“The Batman” is arguably the most disturbing “Batman” film to date. It’s a somewhat strange film because parts of seem to almost perfectly capture the essence of “Batman” yet there are other parts of this film that feel more like it’s trying to be the next “Se7en” or “Silence of the Lambs”. “The Batman” certainly has its flaws but it was an engaging superhero flick.

As Batman (Robert Pattinson “Twilight”, “The Lighthouse”) enters his second year of vigilantism, The Riddler (Paul Dano “Prisoners”) begins terrorising Gotham with a series of gruesome murders of the city’s elites. Batman will have to use his detective skills to unravel a mystery that may tear Gotham apart and cause Batman to reassess his own mission.

Robert Pattinson is okay as Batman. I was really not enthusiastic about his casting but when he’s in the suit, he’s fine. The problem comes when he’s Bruce Wayne. The Bruce Wayne persona neve acts like a billionaire playboy, he just acts like a social outcast. Bruce Wayne is meant to be a public disguise for Batman. Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz “X-Men: First Class”) is mediocre. Her costume is terrible. Why can’t she have a proper cat mask? The Riddler also has a pretty terrible costume. I dislike that they make him seem a little too real. He seems like an actual terrorist and/or serial killer. I get that they didn’t want to replicate the goofiness of Jim Carrey in “Batman Forever” but maybe this is too far. I did really like Dano’s performance though. The make-up work for Colin Farrell (“DareDevil”) as The Penguin is very impressive. Farrell gives a good performance. John Turturro (“The Big Lebowski”) is great as Carmine Falcone.

“The Batman” finally allows us to see Batman’s great detective work as the other films always seemed to gloss over this. I think some of the action sequences are good, I like the visual style and some of the performances are good. However, there are still problems and I think some of it just feels to real for a comic book film.