Wears its inspirations on its sleeve, with a climax that feels patently absurd for what it is, but also exactly the kind of Batman movie I’ve been dreaming about forever. When The Dark Knight came out, I spent many hours with friends talking about what a sequel might have looked like had Ledger been alive. And I pitched something that, honestly, looked a whole lot like this. This was my dream Batman movie.
Very imperfect, but Reeves (for all his flaws) has actual vision. By the end, he made me feel something that Marvel hasn’t stirred in me for a very long time: a belief in heroes. A belief that maybe there are people who want to do the right thing in a broken system. Haven’t had a feeling like that since the OG Spider-Man movies? Captain America would kind of almost go there, but sentimentality was so disavowed by Marvel that they never let him go all the way. But somehow, a Batman movie manages to get there.
So congrats Matt. You made a movie that made me feel a thing about superheroes. As far as I’m concerned, you’re 2022’s biggest winner.
This was great.