‘The Batman’: Another Test-Screening Reaction With Detailed Plot Points

Here’s another take on Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” I had posted one on Sunday. This latest reaction, which is making the rounds in fan group circles, has a lot more plot points discussed, so beware if you don’t want to know too much about Reeves’ movie.

“I attended an early screening of the movie. it was 3 hours long. Robert Pattinson narrates the entire movie as Bruce Wayne. It’s a detective noir film and you’re really able to get into his head of Batman because of this. It’s very graphic, you can hear bones cracking during some of the fight scenes and Batman almost breaks his hand punching someone.”

“Alfred is more of a father figure than past iterations. He’s not really the butler figure but an ex-serviceman who is Bruce’s godfather. They have several arguments about Bruce’s life and why he shouldn’t be Batman. Especially when The Riddler starts his serial killer spree and targets both Batman/Bruce not realizing that they are the same person.”

“The Batman suit that is seen in the trailer is not the final look. Bruce pieced it together like he did his bat mobile. It gets destroyed during a scene with The Riddler . The Riddler leaves a bomb on the mayor (think “Saw”) and requests to speak with Batman. Everyone clears the room and Bruce changes into Batman. He taunts Batman by saying if he truly pursued justice then he would support the killings. Then the bomb goes off and destroys his suit.”

“It’s a thriller/noir type of movie and The Riddler is a serial killer. He and Batman have a cat/mouse game the whole movie. Bruce has mental health issues in the movie and Pattinson gives such a good performance. It’s very plot driven. Most scenes are darkly lit because Batman only comes out at night in this movie. I don’t know if that was written into the script or something but most scenes in the movie take place in the evening. Paul Dano is amazing! One of the best comic book villains in a long time. Like [Heath Ledger] made The Joker larger than life, Paul Dano makes The Riddler his own. It’s extremely haunting and some of it feels like a horror film. You could place his Riddler in a horror movie and he would fit perfectly.”

“The Batman” was test screened at the Warner Bros studio lot on Friday. The movie had a 3-hour runtime. Of course, this could just be a very rough cut. RBatz aside, “The Batman” cast also includes Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle aka The Catwoman, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton aka The Riddler, and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin.