Movie Review - The Batman

Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman return for the film adaptation. After going through various adaptations with various qualities such as The Dark Knight with Oscar caliber quality and the last one with polarized Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Batman comes as the most accurate adaptation, namely the perfect portrayal of Batman as the greatest detective in the superhero world. Matt Reeves, who was finally trusted by warner bros to bring the story of this powerless hero back to the cinema screen and spectacularly made superhero fans believe that superhero movies don't have to be full of action and simple stories.

Watching Batman movies is often accompanied by dark stories about Bruce Wayne's past, who was an orphan with his father and mother killed. That is also the premise in the story of Batman this time. Batman, which is now played by Robert Pattinson, is again filled with gloomy feeling, but The Batman directed by Matt Reeves still offers more than that.

This time Batman fights famous comicbook mafia, namely Carmine Falcone being one of the main antagonist. There is also Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin who is still a subordinate of Falcone. But the main enemy of Batman here is Edward Nygma or in this story Edward Nashton, aka The Riddler, who likes to play puzzles. This character is now played by Paul Dano. Batman did not fight alone. Again with the loyal servant Alfred Pennyworth, played by Andy Serkis, and the beautiful cat Selina Kyle, aka catwoman, played by Zoe Kravitz, also Jim Gordon played by Jeffrey Wright.

No more super-sophisticated tools, be it for investigation, combat or operational vehicles. Now Batman is doing his job with more grounded tools, only a contact lens capable of transmitting images to a monitor and recording video, which is his most advanced tool. Batman's brain, camouflage ability and fighting skills are the most advanced tools that he have.

Reeves is so careful to connect every piece of Bruce Wayne's story to show his capacity as the World's Greatest Detective, as the nickname that has been pinned for him. On the other hand, the Riddler character also plays an important role in Bruce Wayne's narrative. The Riddler's distinctive ability in puzzles successfully ignites the investigative abilities of Gotham's heroes, although Wayne is often confused in dealing with it all. Riddler's presence is even more meaningful because he not only appears as a villain who wreaks havoc, but also leads Batman to reveal the big secrets of Gotham and his family's past. 

Through The Batman, Matt Reeves succeeded in creating superhero genre films with new flavors and sensations, starting from evolution of the fresh Batman character, creative shots that we have never seen before, to the selection of story plots that open up many opportunities for new stories. The Batman is comicbook movie at its finest. Matt Reeves alongside with Pattinson, Kravitz, Paul Dano make this movie comes to life.