The Batman (2022) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano

Release Date: May 24, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

More than a year of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies—Alfred (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright)—amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens. When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), Oz, aka The Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka The Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘The Batman’ accompanies a young Bruce Wayne (Pattinson) now in his second year as the Batman and beginning to build a reputation within Gotham City. But when a masked killer calling himself The Riddler (Dano) begins murdering some of the most important people in the city it will take all of Batman’s talents if he hopes to decipher the clues and uncover the identify of this new villain. Teaming with a young thief named Selina (Kravitz) and his trusted friend James Gordon (Wright) in the GCPD, our hero soon finds himself tackling the biggest mystery of his career so far and one layered in a conspiracy that just might hit closer to home than he could have anticipated.

Directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) from a screenplay that he additionally co-wrote along with Peter Craig (The Town), Reeves does a magnificent job at the helm of ‘The Batman’ guiding along the thrilling excitement with an appropriately gloomy aura and style that works splendidly within. The film also benefits from a talented cast that includes Robert Pattinson (Tenet), Zoë Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald), Paul Dano (TV’s Escape at Dannemora), Jeffrey Wright (TV’s Westworld), Colin Farrell (The Gentlemen), John Turturro (TV’s The Night Of), Peter Sarsgaard (The Survivor), Jayme Lawson (TV’s The First Lady), Andy Serkis (Black Panther) and more, with the majority each offering quite solid and fitting performances in each of their respective roles. Pattinson certainly does a pretty great job in the role of Batman, although Farrell still tends to steal the show with his fantastic and nearly unrecognizable portrayal of Penguin whenever he’s onscreen.

‘The Batman’ is a thrilling adventure from start to finish that does a fantastic job of capturing the gloomy nature of Gotham and serving up some magnificent action sequences including a marvelous vehicle chase throughout the streets of Gotham amid pouring rain, plus plenty of other exciting moments that keep this three hour film from ever feeling dull or unnecessarily long. It also takes the time to really focus on the Dark Knight’s detective skills as he works to uncover the truth of a killer taking out some of Gotham’s most notable individuals, an important element of what makes Batman so unique and one that has also somewhat surprisingly been largely absent from many of the Batman films over the years.

Matt Reeves does a great job guiding along this dark new take on the iconic hero and Robert Pattinson does a solid job overall in the role which both help to make this one work as spectacularly as it does. A new take on some of our hero’s significant villains is also a noticeable change this time around and while some of them work better than others, the script and film itself are strong enough to make even some of the more disappointing elements largely forgivable. I would strongly encourage everyone to try and find the opportunity to check out ‘The Batman’ at your earliest convenience if you haven’t already had the pleasure. It’s easily up there with some of the best ‘Batman’ film adaptations and anyone who appreciates the character won’t want to miss out on this thrilling adventure that definitely does the character justice.

Overall, ‘The Batman’ is a fantastic and rewarding new take on the beloved hero that fittingly captures the dark nature of his world and the other aspects of the grimy underbelly of Gotham and its occupants, while also delivering a solid story and some breathtaking action throughout. ‘The Batman’ easily earns one of my highest possible recommendations, especially for dedicated fans of Batman and the DC Universe in general, along with anyone who merely appreciates a great action film with a lot of style and care put into nearly every aspect within. If you enjoy a quality superhero film or the character of Batman in particular than you won’t want to skip this one and at the absolute least it should prove well worth the price of a rental and a few hours of your time. Just don’t be too surprised if you also end up wanting to purchase a copy after watching.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Batman’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks magnificent as a whole and provides a sharp, clean and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any notable troubles to be uncovered along the way. It holds up wonderfully even during the numerous darkly lit and fast moving sequences which are prominent throughout, never allowing anything that’s occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. The Dolby Vision addition only further complements the presentation helping to boost the already vibrant colors and deep blacks in order to serve up a nearly flawless presentation. Overall, this is a fantastic Ultra High Definition presentation that looks consistently great every step of the way and should thoroughly thrill fans of the film and newcomers alike.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack serves up a crisp, clean and hard hitting presentation throughout. It constantly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send music, along with gunshots, vehicle effects, plus rain pattering and other weather elements, bits of crowd chatter and a whole lot more regularly zipping throughout the various speakers, while always making certain that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a wonderful Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers splendidly throughout and contributes plenty of extra fun and tension to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Batman’ includes a nice helping of bonus content, the entirety of which can be found on the included Special Features Blu-ray disc dedicated solely to the extras. Included on the release are 2 ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie with Optional Commentary (running approximately 8 minutes in length together), in addition to the making-of Documentary ‘Vengeance in the Making’ (running approximately 54 minutes in length) which features a look at bringing the film to life and features interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. We are also treated to other various Behind the Scenes Featurettes exploring the process of creating different aspects of the film; they include ‘Looking for Vengeance’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length), ‘The Batman: Genesis’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘Vengeance Meets Justice’ (approximately 8 minutes), ‘Becoming Catwoman’ (8 minutes), ‘The Batmobile’ (11 minutes), ‘Anatomy of the Car Chase’ (6 minutes), ‘Anatomy of the Wing Suit Jump’ (6 minutes), ‘Unpacking the Icons’ (6 minutes) and ‘A Transformation: The Penguin’ (8 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

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‘The Batman’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from DC Comics & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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