I have to be honest and say that my excitement as I sat in my theatre seat at 1:30 PM on Sunday, March 6th was at about a 2! However, as the credits started to roll, I looked at my wife and said “I think this may be my favorite Batman movie”. Granted, I was still high on the movie, but those three hours just flew by.
How to Stream or Download The Batman (2022)
45 days after its theatrical release you should be able to watch The Batman on HBO Max. Click on the Download button to check the current availability, Also, read our reviews of previous Batman movies such as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, or Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
The Movie Review
I have read a few people say that they felt the movie was “slow”. They were watching a different movie to me as this movie gets going right away. It starts with a cool intro that has a fantastic fight scene that was very similar to the way Batman fights in the Arkham video games. I really do not see what they could have cut here to get it closer to 2 and a half hours over nearly 3.
There was no seeing the Wayne’s get killed for the 10000th time. The movie takes place two years into Bruce’s crusade to save Gotham. This is a Batman with far more fights in front of him than behind him which is a striking contrast to the Batman we got with Ben Affleck. He is far from perfect and in many of the fight scenes, you see Batman take some serious damage.
I liked seeing a less-than-sure Batman in action as it gives him a lot of room to grow. The main villain in the movie is The Riddler, but this is unlike any Riddler you have seen before. The Riddler kind of reminded me of Jigsaw from the Saw movies when I saw the trailers.
That is very much still in the full version of the movie. Yet, there is far more depth to the character of The Riddler here and what his reign of terror does for Gotham than the trailers let on. It was truly compelling stuff and it was great to see how The Riddler’s actions affected Batman and Bruce Wayne.
That is just one part of the story that The Batman is telling. We also get to see his relationship with Jim Gordan and Gordan’s rise to becoming the main man in the GCP. There is Catwoman who is just great in this movie and her relationship with Batman too. What really blew me away was the way that Thomas Wayne and his ties to gangster Carmine Falcone impacted the events of the whole movie that got a kick out of me.
The action here is awesome and there is a car chase where Batman is going after The Penguin that was a ton of fun. Speaking of this, The Batmobile here is freaking awesome! I had seen the toys and the pictures before the movie came out and I thought it was lame, “it just looks like a normal car” is what I said, well this may look less “stylized” than other Batmobiles, but when we first get to see it, it is so cool!
As you can tell, I really enjoyed The Batman. I was not sold on Pattinson as Batman; I thought the trailers looked kind of “meh” and I just had very little interest in the movie. Yet, it was a thrill ride from the moment it started and I am thinking of going to see it again next weekend. This truly is an amazing Batman movie and it is also a great thriller, mystery, and action movie as well.
