The next phase in DC & WB’s Extended Universe begins with The Batman. Based on the early years of Gotham City’s Dark Knight, Batman finds himself in the middle of a terrorist’s plot to overthrow the city. Using a series of riddles to thwart Batman and the GCPD, the former and latter must work together before Gotham is destroyed. Meanwhile, Batman also has to deal with the mysterious cat burglar Selina Kyle & mob boss Carmine Falcone.

The Batman is a 2022 superhero film it is produced by Warner Bros. Pictures & DC Films and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is currently in theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max. 

Editor’s Note: Spoilers for The Batman and the overall lore for the DC Extended Universe may be present within this review. 

So here’s the thing, I’ll gladly admit that when Robert Patterson got announced as the actor for Bruce Wayne/Batman I laughed and said “that kid from Twilight? What?”. I was wrong very much so. Patterson works his ass off in this role. The voice of Batman, the intensity, the timid nature of young Bruce Wayne he nails all of it. It’s kind of insane how perfectly he fits the role. Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Paul Dano as The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, and Colon Farrell as Penguin they all come together as this unprecedented roundabout cast that play off of each other exceedingly well. The cast is just one of several reasons that make The Batman perhaps the greatest entry into the DCEU right next to Peacemaker & Wonder Woman 1. 

THE GOOD: It’s been two years since billionaire recluse Bruce Wayne first dawned the cowl as The Batman. On Halloween night Mayor of Gotham Don Mitchell Jr. is killed by a new villain referring to himself as The Riddler. Following a bond with GCPD Detective Jim Gordon, Batman and the latter work together to try and gain intel on Riddler. Riddler slowly kills several prominent members of the Gotham elite including commissioner Pete Savage & DA Gil Colson. Batman & Gordon find a thumb drive connecting Colson to a nightclub called Iceberg Lounge operated by mob boss Carmine Falcone’s second in command The Penguin. Colson was also connected to a woman named Selina Kyle through his interactions with her friend who frequented the club named Annika Koslov. Batman interrogates Penguin but takes note of Kyle working at the lounge as a waitress. Looking to question Annika he instead finds Kyle who lives with her. 

Noticing Koslov’s disappearance Kyle works with Batman to investigate Iceberg. Batman learns that Colson was on Falcone’s take and Kyle accidentally exposes her ties to Falcone during an unexpected interaction leading to Batman questioning her. Upset Kyle breaks communications with him mid-investigation. Batman is able to deduce that an informant linked to past mob busts is also tied to Falcone and theorizes it’s Penguin. During another attempted investigation Batman reunites with Kyle who accidentally exposed Penguin while looking for revenge after learning of Koslov’s death. After a deadly chase Batman captures Penguin & interrogates him with Gordon. 

Penguin clears his name and Batman & Gordon learn that Riddler has a grudge against the Wayne family after they trail Riddler to an abandoned orphanage funded by them. Bruce’s butler Alfred Pennyworth is hurt in an explosion created by Riddler at Wayne Manor. Riddler later leaks evidence which reveals Bruce’s father Thomas was involved in the killing of a journalist who threatened to leak Martha & her family’s past histories with mental illness that would have effected Thomas’ run for Mayor of Gotham. Bruce confronts Alfred in the hospital who reveals that Thomas hired Falcone to only scare the journalist and once he found out about the killing he planned to turn himself & Falcone in. Alfred speculates that Falcone had Thomas & Martha killed to stop this. Selina reconnects with Batman planning to kill Falcone whom she reveals as her father after learning Falcone not only was the informant but also killed Koslov. 

