After 26 Batman movies, six different actors, and 10 voice actors, a new Batman was finally announced. On May 31, 2019, Robert Pattinson was officially announced as the Batman. Shortly after in 2020, a teaser trailer was uploaded showing off Pattinson’s news which was generally well received. 

The original concept for “The Batman” was supposed to star Ben Affleck, one of the many Batman actors, who was set to direct the movie as well as play Batman/ Bruce Wayne. It was also set to have a different antagonist. Affleck eventually stepped down and Matt Reeves was given the project. 

With very mixed reception of the casting no one was sure how the movie was going to be presented. During the very early stages of the film Pattinson was getting a lot of hate, mostly because of his appearances in movies such as “Twilight.” Some people went as far as making petitions to recast the actor which clearly had no effect due to Matt Reeves writing the character with Pattinson in mind.  

Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne was much darker and grittier than past versions, he really managed to show how everything in Bruce’s life has affected him, such as his parents death and the previous year of fighting as Batman, as this movie shows Batman in his second year of fighting in Gotham. 

Past portrayals of Bruce Wayne showed his playboy lifestyle which is pretty much shown in every other Batman movie. Pattinson’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne was well-received although people online have voiced how they are hoping in the upcoming movies he starts to lean into that playboy persona. 

The director decided to lean far into Batman’s detective side which is much different from past Batman movies. Movies such as the Dark Knight trilogy, focused more on the action side of Batman and not his detective side which people had no problem with the Dark Knight being widely accepted as the best Batman movie.

During the beginning of the movie, we find out that Bruce has been fighting crime as Batman for two years, as we see him pull out a notebook labeled “Gotham Project Year 2, October” and during the movie you actually notice that he isn’t completely a pro at this. During fights, he’ll stumble or mess up and during a gliding scene, you see the fear he has as he’s about to jump from the top of the building and even during the glide he crashes really badly showing that there’s still stuff he needs to perfect.

Matt Reeves did a great job at directing Paul Dano as the Riddler, who is mostly known for looking goofy in his bright green suits and turning him into a horrifying killer while still keeping the riddle aspect. This Riddler still has his all green attire, but this time, it’s a much darker green with a worn look and his version of the question mark logo. The Riddler’s motivation is to expose the corrupt officials of Gotham and during that time, Bruce finds out the truth about his parents and it brings a whole new aspect to Bruce’s backstory. 

With the realism this movie brought, it gave it a lot of good opportunities for filming. With Bruce building all of his gadgets and the Batmobile, it gave the movie a chance to use practical effects, which was a huge strong point for this movie. So many scenes like the car chase and grappling through the Gotham City Police Department turned out to be practical effects, which normally you would expect to be CGI. The film also used a newer kind of filming, “Stagecraft,” which used huge LED screens instead of having to CGI all the backgrounds which made the movie look so much better and visually appealing.

“I liked that ‘The Batman’ had practical effects and had very visually appealing cinematography. I also liked how Batman had more realistic gear and how the Batmobile actually looked like he built it,” David Diaz ’24 said. 

Pattinson garnered a lot of new fans with his amazing portrayal as Batman, making this movie easily one of the best this year with high ratings. 

“I thought it was a good movie. It delivered what I had expected and has been my favorite movie this year so far,” Santiago Guzman ’24 said. 

Reeves and Pattinson did an amazing job together and made an amazing movie, and I’m very excited to see what they’ll bring in the future with the sequel being announced as well as multiple TV shows to continue the story.