The Batman

The film creates an alluring combination of the familiar and the fresh.

“The Batman” reaches for an ingenious and compelling new way to tell a story about the thin lines between corruption, greed and nobility — but ever so limply and always just out of its grasp.

The film I imagine Ricky Fitts would grow up to make after the events of 'American Beauty.'

What this film does achieve, however, is telling a solid new Batman story, one with some pretty compelling twists and a strong point-of-view on who, exactly, the Caped Crusader is. By default, that makes it one of the better Batman movies ever made.

Ultimately, this Batman accepts the thankless, death-defying role he’s stepped into, and the sacrifices that go with it. But that choice would be more compelling if it weren’t framed as a tacit acknowledgement of all the inevitable sequels to come...

The movie’s inability to imagine its superheroes and supervillains with any meaningful psychological identity is of a piece with the failure to imagine ordinary people with any degree of individuality.

"The Batman" has a somber tone different from previous versions that, due to its enunciation, bring it closer to the style of the Film-Noir film genre, returning to the original style of the comic strip and its proximity to pulp literature.

When it’s all said and done, The Batman is good—not great. From technical and narrative standpoints, there are both gaps and achievements.

For a film set deep in the depths of Gotham’s gritty underbelly, the script slowly descends into the chaotic silliness of the characters that it feels so desperate to shed

The Batman is a gritty psychological crime thriller featuring the most Gotham-esqe Gotham we’ve seen yet.