Selina attempts to kill Falcone and is nearly killed before Batman saves her. He takes in Falcone with Gordon who successfully got the rest of the GCPD on their side. Penguin goes on a rant on Falcone after he’s revealed as the informant and nearly & is believed to have shot and killed Falcone until Batman notices Riddler in the neighboring apartment complex. As Falcone takes his last breath Batman chases Riddler with the GCPD to a diner where Edward Nashton; The Riddler’s true identity reveals himself and is arrested. Batman interrogates Nashton who explains his grudge on the Waynes steams from growing up in an orphanage funded by them. Upon their deaths Nashton felt insulted at Bruce being “falsely” proclaimed as an orphan feeling he never suffered as much as himself and the others. Nashton states that he idolized Batman for targeting the corrupt and followed his footsteps in his own way while also hinting that he may know that he’s Bruce Wayne. Batman heads back to Nashton’s apartment where he learns of Nashton’s plan to bomb several parts of the city & assassinate new Gotham Mayor Bella Reál.

Bombs go off destroying Gotham’s seawall flooding the city. Gordan has people head to Gotham stadium for safety while Batman & Selina stop Riddler’s men. As the city recovers Batman helps evacuate the injured and Selina tells him of her plans to move to Bludhaven. Bruce vows to return hope to Gotham as he aides in recovery efforts. In a post credits scene Nashton now in Arkham Asylum meets a “laughing man” who offers him “friendship” after his plans fail.

Ok I’m just gonna go ahead and get this out of the way. This cast absolutely fucking killed it, I honestly can’t think of one bad thing to say about the performances. They all fill so off from their respective characters that it’s almost a turn off for the entire film but somehow, someway pretty much everyone nails their character to a T. Most notably (in my opinion) Patterson, Kravitz, and Farrell. I said earlier in my introductory bit that if you had told me Robert Patterson would be Bruce Wayne/The Batman one day I’d laugh. I’ve never been happier to be proven wrong Patterson in his own way is similar Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man in that he’s the best of both Tobey McGuire & Andrew Garfield.

You know the weird deal where McGuire is the superior Peter but Garfield is the superior Spider-Man? Kind of like that only a small number of people really believed Patterson had what it takes to pull it off. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t really followed Patterson’s career much post-Twilight and I consistently had people telling me “no you don’t understand Patterson has become this and that since Twilight!” all with my fingers in my ears complete with eyerolls. My God what a happy surprised this was. Patterson had a way to not only make his Bruce Wayne believable as a rich recluse, but also Batman as an untouchable badass. He even gets the the voice right, I’d even go as far as saying Patterson rivals Christian Bale’s own performance as the Caped Crusader. 

The action is more or less what you’d hope for or expect out of a DC film. Though I do want to specifically shout out the Batman/Penguin chase sequence. The reveal for what I’m assuming is supposed to be a prototype of the Batmobile was epic. The chase itself can only be described as the best of a scene directed by Michael Bay. The story takes heavily from Batman storylines “Year One”, “No Man’s Land”, and references “The Long Halloween”. This are rather dark tales within the Batman lore and bundling them all together for what’s a slightly post-origin story for Bruce Wayne becoming Batman is an interesting direction but fit the tone of Batman’s surrounding world.

THE BAD: The only thing bad I can really say is it feels like they don’t have much concrete plans for this version of the character. And with Ben Affleck’s incarnation said to be dead in the water that puts the entire franchise in question from the live-action front. Look I get it, we have two spinoffs in the works (another of which already cancelled), there’s also the Batgirl film hitting HBO Max in the coming months but then what? This is supposed to be a shared universe but it kind of feels like there’s nothing there currently for the lead. I’m more than certain a sequel is coming this thing made nearly $1 Billion at the box office ($250m away as of this writing) and that’s all well and good. However, it still feels like WB is in the place it’s always been with it’s bigger budget ideas for the DC film & TV division where things are consistently shifting and changing with no real long term plans being settle on whether that’s through their own fault or just sheer bad luck. The Discovery buyout even further questions things for the DCEU.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:  The Batman enters the contention for title of “greatest” or “one of the greatest” DC films and live-action projects of all time. It won’t be for everybody, but for the DC fan looking for that big win before Peacemaker & Wonder Woman this is definitely the one. That being said an apparently lack of long-term plans for what’s a proposed upcoming shared universe of an already in jeopardy looking larger extended universe it just continues to show that being a DC Comics fan can sometimes be a bit scary and heartbreaking at least on the live-action front anyways. Otaku Dome gives The Batman a 90 out of 100.