Debate all you want about whether we need yet another big-screen version of the Caped Crusader, but writer/director Matt Reeves’ offering does stand among the better ones… though it could have been trimmed by at least a half-hour. Camp-free and full of twisted darkness, it’s a lot closer to ‘Se7en’ and its ilk than any version of Batman (including the Nolan trilogy) we’ve seen before. Robert Pattinson leads the way (very well, I might add) and Zoë Kravitz, John Turturro, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Paul Dano, and a wholly unrecognizable Colin Farrell (as the Penguin) round out the cast. It’s more bleak noir than it is a traditional DC (or Marvel) superhero flick, and frankly, that’s perfectly fine.
4/5 stars