Remakes will be the present and future of cinema for some time. The inability to escape our favorite childhood shows and movies can act as a true double-edged sword. Throughout the years, lack of creativity and substance has led to my inevitable disdain for movie theaters. That’s coming from someone who would be at the AMC almost bi-weekly. My love for cinema helped determine where I would go in the future for a minute. Unfortunately, that love has quickly passed, and the idea of going to the movies has become bittersweet. With all that being said, I enjoyed ‘The Batman.’
Never in a thousand years has the thought of someone surpassing Christian Bale as The Dark Knight ever crossed my mind. That trilogy of Batman movies has forever lived in the limelight with Heath Ledger’s famous rendition of Joker. “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” and “The Dark Knight Rises” are movies that got me through my teenage years of life and helped me discover my all-time favorite hero.
Although Robert Pattinson and Christian Bale played the same character, the renditions contain vital characteristics that help distinguish the two.
I won’t lie and say remnants of an angsty teen who fears the sunlight was not noticeable throughout the new movie, but in a way, it helped shape the latest version and bring a different side of the character out.
Setting the tone from the very first scene and keeping that consistent brooding darkness throughout the movie is something that stuck out to me. Personally, consistency within a film is a big key for me. Holding my attention for 2 hours and fifty-six minutes was made possible with a continued pull of the movie’s shift. The mystery of The Riddler and his games kept the crowd on our toes.
That’s it. The inability to guess what would happen after a predictably laid-out movie is why you should watch this movie. Yes, there are some things you will be able to predict, but it isn’t like most newer movies where you can write the script yourself.
There were instances I could tell would be considered pandering to the crowd. Let’s just say some characters felt a little generic. Almost as if they were placed there to fulfill a purpose. I can’t say the representation wasn’t great, and the acting was terrific; however, I feel like most companies today, everyone is trying to hop on the “pro-black representation” bandwagon. In this case, it was a positive thing. Slowly but surely, even though pandering can become annoying, during this movie, it was nice to see the presence of a black woman in a powerful position with actual speaking roles. Shout out to Jayme Lawson.
With that being said, I will be catching this movie on the big screen again very soon.