TheI am THE Batman (September 27, 2025)

First, I want to say that this is MY OWN OPINION. Not everything needs to be your way or the highway. We can all enjoy the things you don’t and not enjoy the things you love. This is not a reflection on you. With that said, I will be talking about the latest Batman, Pattinson (or Battinson), known as The Batman.

I am new to comic books thus I do not have the history or understanding of the source material. That being said, most of what I have issues with has nothing to do with comic books, stories, or even this version of Batman (well, mostly). If you knew nothing about movies, this would be a great movie. There were villains, anti-heroes, romance, action, darkness, and drugs, but I do know something about movies, and that’s where I had the biggest problem.

I didn’t see this as a Batman movie, comic book movie, action movies, or even a film noir. I only could see the all too many references to other, more celebrated movies. This movie was acting like it was a compilation of famous detective movies, and if you didn’t get the references, then it was just a dark Batman movie. I saw allusions from Seven, Zodiac, China Town, and classic noirs like Maltese Falcon or The Third Man. I want to make this clear, I didn’t hate the movie, I was too distracted by the homages to better movies, which made it hard to love the actual story,

When it came to the actual Batman feeling, I could have used a more complex relationship with Selina Kyle. Even if there wasn’t a romance, Catwoman needs to have a more will they/won’t they feel to the two characters. Zoe Kravitz does a wonderful job, and I hope she comes back for the sequel.

Enough about the negative, and more about what I did like. The young and imperfect Batman was a nice change from the established and classic Caped Crusader of the shows or early movies. I could see myself reading some of the Year One or Year Two Batman books and definitely enjoy The Long Halloween series. He was the right kind of brooding Batman who was not quite sure how to Batman yet. I loved seeing Colin Farrel as the Penguin, but I was confused at the addition of a new Joker (how many Jokers do we need at once?). I love the Riddler as a character, but I didn’t see the vision that was brought to life by Pual Dano. It was too Zodiac Killer to be a new interpretation of the master of puzzles.

I did watch The Penguin series, and I have more to say about that, but to see the character start from so low, means they can only go up. Jim Gordon was played by the great Jeffrey Wright, and the corruption in the police department was played so well and so believable. Cars and set were amazing, and I look forward to The Batman 2. Hopefully, I will enjoy it even more.

There is more to come, including Batman ’89, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and The Penguin.