I see your point, but I suppose he needed to differentiate this from the Nolan films somehow. Personally I dug it and it made me all the more interested in seeing him evolve into that playboy persona.

Just back. Holy **** that was awesome. The Batman movie I've always wanted.

Making my way through this thread, but those saying we needed to tie up the loose end by having Bruce fix up the orphanage or announce the restart of the Renewal... no way. That's WAY too on the nose. It's like what would happen in the CW Arrowverse version of this story.

Also fixing up the orphanage in Wayne Manor is literally how TDKR ends.

AliasMan02 said:

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Making my way through this thread, but those saying we needed to tie up the loose end by having Bruce fix up the orphanage or announce the restart of the Renewal... no way. That's WAY too on the nose. It's like what would happen in the CW Arrowverse version of this story.

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Exactly, that would be counter productive to what makes the movie work.

Loved it…need to go back and read the thread.

But if we all just pretend the Schwarzenegger batman film doesn't exist, we could call this one Batman Se7en

TCTTS said:

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AliasMan02 said:

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Making my way through this thread, but those saying we needed to tie up the loose end by having Bruce fix up the orphanage or announce the restart of the Renewal... no way. That's WAY too on the nose. It's like what would happen in the CW Arrowverse version of this story.

Also fixing up the orphanage in Wayne Manor is literally how TDKR ends.

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There is nothing more on-the-nose that Bruce *literally* telling the audience the lesson he learned. That's straight up bad, lazy writing. I'm not a fan of the orphanage thing, as yeah, it was already done in TDKR. But just getting *some* kind of hint - however subtle - that Bruce Wayne is finally coming out of his shell, and is ready to engage/change Gotham in a positive way on that end as well, would have done wonders, and paid off a thread that Reeves himself established early in the film.

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I'll agree you have a point, but I think I just don't like the suggestions thrown out so far....fixing up the orphanage, attending a press conference or some big gala as the "new" Bruce Wayne....nah, doesn't fit him yet.

But maybe just a very quick, passing shot of him strolling into a Wayne Industries board meeting. Something very subtle like that. A baby step.

I'm a little torn on the ending because on one hand it gave us the amazing scene of him dropping through the stadium with the amazing score going beating the crap out of guys, but on the other hand why does every batman villain have to escalate to some destroy the city level event. The movie was really cool with the small scale murder mystery vibe and then it had to go full blown comic movie mode. They could have still attacked the stadium to go after the politicians but I think the flood was kind of stupid.

Why did Riddler let himself get caught and think he needed to flood the city. I understand wanting to keep going after city officials because they are all liars and corrupt, even the presumption that the future Mayor will be more of the same. Don't see why he had to turn himself in if all he wanted was a meet up with batman he could have set it up somewhere on his terms.

I did get goosebumps from his descent into the stadium so I will forgive the story that led up to it.

The story and heath ledger are still better in the DK, but I think this movie just gave us awesome batman moments. The bat mobile opening was ****ing amazing, the John Wick style club beat downs, the hallway scene, and the ending drop into the stadium were really good.

Also as said before, batman should not be getting shot so much good lord he isn't Iron Man. I think he took more bullets than Iron Man lol.

Wasn't that kind of done already in TDKR?

I liked it more than The Dark Knight, and TDK was previously my favorite CBM, for context.

This was the first Batman movie I actually felt like Batman was the star of the movie.

Batman: The Batman
Villain: TDK because of Ledger and Eckhart
Side characters: The Batman
Alfred: TDK
Batmobile: The Batman
Score: pains me, but The Batman
Cinematography: The Batman
Editing/Script: The Batman

I love The Dark Knight, but to me The Batman is better in almost every way.

Round two. The theater Thursday afternoon was only half full, and the crowd relatively subdued. Feel like I made a mistake seeing it that early, especially considering Pattinson himself showed up for the showing right after mine. Tonight, though? The place is absolute packed, and the crowd is electric. So stoked.

TCTTS said:

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You guys are taking this way too literally. It can be at Wayne Tower, it can be on a boat, in an plane, the outskirts of the city, wherever. Just *anything* that shows follow through after the meeting Bruce didn't want to take earlier in the film. And not even a full scene, just some little peek or hint at something that's part of the end montage vibe we already got.

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Should be a recovering Alfred sitting with some predatory accountant types then Bruce walking in and sitting down. Alfred smiles.

I would just be repeating a lot of what has already been said, but I really enjoyed the movie. I would personally put it just below the Dark Knight when it comes to Batman movies.

The cinematography in this movie floored me from the beginning. I couldn't tell you why I loved the way it was shot, but each frame was such a pleasure to see.

Immediately after the movie, I wasn't thinking about the end the way others here have. However, I do agree it would have made more sense to see him actually make a change as Bruce Wayne.

One small piece that I really appreciated so much, was the fight with Catwoman. I know it was mentioned earlier, but that made me so happy. Yeah, there was a woke statement in the movie, but that was completely in line with Selena's character. A "woke movie" would have seen our Batman go toe to toe with Catwoman and make it an even match for a girl power moment. Seeing this would have completely taken me out of the movie. The fact she couldn't even land a hit on the Batman was so perfect.

Somehow even better the second time.

Such an incredible experience, one made all the more entertaining when you see it with a packed, cheering audience who gives it a huge applause at the end (and lit up when the Batmobile first revved its engines).

