Directed by Matt Reeves
Written by Matt Reeves, Peter Craig
Produced by Dylan Clark, Matt Reeves
Starring
Robert Pattinson
Zoë Kravitz
Paul Dano
Jeffrey Wright
John Turturro
Peter Sarsgaard
Andy Serkis
Colin Farrell
Cinematography Greig Fraser
Edited by William Hoy, Tyler Nelson
Music by Michael Giacchino
Production companies Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, 6th & Idaho, Dylan Clark Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Running time 176 minute
Box office $772.2 million
Going through the Guardian last week, I saw a review of The Penguin. Yes, the silly tuxedoed Batman villain with the waddle and the huge paunch and the cigarette holder. Burgess Meridith’s not-finest hour. Donald Trump at Buckingham Palace.
The Guardian covers superhero shows with a strong sense of a resigned sniff. It’s something like running the horoscope or stories about missing cats; it boosts viewership. Thus, even really well-done movies in this genre, such as the Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix versions of The Joker, get a condescending three stars.
The Guardian gave The Penguin five stars. The reviewer, Lucy Mangan, is one of the more serious reviewers in the Guardian’s stable.
So I streamed the show and watched the first episode. I’ll write a review of it at the end of its run, but if the first episode holds up, then once again I’ll be making comparisons to James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano (I used it twice recently to compare Bryan Cranston’s Walter White and Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb). There’s nothing silly about Colin Farrell’s Penguin. The waddle is explained by a graphically realistic club foot, the superciliousness replaced by an air of genuine menace and even the name made serious, going from “Oswald Cobblepot” to “Oz Cobb.”
It was based on the 2022 The Batman movie. I happened to have streamed it sometime early last year, and meant to get around to watching it. I’ve lost track of how many movies and reinventions of The Batman there have been, some very good, some execrable. I’d heard this one was a good effort, but you know how it goes: episodes of “Bluey” to watch, kittens and baby ducks on YouTube. Places to see, people to do. It was on my list, honest.
We watched it over the past two days (it has a run time of almost three hours).
This is something new and different. This, truly, is a Batman for grown-ups.
Most of the silly gimmicks are gone, as is Robin. They kept the batmobile, coming up with a version that looks like it could achieve low Earth orbit. Alfred is still there, although this one follows the trend of converting him from snotty English pseudo-toff to special forces operative. (One flaw in the movie is when Alfred makes a mistake even the Alfred of the 60s TV show would have avoided).
They’ve been making Bats in increasingly dark and gritty versions, part of an effort to make the character relevant and reflecting the fact that Batman readers of yore have mostly cleared puberty.
This continues the trend—the Batcave looks like something out of Dante, Gotham broods like a jilted psychotic, and corruption and crime run wild. By itself, though, this is nothing startling. It has been going on since the 1980s, when Frank Miller reinvented the character.
What IS different is Bruce Wayne. The notion that the dark, mentally disturbed Batman was also a carefree playboy never was credible, even when it was made clear it was an affectation as part of a two-way disguise. The dichotomy was just too great.
THIS Bruce Wayne is reclusive, asocial, and every bit as driven as his alter ego in the spandex black pajamas.
Penguin and Riddler are both in this movie, and like the transformation that Colin Farrow brought to Cobb, Paul Dano’s Riddler is murderous, deeply disturbed, and genuinely chilling in a pleasant, farmboy nerd kind of way. The type shaken neighbors describe as a pleasant but quiet boy who keeps to himself.
To repeat: this is a Batman for grown-ups. It’s not perfect, but it rises to the level of a scary and gripping action-adventure, and lays the groundwork for what promises to be a stunning new TV show.