The Batman is one of 2022's most anticipated releases, and for good reason. It fuses the darkly engrossing vision of director Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) with an all-star cast and an appreciable, back-to-basics approach for the titular Dark Knight.
Robert Pattinson makes his DC debut as a younger Bruce Wayne who is in the throes of becoming the iconic Batman. Influenced by classic comic arcs such as Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Year One, the movie promises to be a three-hour-long crime epic that grounds many of the fantastical elements of the Batman mythology.
One of the key factors is the way in which the movie has re-imagined The Riddler. Forget Jim Carrey's campily enjoyable turn in the gaudy Batman Forever; as imagined by Paul Dano, this psycho is a gaffer tape-wielding, fiendishly clever and deeply twisted loner who's said to be influenced by the notorious, real-life Zodiac killer. (The events of the Zodiac's crime spree were adapted for the big screen in David Fincher's 2007 film of the same name,)
As The Riddler embroils Wayne in his twisted mind games, our anti-hero must also contend with vicious crimelord Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin (an unrecognisable Colin Farrell) and an emergent cat burglar named Selina Kyle, who goes by the alias Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz). Wayne's two greatest allies are Commissioner Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and the always-loyal butler Alfred.
The A-list cast is showcased in the following images, which also give an indication of the handsome, noirish aesthetic. Could we be looking at a classic Batman movie to rival Christopher Nolan's achievements within the comic book genre?
Scored by Rogue One's Michael Giacchino, lensed by Dune's Greig Fraser, and designed by Avengers Assemble's James Chinlund (art direction) and Little Women's Jacqueline Durran (costumes), this has the potential to be a spectacular revisionist take on the Batman legend.
The Batman is released in Cineworld cinemas on 4th March 2022.
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