Watch The Batman (2022), Story, Stars, Reviews & All You Want To Know & Watch Movie
The Batman (2022)
When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement.
The Batman is a 2022 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, 6th & Idaho, and Dylan Clark Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a reboot of the Batman film franchise.
The film was directed by Matt Reeves, who wrote the screenplay with Peter Craig. It stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman alongside Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. The film sees Batman, who has been fighting crime in Gotham City for two years, uncover corruption while pursuing the Riddler (Dano), a serial killer who targets Gotham’s elite.
Development began after Ben Affleck was cast as Batman in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in 2013. Affleck signed on to direct, produce, co-write, and star in The Batman, but had reservations about the project and dropped out. Reeves took over and reworked the story, removing the DCEU connections.
He sought to explore Batman’s detective side more than previous films, drawing inspiration from the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the New Hollywood era, and comics such as Year One (1987), The Long Halloween (1996–97), and Ego (2000). Pattinson was cast in May 2019, with further casting in late 2019. Principal photography took place in the UK and Chicago between January 2020 and March 2021.
The Batman premiered at Lincoln Center, New York, on March 1, 2022, and was theatrically released worldwide on March 4. It was delayed twice from an initial June 2021 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film grossed over $770 million against a $185–200 million budget, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2022.
It received praise for the performances, score, cinematography, Reeves’ direction, action sequences, and story, although the runtime received some criticism. The Batman is intended to launch a Batman shared universe, with two sequels planned and two spin-off television series in development for HBO Max.
The Batman (2022) Trailer
The Batman (2022) Reviews
As he’s shown in pretty much every role he’s taken since “Twilight” made him a global superstar in 2008, working with singular auteurs from David Cronenberg to Claire Denis to the Safdie brothers, Pattinson is at his best when he’s playing characters who make you uncomfortable.
Even more than Christian Bale in the role, Pattinson is so skilled at making his beautiful, angular features seem unsettling. So when he first spies on the impossibly sexy Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, slinking into her leather motorcycle gear and shimmying down the fire escape in her own pursuit of nocturnal justice, there’s an unmistakable flicker of a charge in his eyes: Ooh. She’s a freak like me.
During a fight at a thumping night club, punctuated by pulsating red lights, you can feel every punch and kick. (That’s one of the more compelling elements of seeing this superhero in his early days: He isn’t invincible.) And a shootout in a pitch-black hallway, illuminated only by the blasts of shotgun fire, is both harrowing and dazzling. Greatly magnifying the power of scenes like these is the score from veteran composer Michael Giacchino.
Best known for his Pixar movie music, he does something totally different with “The Batman”: percussive and horn-heavy, it is massive and demanding, and you will feel it deep in your core.
Working with artists and craftspeople operating at the top of their game, Reeves has made a movie that manages to be ethereal yet weighty at the same time, substantial yet impressionistic. Cinematographer Greig Fraser pulls off the same sort of stunning magic trick he did with his Oscar-nominated work in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune”: Through pouring rain and neon lights, there’s both a gauziness and a heft to his imagery.
His use of shadow and silhouette is masterful, and does so much to convey a sense of foreboding and tension. I could write an entire, separate essay on the film’s many uses of the color red to suggest energy, danger, even hope. And the costume design from the great Jacqueline Durran—with Dave Crossman and Glyn Dillon designing Pattinson’s rough-and-tumble Batsuit—put just the right finishing touch on the film’s cool, edgy vibe.
This is the most beautiful Batman movie you’ve ever seen—even if it’s not really a Batman movie at all.
- Christy Lemire – Roger Ebert
- Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series “Ebert Presents At the Movies” opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor.
The Batman, a reboot of DC comics’ most popular character, brings the franchise back into the shadows successfully embraced by Christopher Nolan’s phenomenally popular take but without the fetishism of the Burton/Schumacher years or the excesses of Zack Snyder’s more recent indulgences. Although “grounded” might not be appropriate, this iteration is less gritty and focused more on the human component than superhero tropes, although the latter are certainly present.
Essentially a serial killer movie with fantastical, comic book elements, The Batman’s aesthetic owes a debt to film noir with occasional visual nods to Westerns. Stylistically, the film is closest to Nolan’s Batman movies, although there are no overt acknowledgments.
Like any crime movie, The Batman deals in secrets, questions of identity, and unexpected reveals. The hero is a troubled, tortured individual. The antagonist is more of a force of nature – a twisted, malevolent one – than a human being. There are plenty of crime lords and crooked cops. No one, not even Batman, is imbued with any innate special abilities or magical powers. There are no gods or devils to be fought.
