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A solid reboot of the Bat-franchise that is shot beautifully, well-acted, and spends its nearly three-hour runtime trying to step out of the shadow of the Nolan trilogy. The film looks great and is injected with some dynamic camerawork. (There’s also seems to be a filter present that gives everything a unique look.) There’s a gritty realism in this story, that will bring the Nolan comparisons. But this film is darker, and also seems to borrow heavily from “Seven,” especially with the reinterpretation of The Riddler. The plot of the film feels quite a bit like that classic thriller, but with a Batman twist. Despite the extremely long runtime, there isn’t many scenes that don’t feel important to the story, but the story itself could’ve been tweaked to pick up the pace. Robert Pattinson makes for a pretty good Batman and Bruce Wayne, but there’s shockingly little we really feel like we get to know the character. Jim Gordon and Selina Kyle suffer similar fates as both characters are well-acted but really never really show what’s below the surface. And while The Riddler is normally more of a lighthearted villain, he’s quite dark here, and his quirkiness is twisted to be more sinister. (However, rarely get to see him interact with the other characters onscreen.) Probably the biggest standout character in the movie is The Penguin. Colin Farrell is unrecognizable with both his performance and his prosthetic-covered face, and his over-the-top performance allows him to make the most of almost every scene he’s in. There’s actual not a lot of action, but this allows the detective aspect of Batman drive the story.
**** out of *****