BY LOGAN CARUSO, STAFF WRITER
On April 18, “The Batman” was released on HBO Max after being released in theaters on March 4. This was great as many fans were originally intimidated to see it in theaters as the film has an eye-watering run time of just under three hours. But this hasn’t stopped the film from becoming one of the most popular DC movies in recent years. “The Batman” currently has an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes which made it the third-highest-ranked live-action Batman movie of all time.
The film has received much praise from critics for being much darker and sharing some horror movie traits. In a review of “The Batman” for the “Wall Street Journal,” John Jurgensen stated that “Unofficially, the movie might have also set a new standard for the darkest superhero blockbuster ever made. Almost 100% of the movie plays out at night. Robert Pattinson’s vigilante superhero does his job in heavy rain, dim rooms and a nightclub resembling a bunker.” This dark and rainy Gotham the audience is shown throughout the movie looks much more like a dark dystopia than the Gotham shown throughout “The Dark Knight” trilogy.
Robert Pattison’s Batman fits perfectly into this dark and crime-ridden Gotham. He plays a much more disturbed Bruce Wayne than Christian Bale did. Throughout the movie, Pattison deals with the continuing unraveling conspiracy that is brought to the light by The Riddler’s continuing murders and clues left at the scenes. Paul Dano’s iteration of the Riddler shows a much more unhinged character and is portrayed as a disgruntled social outcast, very similar to the real-life Unabomber.
The cat and mouse game that takes place throughout the movie eventually ends with parts of Gotham destroyed, but ultimately the Riddler is behind bars. However, a scene at the end of the movie shows the Riddler and a character that undoubtedly seems to be the Joker, meeting in the infamous Arkham Asylum. This cliffhanger almost certainly was meant as a teaser for the sequel which was confirmed this week as production on the next movie has started.
This new Batman could be a great foundation for the DC universe as they try to compete with Marvel. As Warner Brothers were spun off by ATAT to Discovery early this month this series could be a great catalyst for the DC universe. DC has been a punching bag lately for Marvel who has been able to produce films that when combined all together create one of the biggest and best cinematic universes of all time. DC has the cast of heroes and villains to achieve this. Using this new iteration of Batman as its foundation might be a huge step for them going into the future.