The story focuses on a series of murders and the lengths to which Gotham City’s bat-costumed vigilante will go to uncover the culprit and stop his spree while at the same time battling his own personal demons. Reeves has adopted at least as much from ‘40s films and Fincher’s neo-noir efforts as from traditional superhero movies. Never has the chasm between the MCU and DC been more evident. Warner Brothers might be “lightening up” Wonder Woman and Aquaman, but Batman remains steeped in darkness.
The Batman is not an origin story. It opens at a time after recluse billionaire Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) has first donned the costume and taken his one-man war against crime onto the streets. He is mostly distrusted by Gotham City’s police force with one notable exception: Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), who has thrown in his lot with Batman, despite not knowing the latter’s true identity.
No one, except the Wayne manor butler and Bruce’s mentor, Alfred (Andy Serkis), is privy to that. Gotham’s nest of crime lords and criminals, including the feared boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and his underling, Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), don’t yet perceive Batman to be sufficiently threatening to worry about him. After the events of this film, that will change.
Gordon uses the Bat-signal to call the Caped Crusader for help with the Halloween night murder of Gotham’s beloved (but crooked) mayor. The killer, who is dubbed The Riddler (Paul Dano) because of the clues he leaves behind, is no common assassin and it doesn’t take long before the trail of bodies lengthens, with each fresh killing being someone highly-placed in the government or police hierarchy.
As Gordon works to uncover the assassin’s identity using traditional police procedures, Batman does the things that Gordon can’t. This brings him into contact with Falcone, The Penguin, and Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz), a young woman with a penchant for cat burglary and a score to settle.
The Batman is a long movie with a complex storyline that focuses on enough tangential subplots that there are times when the hunt for The Riddler fades into the background. While it’s fair to credit Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig for their ambition, the film occasionally suffers from uneven pacing and feels like it might have benefited from tighter editing.
There are fewer high-octane action sequences here than in many superhero movies, but the two major ones (a ferocious car chase in which the Batmobile makes its debut and a one-on-many fight where Batman is the only one without a gun) are spectacular. Overall, however, The Batman concentrates on detecting, analyzing ciphers, answering riddles, and following a maze to the eventual resolution. The Riddler may not be quite as diabolical and demented as The Joker in The Dark Knight, but he’s a close second.
Ben Affleck’s departure from the role during preproduction required that Reeves (who replaced him in the director’s chair and completely rewrote the script) embark on a recasting project. This took the film out of the so-called DCEU and put it into its own pocket universe (much like Nolan’s version).
Robert Pattinson, who coincidentally appeared in Nolan’s Tenet before donning the cape and cowl, was chosen to fill the main role. Although Pattinson is fine as Batman, I’m unsure about his interpretation of Bruce Wayne. As written, Wayne is supposed to be sullen and withdrawn – a man warped by his past and struggling to find meaning. But Pattinson’s performance is a little too one-note.
He never finds the humanity underneath the character’s pain (contrast this with Bale, who struggled with some of the same issues) and that diminishes the character’s arc. It’s a weird dynamic because Pattinson is the first Batman who is more animated when wearing the costume than out of it.
For the supporting players, The Batman employs an out-of-the-box approach. Zoe Kravitz isn’t the first woman of color to play Catwoman – Eartha Kitt was one of several actresses to essay the character during the 1960s TV show and Halle Berry took over the role for a movie whose existence DC would like to ignore. Kravitz focuses more on the “Selina” aspect of her personality than the “Catwoman” one and the script treats her like a femme fatale. Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as The Penguin – the makeup job is impressive.
The character is underused but that’s likely because Reeves has big future plans for him (including his own HBOMax series). Paul Dano looks nothing like any previous incarnation of the Riddler and is masked for most of the film. Once out of costume, however, he appears deceptively normal – likely one reason why the unimposing Dano was cast. Andy Serkis, who has now moved beyond merely doing motion capture work for WETA, provides a capable performance as Alfred. Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard round out the cast.
Although Wright and Turturro have previously appeared in big-budget franchises, this is Sarsgaard’s first such foray.
Greig Fraser’s cinematography and Michael Giacchino’s score contribute to the film’s unique identity. Fraser uses light and shadow to good effect, including crafting several memorable silhouette shots. Giacchino’s work here may be the best of his career. It’s soft when it needs to be, percussive during the fight and action scenes, and finds a way to incorporate “Ave Maria.”
