“The Batman” (2022) - Why so serious?
Rest assured, Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” is a course correction, of sorts, from Zack Snyder’s take, but considerably different from Nolan’s. As it should be: the Batman contains multitudes. I don’t know that there’s any one definitive take on the character, though my personal preference tends to favor the darker aspects of the cowled crusader. What I usually use as a barometer is how Bruce Wayne is depicted. After all, the general assumption is that the Bat is what Wayne becomes to fight crime. However, within that are sets of options for portrayal. He can be the suave, debonair playboy type who can act the rich ass at a drop of a hat (Bale). He can be the genuine nice guy who seems to be a bachelor for life and reeks of earnestness and bad puns (Adam West!) He can be the grizzled warrior who’s plainly too old for this shit (Affleck…who I really wish had been given a better run) A cypher of a human being who seems to be the alter ego of Batman rather than a fully formed individual (Kea...