In 2019, the casting of Robert Pattinson sent the DC faithful into pandemonium. The non-emotive vampire from the ‘Twilight’ movies was not many saw as a consideration, let alone the top choice to play one of the iconic comic book characters of all time in ‘The Batman.’ To Robert Pattinson’s credit, he had spent the post-Twilight part of his career with spectacular indie cred. There were doubts, but then came his day of reckoning…
Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ with Robert Pattinson blew everyone out of the water. Reeves’ film was a faithful adaptation of pulp-fiction/comic books/graphic novels that show a young Bruce Wayne (masterfully inhabited by Robert Pattinson), only in the second year of his crime-fighting persona. Soon, fans called it the best Batman movie, embracing Pattinson as this generation’s favorite Batman.
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Robert Pattinson’s Batman Is Still A Vigilante
Robert Pattinson’s Batman is a sleepwalking, deranged gumshoe who is out to put god’s fear into the hearts of the criminal component by beating them to a pulp. Unlike previous iterations, our dark knight is not a social bird but a recluse with a terrifyingly singular mission. He’s not a beacon of hope yet, but a phantom menace himself, with his moral compass wavering constantly.
His suit screams DIY craftsmanship, but still needs refinement. The tech is buggy; the armed convoy of his is not some irrationally huge tank but just a good ol’ American muscle car. And clearly, the glider needs another round of R&D. He runs into every battle as if it is his last, not caring about the tactical aspect of the fights. He’s still figuring out whom to trust, clearly not past abandonment issues.
All in all, Robert Pattinson successfully captures the fundamentally gothic aspects of the character, still trying to find his standing in society off-kilter by morality and goodness.
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Robert Pattinson’s ‘The Batman’ Draws From 70s Movies
There’s a lot to admire about ‘The Batman.’ Matt Reeves approaches what could have been tiresome, most notably the portrayal and unraveling of his characters. His command of the look, the score, and the selection of the rogue’s gallery, exciting dynamics between characters is also worth admiring. For his iteration of Batman, he took inspiration from various movies and comic books.
After seeing him in ‘Good Time,’ Matt Reeves was convinced about Pattinson. The primary source of the movie’s atmosphere came from the 70s Hollywood movies. Reeves was inspired by ‘Chinatown,’ ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘The French Connection,’ ‘Klute,’ and ‘All The President’s Men.’ He cited ‘Chinatown‘ as his main inspiration, drawing parallels between both movies being elaborate murder mystery stories.
We would be remiss to mention the comic books that inspired ‘The Batman.’ The foundation stone for the Matt Reeves movies was the 1987 storyline ‘Batman: Year One‘ by writer Frank Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli. Other comics that influenced Reeves’ storytelling were, ‘The Long Halloween,’ ‘Ego’ and ‘Zero Year.’
Despite the shake-up at the DC studios, ‘The Batman’ remains on James Gunn’s new slate of projects. In fact, ‘The Batman Part II‘ is in development, with a release date of October 3, 2025.
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