We’re a long way from TV’s goofy Adam West in ill-fitting grey tights. It’s not just that the crime fighter is, in his pointy-eared demonic mask and vaguely kinky body armour, an unnerving champion – we’re not sure that he is on our side at all. Off duty, his lank hair and dark eyes make him look like an addict, as lost as any of Gotham’s lonely outcasts.Īlthough overlong and sometimes turgid, Reeves’ movie understands the central element of the Batman myth. In Matt Reeves’ much delayed The Batman, Robert Pattinson gives arguably the most flawed and disturbed portrayal of the caped crusader so far: a man struggling to contain his rage at the murder of his parents by hoodlums and confused about his dual identity as vigilante and reclusive rich boy. Batman is back, and more troubled than ever.
