Batman, the caped crusader, has been on film since 1966. Popular live action actors of the legacy include Ben Affleck, Adam West, Micheal Keaton and now Robert Pattinson. Matt Reeves has taken a detective spin on Batman and honestly, it was amazing. 

Previous Batman movies ranged from two hours to two and a half hours; Matt Reeves’ Batman lasted four minutes shy of three hours. My main critique of the movie is its length. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of the movie does a good job of setting up the ending- however, there are certain scenes that could’ve been cut from the final product. 

Should I have been patient, I would’ve been able to fully appreciate the movie. What sets this film apart from other Batman movies is Matt Reeves’ angle on the Batman. Batman movies usually have the fighting aspect and the iconic weaponry of Batman down, but not his detective side. Reeves brilliantly focuses and pushes on Batman’s detective skills. For example, one of the Riddler’s first riddles was “What does a liar do when he’s dead?” and Batman responded with “He lies still” which leads him to uncover corruption of some of the political faces.

It’s only been two years since Bruce Wayne took on the role of the Batman and it really does show. He uses a winglide suit to escape his enemies instead of his cape and when landing, he crashes into a truck. Batman only uses the iconic Batarang once and that was to cut down an electrical hazard towards the end of the movie. Even then, he just removed it from his suit.  I thought it was a clever design to hide a weapon in his suit.

The main antagonist from the movie is who everyone knows as the Riddler. Reeves also altered him for the better. The Riddler in this movie is a serial killer and is played by Paul Dano. Dano does a phenomenal job at his role, even going as far as insisting to redo a specific scene until he was satisfied -a feat which totaled to over 100 reshoots,wanting to have a different take each time. 

4.5/5 stars