Entertainment

Early Reviews Suggest ‘The Batman’ Is the Best Batman Movie. Period.

The hype for the new Bats is very real.

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Batman trailer red
Credit: Warner Bros.

When it was announced that Robert Pattinson would play a new version of the Caped Crusader, it might not have been the Batman we expected, but it sounds like he might be the one we needed. Early reviews for The Batman are out, and they aren’t mixed or confusing. The reviews are astoundingly positive. Here’s why it looks like The Batman could be the best Batman movie of all time. No spoilers.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, The Batman currently holds a 91 percent fresh, which is down slightly from a debut at around 94 percent. The reviews are overwhelmingly positive, though a few critics have pointed out that the movie is a bit long. Over at ScreenCrush, Matt Singer — who gave the flick 7 out of 10 — wrote that The Batman has a belabored ending, saying the movie “trudges through about as many conclusions as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

Writing for ComicBookMovie.com, Josh Wilding says The Batman is one of “the best superhero movies ever made.”

Alex Stedman, writing for IGN, gave The Batman 10 out of 10. Like many other critics, she pointed out that this isn’t an origin story, nor is it an action-adventure movie. Instead, this film is a detective story, which Stedman called “gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary.”

Eric Francisco, at Inverse, says that with his version of Batman, “Pattinson is on another level.”

All critics have pointed out the movie is close to three hours long, and that Paul Dano’s Riddler and Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon are each amazing. However, this movie is not for the faint of heart and is apparently scary as hell. Don’t take the kids, but it sounds like you do have to see it. It’s not quite Summer 2022 yet, but with the debut of The Batman, it feels like summer movie season is starting off with a very, very big bang.

The Batman opens in theaters (only) on Friday, March 4, though some earlier showings are on March 3.

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