I am unabashedly Team Marvel in the Marvel vs. DC battle. But in the way I like chocolate with my peanut butter slightly more than peanut butter with my chocolate. I’m not going to put one brand down to lift the other up. It honestly has never been a better time to be a nerd and I’m all for it in whatever flavor that comes in.

As for the Batman franchise specifically, I’m also firmly on the Bale/Nolan series as my favorite among the film realm.

Now that the disclaimers are all out of the way, I was able to catch Matt Reeve’s The Batman today in theater. The Batman is Robert Pattinson’s serving as the newest version of the titular character. And make no mistakes, this was a Batman movie way more than it was a Bruce Wayne movie.

This version is a dark detective story with occasionally gadgetry and toys. Think more S&M cosplay and not superhero stuff. Plot wise, the fun of the movie is in the exploration of motivations and influences. The steps one takes and the ramifications therein. At it’s best, The Batman is a dive into consequences shrouded as murder mystery. At its simplest, it is angry punchy stuff.

Pattinson is fine in the “I get to be stoic the whole time” way. Zoe Kravitz’ turn as Selina Kyle is close enough to Halle Berry that at times you forget it is not a CGI’d Halle Berry. Jeffrey Wright probably does play my favorite Jim Gordon yet. And Colin Farrell as the Penguin is absolutely unrecognizable. I literally forgot he was in this until rechecking IMDB before writing this.

As for the main villains, Paul Dano gives us one of the darkest Batman villain yet. The antithesis of that other Riddler role that shall not be mentioned. And I won’t spoil the rest, other than to say if you google some after, you will see a clear link to a real life inspiration to the seedy world of this movie.

Overall, the movie was intriguing and refreshing in the “well, it was a different take” way. That being said, I doubt I feel the need to rewatch it anytime soon. That is not uncommon for the more serious takes on this world, however. It might say more about me than it does the movie. My official rating is this: I liked it, but probably won’t rewatch it until time to go watch a sequel.