The Batman is arguably the best superhero movie since Avengers: Infinity War and the best movie to feature the title character since the middle chapter of Nolan’s trilogy. Its strengths lie in its differences and the ways in which Reeves is able to deliver the money shots while avoiding the cookie-cutter feel that handicaps many superhero movies. At a time when many comic book franchises are seeking to go bigger, with cosmic beings and multiverses, The Batman’s down-to-earth approach offers a welcome reprieve.
The Batman (2022) Credits
The Batman (2022)
176 minutes
Cast
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle
Paul Dano as The Riddler
Jeffrey Wright as Lt. James Gordon
John Turturro as Carmine Falcone
Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson
Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth
Colin Farrell as Oz / The Penguin
Director
- Matt Reeves
Writer (Batman created by)
- Bob Kane
- Bill Finger
Writer
- Matt Reeves
- Peter Craig
Cinematographer
- Greig Fraser
Costume Designer
- Jacqueline Durran
Editor
- William Hoy
- Tyler Nelson
Composer
- Michael Giacchino
The Batman (2022) Plot
On Halloween, Gotham City mayor Don Mitchell Jr. is murdered by the Riddler, a masked killer. Reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, who has operated for two years as the vigilante Batman, investigates the murder alongside the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD). Lieutenant James Gordon discovers a message that the Riddler left for Batman. The following night, the Riddler kills commissioner Pete Savage and leaves another message for Batman.
Batman and Gordon discover that the Riddler left a thumb drive in Mitchell’s car containing images of Mitchell with a woman, Annika Kosolov, at the Iceberg Lounge—a nightclub operated by the Penguin, mobster Carmine Falcone’s lieutenant. While the Penguin pleads ignorance, Batman notices that Selina Kyle, Annika’s roommate, works at the club as a waitress. When Annika disappears, Batman sends Selina back to the Iceberg Lounge for answers and discovers that Savage was on Falcone’s payroll, as is district attorney Gil Colson.
The Riddler abducts Colson, straps a timed collar bomb to his neck, and sends him to interrupt Mitchell’s funeral. When Batman arrives, the Riddler calls him via Colson’s phone and threatens to detonate the bomb if Colson cannot answer three riddles. Colson refuses to answer the third—the name of the informant who gave the GCPD information that led to a historic drug bust ending mobster Salvatore Maroni’s operation—and dies.
Batman and Gordon deduce that the informant may be the Penguin and track him to a drug deal. They discover that Maroni’s operation transferred to Falcone, with many corrupt GCPD officers involved. Selina inadvertently exposes them when she arrives to steal money and discovers Annika’s corpse in a car trunk. After a car chase, Batman captures the Penguin but learns he is not the informant.
Batman and Gordon follow the Riddler’s trail to the ruins of an orphanage funded by Bruce’s murdered parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, where they learn that the Riddler holds a grudge against the Wayne family. Bruce’s butler and caretaker, Alfred Pennyworth, is hospitalized after opening a letter bomb addressed to Bruce. The Riddler leaks evidence that Thomas, who was running for mayor before he was murdered, hired Falcone to kill a journalist for threatening to reveal details about Martha and her family’s history of mental illness.
Bruce, who grew up believing his father was morally upstanding, confronts Alfred, who maintains that Thomas only asked Falcone to threaten the journalist into silence; Thomas planned to turn himself and Falcone over to the police once he found out Falcone murdered the journalist instead. Alfred believes that Falcone had Thomas and Martha killed to prevent this.
Selina reveals to Batman that Falcone is her neglectful father. She decides to kill him after learning that he strangled Annika because Mitchell told her that Falcone was the informant. Batman and Gordon arrive in time to stop her, but the Riddler kills Falcone as he is being arrested.
The Riddler is unmasked as forensic accountant Edward Nashton and is incarcerated in Arkham State Hospital, where he tells Batman he took inspiration from him when targeting the corrupt. Batman learns that Nashton has stationed car bombs around Gotham and cultivated an online following that plans to assassinate mayor-elect Bella Reál.
The bombs destroy the seawall around Gotham and flood the city. Nashton’s followers attempt to kill Reál but are stopped by Batman and Selina. In the aftermath, Nashton befriends another inmate, while Selina deems Gotham beyond saving and leaves. Batman aids recovery efforts and vows to inspire hope in Gotham.
