think it's good but I don't know why. Maybe I should watch it at home when it's released on home video so I can give it another go." How many times will you watch it? Depends on your taste. Given how slow and long it is, my guess is that I'll only watch it one more time when it's released at home... but even then I'm unsure and not excited by that prospect.
Did they make a mistake by making this movie? Not at all. I'm interested in such a different take and I'm happy it exists and that I got to watch it. It has some incredible moments. But that's it.
Current number of views: 1 time at theatre (advanced screening).
Throughout the movie you feel like you really want to love it, you appreciate the quality of the production, and yet it feels soulless.
The movie is over-long with some sequences being held for so long that I'd occasionally nod off.
Batman is presented as a grounded emo-type loner who patrols the streets looking for signs of trouble, and his eventual reveal as Batman is quite basic. Yes, there is a scene in which he punches someone brutally, but the rest of the fight sequence is pedestrian.
Batman works a case in a noirish setting as a semi-detective who tends to just stand still, brood and gaze intently at things. And Inspector Gordon relies so much on him that one wonders whether the viewer is missing some prodigious detective skills of his.
The start of the investigation into a murder is drawn-out and, again, lacks any real punch.
The Riddler starts off as very mysterious and well-executed. The main issue is that he disappears for the majority of the movie only to leave clues for Batman to solve, à la the Zodiac killer, but no genuine riddles. Once he reappears at the end, he seems to lack motivation for his actions and fails to appear anything other than a deranged child. One can see they were going for a similar disturbed edginess to Heath Ledger's Joker but it doesn't deliver. And his final plot of flooding Gotham doesn't appear to be of super-villain proportions and I failed to see the genius behind that plan. Like... why?
Colin Farrell as Penguin and John Turturo as Falcons are brilliant. Bruce Wayne is too emo to appear as though he has any functioning life outside his mission as either a stalker or as Batman. Alfred is underused and his relationship with Bruce seems aloof. There is one scene at the hospital where the emotion finally sets in and it pulls at your heartstrings.
I loved the backstory of Bruce's father. It was a great addition.
Selina Kyle is excellent.
As mentioned at the start, the finale is a real letdown and underwhelming. It feels like they wanted to do something big for the finale but it just feels tropey. It doesn't feel like a natural place the story would lead to. Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan and Tim Burton were great with the final payoffs. This movie doesn't deliver that. It's a mind-bogglingly silly "master plan" by the Riddler. And the Riddler loses all his initial mystique in the third act of the film when he finally reappears.
And don't get me started about the silly Joker tacked on at the end. You know the director is aiming for something nightmarishly disturbed and maniacal but it doesn't work. The Joker sounds like Jim Carrey and it's silly that it's him who says "riddle me this" instead of the Riddler. And their scene ends with childish maniacal laughter.
Paterson plays Batman well. His voice is excellent and his voiceovers at the start are brilliant. It's just too bad they didn't use more of his narration throughout the movie; it would've worked a treat.
The score is excellent although tends to primarily use the one theme with slight variations.
Is the movie good? Your brain tells you that you are meant to say "yes" because there is a lot of quality in the film itself, but the sum of the parts is where it doesn't live up to its potential. It's over-long, poorly paced, with underdeveloped characters and a main villain who shows great promise at the start but ultimately underwhelms and the finale is jarring for all the wrong reasons. It isn't epic in any manner whatsoever although you know that's what they are trying for: but all they deliver is something tonally very different from the rest of the film, and the villainous plan is a head-scratcher due to its mediocrity.
You will watch it once at the theatre and you will tell yourself "I think it's good but I don't know why. Maybe I should watch it at home when it's released on home video so I can give it another go." How many times will you watch it? Depends on your taste. Given how slow and long it is, my guess is that I'll only watch it one more time when it's released at home... but even then I'm unsure and not excited by that prospect.
Did they make a mistake by making this movie? Not at all. I'm interested in such a different take and I'm happy it exists and that I got to watch it. It has some incredible moments. But that's it.
Current number of views: 1 time at theatre (advanced screening).