Pomegranate Rating: 10/10

Over the weekend I watched “The Batman,” the latest DC movie focused on Gotham City’s caped crusader. With a star-studded cast and interesting villains, it was exciting to see what direction this movie could take. Here are my thoughts after watching “The Batman.”

One of the most anticipated movies of 2022, “The Batman” came out on March 4. It included a wide range of stars with Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, and many more. Although I was skeptical at first of this cast, after seeing the movie I realized that the movie was perfectly cast.

Robert Pattinson made a great Batman and Bruce Wayne, being able to show the dark side of both characters. While past versions of Bruce Wayne portrayed him as a confident, womanizing billionaire, in “The Batman” we see a recluse that never truly handled the grief of his parents’ deaths. Pattinson’s switch from Batman to Bruce was perfectly done, and I was able to see the similarities between the two characters while also seeing how Bruce had to hide who he truly was.

We also received great performances from Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell, and Jeffrey Wright, who all excelled in their roles, but the person who was truly the best was Paul Dano as the Riddler. We see a stark contrast between the goofy Riddler of the comics and past movies and the one portrayed in “The Batman.” Paul Dano did an excellent job in showing a Riddler who was depressed, struggling to find his place in the world, and at other times, absolutely crazy. It’s one of the best DC villains since Heath Ledger’s Joker, and I’m very excited to see a darker Riddler in any future films.

The plot revolves around Batman/Bruce Wayne as he is led by the Riddler to find the rat in a recent Gotham City PD drug bust. The story took many twists that I wasn’t expecting and held my attention the entire time. Despite the movie’s long run time, there was never a moment where I was bored or thought a scene should be shorter.

Director Matt Reeves did a wonderful job with the movie and was able to make it great. There were many scenes that I specifically admired the directing and could tell that so much hard work was put into it. The action scenes were also done very well and didn’t drag on or seem cheesy like many scenes do in superhero movies.

This movie was marvelously well made and had a great script, a great director, and great actors. “The Batman” brought new ideas to the character of Batman and is refreshing compared to many other superhero movies. There is nothing more I could ask for in this film and it is a 10/10. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new movie to try, and it is currently in theaters.