Why ‘The Batman’ was not as genius as fans like to believe

(Another) Disclaimer: This piece is not intended to insult or offend anyone who was involved with the making of this film; this is solely my opinion and I will admit that I am not the demographic that this movie is made for.

The movie starts out with a long (and pretty boring) exposition where it sets the scene for the villain of the story: The Riddler.

Long (three hour) story short, the Riddler kidnaps people and tortures them, Batman tries to save them by figuring out the riddles (I know, the Riddler has one clever name for a supervillain), Batman is too slow to figure them out and then the person dies anyways. That is literally it. For a movie with a three-hour run time, you would think that the plot would be much more exciting than that.

Alas, it is not. Now, I can usually appreciate a movie where I am not super crazy about the topic if I think that it was well-written and genuinely entertaining.

After all, I, someone who claimed to hate superhero movies, saw ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’ over winter break and LOVED it.

I thought I would feel the same about The Batman and it got rave reviews, so I had high, high hopes. Sadly, they were dashed about fifteen minutes into the movie when I had the realization that I really was not enjoying the time (and money) that I had spent to go see this atrocity in theaters (okay, that was kind of dramatic, but still, you get the point).

Allegedly, Warner Brothers charged more for movie tickets to see The Batman than some theaters were charging to see other movies. Why they thought that this movie was better than anything else that they had ever made *cough Harry Potter*, I do not know.

Not only is this a bit isolating, but it is a huge turnoff for people who are not huge fans of DC or movies in general. I would know, I fall into both of these categories. But many times, the movies that my friends bring me to actually end up making the (very short) list of my favorite movies. Not this time. I left the movie theater beyond disappointed and feeling like an outcast within my friend group.

Although I am generally not a fan of movies that fall into this style, I honestly do not think anyone enjoyed it because it was not authentic or original in its own right. I am pretty sure that everyone who enjoyed it has either a deep love for the initial Batman comics and movies, or they just have some weird fixation on Robert Pattinson.

Now, I am not entirely sure whether I hate the character of Batman or if I just have a deep-seated hatred of Robert Pattinson. No hate to him, but his style of acting is just not for me. I do not know if it is the characters that he is playing or if it is just the way he portrays them, but I can honestly say that this is not the only franchise that he starred in that I disliked. I have never enjoyed the Twilight movies. I honestly do not understand how anyone could (but that is another piece for another time).

As boring and ludicrous as I found this movie, I did enjoy the cinematography of it. The sets were gorgeous and the shots were honestly incredible. I had just hoped that I would like the storyline (and the characters) a bit more.

Now, many people have told me that I disliked this movie so much because I did not understand it.

“He’s a vigilante, Julia,” my friends would say.

“He acts like this because his parents died.”

Now, I did not have a ton of context going into the movie, so I was blissfully unaware that his parents died and were rich and whatever else. But, I did get that he was a vigilante.

If I had not had people telling me why he was a vigilante, I would have said that what he is doing makes no sense and that the movie needed to provide more (or any) context. I get that this movie was, in no way, meant to be for people who are new to the Batman franchise, but a little bit of context for the people who were just there to accompany family or friends (a.k.a. me) would have been greatly appreciated.

Maybe they did mention it, though, and I had just dozed off because, did I mention, that movie was THREE HOURS long.

At the end of the day, a mess of depressed people and explosions was just not a pleasant way to spend an evening. I was expecting Batman to be a quirky, lovable superhero who just wanted to save his city.

Overall, The Batman was a bit of a trainwreck when it came to the plotline. I wanted to like this movie so badly, but honestly, it did not make any sense whatsoever to someone who had not seen a Batman movie prior to this one. I do understand that it was not intended to be watched without the context of the other movies or comics, but it was not easy enough to follow for the casual viewer.

It was also just way too long. Especially for a movie that was meant to be an exposition to other movies. A three-hour exposition is way too long, but I digress. Obviously, many people loved it. Maybe this was a horridly hot take, but at the end of the day, The Batman was just a sad excuse for something to do on a Friday night.

If you really enjoyed this movie (like many people miraculously did), be sure to check out the piece about why The Batman was good on rmusentrymedia.com.