The Batman (2022) Box office
The Batman grossed $369.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $401.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $770.8 million. It is the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2022, as well as the highest-grossing serial killer film. The film’s IMAX performance helped raise its overall first quarter revenues ($60 million) by 55% and its global box office ($173.2 million) by 57% from the same period in 2021.
In the US and Canada, The Batman was projected to gross $115–170 million from 4,417 theaters in its opening weekend, and around $330–475 million for its total domestic box office. Tickets for the advance IMAX screenings sold out within a day of going on sale on February 8, 2022. The film made $57 million on its first day in the US and Canada, which included $17.6 million from Thursday night previews and $4 million from Tuesday and Wednesday advanced screenings.
It grossed $134 million in its opening weekend, becoming the second pandemic-era film to gross over $100 million in the US and Canada in its opening weekend, after Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). It also became Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing pandemic-era film domestically in just three days. More than 65% of the audience in the opening weekend was male, while more than 60% were in the age range of 18–34 years old.
The film grossed $66.5 million in its second weekend, dropping 50% and staying atop the box office. The third weekend saw it gross $36.7 million, a fall of 45%,[334] while also making it the second film in the pandemic era to make more than $300 million in the US and Canada. In the fourth weekend it was displaced to the second spot by The Lost City, earning $20.5 million for a drop of 44%.
In South Korea, The Batman opened to $1.7 million, the biggest opening in the country in 2022. Through March 2, it had earned $5.3 million across eight countries. In France, it earned $2.1 million, the highest opening for 2022. Through March 4, it had made an estimated $54 million in 74 countries outside the US and Canada. In the United Kingdom it opened to $6.4 million, the second-highest opening in the country during the pandemic. It had the second-highest pandemic opening in Spain as well, earning $1.2 million.
It grossed around $124.2 million by the end of the week in 74 countries outside the US and Canada, and ranked first in 73 of them during the weekend. It earned $22.3 million globally in IMAX theatres, the second-highest opening weekend for the chain since December 2019.This was also the highest opening for a movie outside the US and Canada in 2022, the highest for Warner in the pandemic era, as well as the third biggest overall during the pandemic.
In addition, it had the second-highest opening weekend of the pandemic era in sixteen countries including the UK ($18.1 million), Mexico ($12.1 million), Australia ($9.3 million), Brazil ($8.8 million), France ($8.4 million), Germany ($5.1 million), South Korea ($4.4 million), Italy ($4.1 million), Spain ($3.7 million), and India ($3.4 million). It also earned the biggest opening weekend for Warner Bros. in 62 countries during the pandemic and its biggest-ever opening weekend in seven countries.
The film earned $66.6 million from 76 markets other than the US and Canada in its sophomore weekend for a drop of 42%, including a $3.2 million opening in Japan. The film reached the $500 million-milestone on March 17, becoming the eighth pandemic-era film to do so, while also becoming Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing film during the pandemic-era. In its third weekend, it made $49.1 million in countries other than the US and Canada, a drop of 46%.
In China, it opened to a $11.8 million weekend according to Artisan Gateway while 30–43% of the theaters were closed, the best opening in the country for an American film in 2022, acquiring the top position at the box office. It grossed $25.3 million during the fourth weekend for a fall of 49%, including $3.1 million in China, where it was displaced by Moonfall.
It crossed the $750 million-milestone on April 17, becoming the fifth pandemic-era film to do so, with the largest running-total countries being the UK ($53.2 million), Mexico ($30.7 million), Australia ($27 million), France ($25.9 million), Brazil ($22.6 million), China ($22.5 million), Germany ($18.9 million), Spain ($11.8 million), Italy ($11.2 million), and Japan ($10 million).
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The Batman (2022) Critical Response
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Batman holds an approval rating of 85% based on 499 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “A grim, gritty, and gripping super-noir, The Batman ranks among the Dark Knight’s bleakest – and most thrillingly ambitious – live-action outings.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 68 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A–” on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 87% positive score (with an average 4.5 out of 5 stars), with 71% saying they would definitely recommend it.
IGN contributor Alex Stedman gave a 10 out of 10 rating, writing, “The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and at times genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves.”
Adam Nayman of The Ringer gave the film a mostly positive review, but criticized some aspects of the film, particularly the final act, however, he stated that “The Batman is the Batman movie we deserve, though: overwrought and overlong, but also carefully crafted and exhilarating.
It’s just good enough to wish it were better—a lavish piece of intellectual property that ultimately prices itself out of providing cheap thrills.” Writing for The National, Jason Mottram called the film “one of the darkest and most compelling comic-book movies of the modern era” while praising the performances, action sequences and story.
