The Batman

Rain, corruption and near-permanent night dominate what viewers describe, and the comparisons they reach for are Se7en, Zodiac and Chinatown rather than any prior superhero picture — many call it a detective story first, a comic-book movie a distant second. Paul Dano's Riddler draws the loudest praise, singled out as genuinely disturbing by admirers and dismissed as a bore by detractors. Colin Farrell under prosthetics earns near-universal delight for being unrecognizable. Greig Fraser's cinematography and Michael Giacchino's pounding theme get credited even by viewers who otherwise disliked the film, several saying the score stayed in their heads for days.

Running time is where the room breaks apart. Enthusiasts insist the three hours never drag and would happily sit for more; a large contingent reports nodding off, wanting twenty minutes cut, or noting neighbors asleep in the theater. Pattinson splits along a similar seam — won over by skeptics who expected nothing, called sleepy, monotone and emo by others who object to the whispered dialogue and narrow emotional range. A recurring, more specific complaint from viewers who otherwise admired the film: the first two thirds soar and the final act loses them, in tonal shift, in pacing, or in a mystery whose payoff they found anticlimactic.

Written from the reviews Rankquant collected for this title, and AI-curated from them. Opinions are the reviewers', not Rankquant's.