A dramatically monotone but beautifully shot, indie Batman.

SYNOPSIS

In the aftermath of a police victory against organized crime, a young but seasoned Batman faces off against the machinations of his latest foe -- the Riddler.

WHERE DID I WATCH?

I saw this movie in theaters with my family.

WHY DID I WATCH THIS?

I liked Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale, so I was curious about how Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Planet of the Apes) and Robert Pattinson would do.

Here's a trailer.

HOW'S THE MOVIE START?

The movie opens with the murder of a mayoral candidate who did not expect his opponent's approval to be so hight. We get a glimpse of him as a family man, and then his other side -- corrupt politician. His murderer, the Riddler, bludgeons him to death and wraps duct tape around his head, leaving him for the police to find with the message: No More Lies. We see the Bat signal in the night sky, get a monologue about fear from Batman, and see him beat up a gang of thugs with clown make up. When he arrives on the scene the police reveal a riddle left for him, along with a cipher and a riddle: What does a liar do when he dies? Batman later answers it, after the commissioner scolds Officer Gordon for allowing the caped vigilante on the scene, and says -- He lies still.

From this point onward, Batman receives clues in the form of riddles from the Riddler while investigating not just him, but the city's organized crime, its cops, and the truth behind the legacy of his rich billionaire parents whose murders set him on this path of criminal-beating vigilantism.

WHAT DID I THINK OF ROBERT PATTINSON AS BATMAN? (SPOILER WARNING) Pattinson's Batman is definitely menacing but also subdued. Visually, I kept thinking the suit looked like something an army of Batmen would wear. While definitely badass-looking, it also reminded me of a uniform, of something mass-produced in pieces. The new addition of hi-tech contact lenses that record video and sound was a nice touch but beyond that it felt like the same choreographed violence of previous Batman movies but with less brutality. This Batman did not hit as comically hard as Snyder's Affleck but did not pack the punch of Nolan's Bale.

There is a repetition of the idea of masks throughout the film of how they allow people to become their true selves. It is a now well-known idea that Batman is not Bruce Wayne's alter ego but that the character's true self is the one who wears the mask, or at least the persona that the mask gives him permission to be. In the film, Riddler says the same thing, that his own mask showed him his true self but like me thought that Batman's mask was much more well-made.

Despite this, I didn't get the sense that Batman and Bruce Wayne in this movie were two different people. This Bruce Wayne is a restrained recluse. In most stories when restraint is shown, this is done so that anticipation can built until that restraint is broken by some sort of high-strung, traumatic event. Audiences see restraint and immediately hold their breath so they can wait giddy for the expected explosion. Unfortunately, I held my breathe in this movie and felt my face turn blue because that release of anticipation did not truly arrive, and, when an attempt was made, it felt weak and pointless. In the end, I was left wanting more out of this version of Batman, more anger, more emotion, more bat-like fury.

WHAT DID I THINK OF ZOEY KRAVITZ AS CAT WOMAN? (SPOILER WARNING) Kravitz's Catwoman, Selina Kyle, came off as lure to distract people from the initially surprising idea of Robert Pattinson as Batman. Used as a Twilight shield against the infamy of Pattinson's vampire movies, Kravitz gave The Batman film a potential sliver of cool. The daughter of 90s rockstar Lenny Kravitz and 80s Cosby Show starlet Lisa Bonet, Zoey Kravitz adds a hint of diversity in a movie franchise that has not been known for it. Her role as cat woman while not entirely small, felt like an afterthought and not nearly as pivotal as one would expect of her character. Her importance in the film can be best summed up by the ridiculousness of her burglar mask, something cobbled together, something to hint at a cat if someone looked hard enough but not prominent.

WHAT DID LIKE? I really enjoyed the soundtrack for the movie. Nirvana's "Something In the Way" was a great dark, haunting choice for the film. Every time they played it in the movie I thought I was watching some short gritty music video.

The Batman was also beautifully shot and I thought the distant shots and Batman's horned silhouettes were well done.

FINAL GRADE? While not a letdown and indeed beautifully shot with a great soundtrack, this gritty emo take on Batman felt strangely muted.