Digital Spy reviewer Ian Sandwell praised the performances and felt that “It’s easy to get Batman wrong, but Reeves never even threatens to do so. The Batman is an enthralling, chilling and fresh new take on the iconic DC hero that’ll leave you desperate for another visit to this impeccably-crafted world.” Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote “Matt Reeves’s take on the Caped Crusader may not be a genre-defining miracle, but it delivers a tapered-down, intimate portrait, while Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman brings an almost-extinct sensuality to the role”.
From The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney praised the film for being unique and stated that “this ambitious reboot is grounded in a contemporary reality where institutional and political distrust breeds unhinged vigilantism,” but felt that “Reeves’ film hammers home the realization that somewhere along the line, someone — probably Christopher Nolan — decided that Batman movies should no longer be fun.”
Peter Debruge at Variety also praised the film, highlighting the film’s grounded and noir take on Batman, and praised the film for “its willingness to dismantle and interrogate the very concept of superheroes.” Alex Abad-Santos of Vox gave the film a positive review, and wrote the film “realizes the character’s greatness in a classic noir detective story” and that the film “enriches Batman’s legacy, complicating it by trusting its audience to interrogate his heroism and eventually ponder what makes Batman a hero — or if he’s even a hero at all.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, praised the performances but felt that “Inevitably, night falls on the latest Batman iteration with the cloudy sense that – of course – nothing has really been at stake.” Richard Brody at The New Yorker gave a more critical review, praising the first two hours of the film and the “intricacy of the movie’s intertwined plots,” but ultimately criticized the characters, as he felt that they were “reduced to a handful of traits and a backstory, defined solely by their function in the plot.”
Ann Hornaday from The Washington Post rated the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, criticizing the film for its dark visuals and its lengthy runtime, calling it “yet another lugubrious, laboriously grim slog masquerading as a fun comic book movie.
“Similarly, A.O. Scott of The New York Times also criticized the film for its dark visuals, in addition to saying the film has too much exposition, but praised the performances from the cast and Giacchino’s score, and ultimately concluded by stating “I can’t say I had a good time, but I did end up somewhere I didn’t expect to be: looking forward to the next chapter.” Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave a negative review, criticizing the film for its political commentary, drawing comparisons to that of Joker (2019), but he also praised some of the performances.
Writing in Sight and Sound, Kim Newman gave an unenthusiastic review, criticizing the film’s length, and felt the secondary characters, such as Lt. Gordon, Selina Kyle, Alfred, and Penguin, were underdeveloped and “subordinate to the case”, though he praised Pattinson’s performance and the detective-oriented Batman.
The Batman (2022) Accolades
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Trailer Awards | July 22, 2021 | Best Teaser | Statement Advertising | Nominated | |
| Best Motion/Title Graphics | Devastudios, Inc. | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound Editing | Statement Advertising | Nominated | |||
| Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards | July 1, 2022 | Best Picture | The Batman | Nominated | |
| Best Director | Matt Reeves | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Colin Farrell | Nominated | |||
| Paul Dano | Nominated | ||||
| Best Supporting Actress | Zoë Kravitz | Nominated | |||
| Best Screenplay | Matt Reeves and Peter Craig | Nominated | |||
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | June 5, 2022 | Best Movie | The Batman | Nominated | |
| Best Performance in a Movie | Robert Pattinson | Nominated | |||
| Best Villain | Colin Farrell | Nominated | |||
| Best Kiss | Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz | Nominated | |||
| Saturn Awards | October 25, 2022 | Best Superhero Film | The Batman | Pending | |
| Best Actor in a Film | Robert Pattinson | Pending | |||
| Best Actress in a Film | Zoë Kravitz | Pending | |||
| Best Supporting Actor in a Film | Paul Dano | Pending | |||
| Colin Farrell | Pending | ||||
| Best Film Direction | Matt Reeves | Pending | |||
| Best Film Writing (Screenplay) | Matt Reeves, Peter Craig | Pending | |||
| Best Film Music (Composing) | Michael Giacchino | Pending | |||
| Best Film Editing | William Hoy, Tyler Nelson | Pending | |||
| Best Film Production Designer | James Chinlund | Pending | |||
| Best Film Costume | Jacqueline Durran, David Crossman, Glyn Dillon | Pending | |||
| Best Film Make-up | Mike Marino, Naomi Donne | Pending |
The Batman (2022) Movie Info
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