by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — Happy Friday. If cinema is broken down into monolithic periods like “the golden age” and “the independent era,” then we’ve definitely just left “the age of the comic book.”

If you’re a long-time CultureCow reader, you already know that I love superhero flicks. They’re fun, the heroes and villains are interesting (if a little one-dimensional), and the plots are sensational. Everything a modern blockbuster needs.

With Thanos defeated and Marvel in the early stages of establishing its next “Big Bad,” however, the genre seems likely to fade a little from the mainstream and more towards nerds like me. Unless comic book studios start to make films like The Dark Knight again.

Enter: The Batman. The newest iteration of Gotham’s shady protector stars Robert Pattinson and is directed by Matt Reeves which is currently playing at the Wellington Regent.

In an industry saturated in comic book nonsense (especially Batman movies), this film had every chance to fail, but it turned out to be a breath of fresh air to the genre. It managed to have a new take on Batman and most of his villains, which has proven difficult for DC as of late.

Luckily for those of you in Sumner County, the Batman is playing at the Regent all weekend.

Here’s what you need to know beforehand (spoiler free):

They actually read a comic book

Reeves is the guy behind Cloverfield and two of the Planet of the Apes movies, so he’s no stranger to tentpole movies. But he’s never tackled a superhero movie yet.

Sometimes, studios trust directors who’ve never read the comics with their superheroes to disastrous results. One only needs to look at Alan Taylor who nearly killed the Thor franchise with his terrible vision for Thor: the Dark World.

Thankfully, Matt Reeves doesn’t fit that description.

Reeves clearly understands Batman for what he really is: an extremely traumatized rich boy who would rather play dress-up and beat up criminals than donate billions of dollars to actually clean up his city. Batman is a flawed superhero by definition but manages to bring down criminals that regular law enforcement is too inept and corrupt to handle.

The comic book this Batman is based on is called The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. It follows Batman, two years into his career in fighting crime, but before he becomes the world’s greatest detective.

It’s an excellent series and gives viewers a glimpse at the hero while he’s still figuring out how to do his job. Reeves follows the source material religiously so it makes sense that his movie would come out similarly great.

Every actor knew how to act

This also isn’t a given in comic book movies, but everyone on this cast held their own.

Robert Pattinson was obviously the biggest unknown, of course. He hasn’t been in a major franchise film since the Twilight movies and many (including myself) doubted he would be a right fit for a crime-fighting detective.

Thankfully, my fears were unjustified, because he did great. Pattinson is no stranger to playing dark, broody characters and he went full goth sad-boy for his take on Batman. Bruce Wayne isn’t the ostentatious playboy of old, but instead, a mysterious recluse that hasn’t figured out he needs to keep up public appearances to hide his secret identity.

But what’s a good leader without a standout number two?

Zoë Kravitz took on the role of Catwoman, Gotham’s greatest thief (get it? Cat burglar) and Batman’s forbidden love. Kravitz is a marvelous actress usually, but she is really known as Catwoman as only Halle Barry could.

More on those two in a minute.

Jim Gordon, the only ethical cop, also got a rebrand. He’s played this time around by Jeffrey Wright who changed the character in a positive way. Gary Oldman, the role’s previous actor, played Gordon closer to the comics: an overworked “traditional” cop who relies on Batman due to his own limits on what the law allows.

Jeffrey Wright plays Gordon as more of a peer to Batman who teaches him the ropes of detective work. Not only does this give the character more agency, but it’s also far more entertaining as a pairing.

Gordon also calls Batman “man” all the time and turns the dark movie into a buddy-cop for brief moments, which is a welcome reprieve.

Finally, Collin Farrell does an excellent job as the Penguin. The Penguin isn’t a serious villain, so there’s nothing keeping Farrell from doing schtick. He acts as the comic relief without playing himself a clown and his performance was the most unexpected joy of the movie.

Riddle me this: What’s a villain that everyone knows about that isn’t the Joker?

After Jared Leto turned the Joker into cyber-punk wannabe gangster who didn’t tell jokes, it was the right idea to leave him out of this story. Batman has the greatest set of villains of any superhero that you don’t always need to rely on his arch-nemesis to challenge him.

The Riddler is an excellent example of that.

I always thought The Riddler was just Jim Carey’s silly role from Batman Forever, but it turns out he’s a great foil to Batman when he needs to be. This iteration is played by Paul Dano and errs far closer to psychopathic incel than a comedian.

The Riddler is the perfect villain for a Batman learning how to do detective work. Every crime scene is meticulously laid out to provide clues not because that’s what the film demands, but because that’s the character’s calling card.

Paul Dano is also a creepy guy in real life, so he plays a believable Batman villain.

This detective story is SEXY

Film noir is a great movie genre. It’s dark and foreboding while simultaneously smooth and sexy and that doesn’t seem at odds with each other because the characters are complex enough to pull it off.

The Batman just takes that model and adds comic book effects.

There aren’t any graphic scenes in this movie, but it still has more sexual tension than Fifty Shades of Gray ever did. Pattinson and Kravitz have palpable sexual chemistry and it’s evident every time they share the scene.

Even the scene they meet feels like the beginning of an “erotic film” despite the fact that Collin Farrell’s Penguin stands between them. Batman and Catwoman are an excellent forbidden romance and these two characters brought that too life.

Because of these two actors, I could’ve watched three additional hours of an already three-hour-long film.

Meme of the week

I, unfortunately, can’t look at every meme that dominates the internet every week, so if you see a meme and think it should be the meme of the week please send it to: SumnerCultureCow@gmail.com

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If, on the other hand, you’d like to read more from me head over to my blog, MouthfulofTeeth.com where you’ll find my favorite CultureCow articles and my other writing on politics, fiction, and anything else you’d like to read.

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