I also caught so many more little clues/bits of dialogue this go-around, and the whole thing flowed better too. You can really see the structure of the thing, and neither time I've seen it has the runtime bothered me in the least.

One relatively subtle thing that stuck out this time, that I haven't seen mentioned much, if at all, is how fun all the twin scenes are, and how each of those scenes evolve each time they answer the knock on the door. I was listening to a podcast that really underlined this, and the first time he knocks it's as Batman, barging in through the front door, and having to fight his way through, of course met with all kinds of resistance. The second time he knocks, though, it's as Bruce, which, in contrast, gives him instant access/no resistance at all - showing (us and him) that *Bruce Wayne* can be an effective tool as well. Then, the third time he knocks, it's as Bruce Wayne AND Batman, using BOTH identities in harmony, to maximum effect, to first sneak in, then put on his Batman suit to kick some ass. It really is such a cool and effective manifestation of a character arc.

Speaking of the Iceberg Lounge, one funny thing I didn't catch the first time is that after Batman and Gordon capture the Penguin, tie him up by is arms and ankles, and then leave him at the abandoned building, he literally has to waddle after them - like a penguin - as he pleads. Such a great little touch. This movie really is pretty funny at times, or more funny than people seem to be giving it credit for, at least.

But yeah, overall, it just flat out rocks, on so many levels, looks even more breathtaking and iconic the second time around, and features so many incredible sequences. It almost doesn't make sense how much awesome is packed into this thing.

Oh, and Catwoman absolutely owns every scene she's. Kravitz is so crazy good on second-viewing as well.

All that said, I finally figured out what was bugging me so much about the exposition scenes. Each individual scene/info dump works on its own for the most part, and is totally fine in a vacuum. The issue I realized is that they're ALL one right after another…

- At the abandoned Batsignal building, Catwoman reveals to Batman that Falcone is her father, then TELLS THE STORY of her childhood, her mother, and Falcone.

-NEXT SCENE: Back in the Batcave, Bruce watches the news, which features a breaking report where in the Riddler TELLS THE STORY of Thomas Wayne and Falcone, which sends Bruce spiraling.

-NEXT SCENE: At 44 Below, Bruce confronts Falcone, Falcone then TELLS THE STORY of him and Thomas Wayne, as untruthful as it is.

-NEXT SCENE: At the hospital, Alfred TELLS THE STORY of Thomas Wayne and Falcone to Bruce, the version that's actually true.

-NEXT SCENE: Back at the abandoned Batsignal building, Catwoman plays the voicemail that TELLS THE STORY that implicates Falcone in her roommate's murder, then, seconds later, Kenzie TELLS THE STORY of how Falcone took down Maroni and took over Renewal, becoming the defacto "mayor" of Gotham.

For those counting, that's SIX consecutive expositional/backstory info dumps across FIVE consecutive scenes. In other words... a lot.

On the one hand, you can really feel the movie come to an abrupt halt for a good 15 to 20 minutes or so while all of those stories are told, a movie that had been absolutely humming before that point. But on the other hand, I would argue that all of the expositional information is crucial, none of it could have been revealed any earlier, and the movie *does* kick right back into high gear the second Kenzie reveals the final piece of the puzzle. Seeing as there's no doubt Reeves is aware of how much exposition he has to give the audience at this juncture, this time around it felt more like a *designed* sequence of scenes, where he just decided to bite the bullet and spill all of the info "at once," across a five-scene sequence. Which, in a way, makes it a bit more forgivable, and does allow the audience to take a breather of sorts before the final push to the end. So, while it's all still a bit problematic, I do give Reeves points for basically leaning into the issue, owning it for what it is, and making a deliberate sequence out of it, in which the story being told evolves piece-by-piece, scene-by-scene.

I'll also say that, while the Joker scene still sucks, I was able to concentrate more on the dialogue this time, which is actually really well written and clever. That, and I *do* kind of like that this Joker seems to have a slight New Yawk/Brooklyn accent, which makes sense and could at least be something different. Though, what little we do get to see of him still looks terrible - it looks like used hairspray to intentionally make his hair look "messy," and the prosthetics don't look right at all - but I am somewhat encouraged by Reeves saying he may not even use him the sequel. We'll see.

The last thing I'll say is that the movie was also somehow more emotional for me this go-around. Certain emotional moments definitely landed better, especially the Bruce/Alfred scene in the hospital, and the hand-holding there, along with, yes, even the final voice over, which admittedly worked a *bit* better for me this time.

I doubt I see the movie for a third time in the theater, but I won't lie... I do kind of want to. Though, knowing it'll be hitting HBO Max around April 19, I think I can hopefully hold out 'til then.

Riddler knows. My opinion.

I thought Dano's line where he said something along the lines of Bruce being a mask and Batman being the real person was superb. Just stuck with me after the movie

One of favorite things, and I'm not sure if it's been said, was the "bat mobile" or rather the Bat mucsle car. Holy balls in IMAX that thing tickled all the right spots for me. You can see Bruce's love for classic cars when he pulls up in the old Vette. But my god that muscle car just sounded AMAZING and looked just as good

Going to see it for a second time just so I can hear the Batmobile fire it up again on a theater sound system. That scene and the subsequent chase were badass!