This is "The" Batman movie

The Batman was a very anticipated movie of 2022, with a new Batman and a standalone storyline. With such a great legacy behind the character, it was a real challenge to do something that was never done before and that's exactly why The Batman is the best debut movie of the caped crusader.

All comic book fans know for a fact that the best stories of Batman are the ones where he goes all Sherlock to work a complicated case. Whether it be Batman: The court of owls, Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Hush, etc, these all explore the detective aspect of the character very deeply which was missing in the previous installments but not in this movie.

The movie takes this missing element and spins a story so exquisite that not even for a second you will feel unhooked, the story is full of plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It uses every character so adequately that none of them feel out of place. The story also does a good job of expressing the feeling of living in Gotham, how the city is divided into the high class and the low class and how everyone perceives Gotham differently.

The characters are beautifully written, they feel unique but at the same time familiar, both the arc and the dialogues complemented the characters. There are also subtle and brilliantly placed comic references for comic book fans.

Roberts Pattinson's Batman is all you can ever ask for, the way he moves in the Batsuit, every motion seemingly instinctive yet intentional, how his eyes track the environment, lock, linger while searching for clues, the thump of his boots entering a scene, the dialogue delivery, the brutality, and the intimidating glare is all classic Batman. You have to give credits to the fight choreographers, there are brilliant fight sequences that show off Batman's fighting and stealth abilities perfectly. This Batman is still learning and thus makes a lot of mistakes and learns from them.

Bruce Wayne on the other is not the typical "Bruce Wayne", he is still seeking closure on his parents' loss and is very focused to make Gotham crime-free, so much so that you will never feel that he is not wearing the Batsuit.

The villain Edward Nashton or The Riddler (Paul Dano) is written brilliantly, his motivations and plans never feel over the top, his riddles are meaningful and important to the story, you know he is a real deal when he keeps the audience as well as The Batman on their toes, Paul Dano explicitly conveys the emotions merely with his voice striking fear in the heart of the audience.

This movie also features classic characters like, Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell), and Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) all of them played their part extremely well, their movement, delivery, and feel were on point.

The direction and cinematography take this movie to a whole new level, it shows off the Batsuit and Gotham beautifully, it makes you feel the emotions behind the scenes. The sheer camera work is capable of giving you goosebumps.

And last but not the least, the background score of the movie created by Michael Giacchino is phenomenal. Only 30 minutes in the movie has no background music. It creates fear, suspense, intensity perfectly. It does an exceptional job of making you feel unsaid emotions.

He also gave background scores for movies like Spider-Man No Way Home, The incredibles, Dr. Strange etc.

All of these aspects combined flood you with different emotions. They make you feel like a part of Gotham, you feel the fear, the tension, and the suspense. This is the main reason this movie is a masterpiece because it indulges the audience, you feel like the characters are interacting with you.

Apart from the elements that this movie brought to the table, it does have some flaws.

Firstly If you are a casual watcher you may find the movie slow and depleted of action, it can be hard to catch up with what's going on and keep track of what happened earlier.

Secondly for me PERSONALLY, there was no practical use of the cape.

It is very easy to think that The Batman is not an origin story as Batman has been operating in Gotham for the past 2 years, but no you are wrong. This is an origin story, not of the superhero Batman but the character of Batman that we all know and love, the origin of the playboy persona of Bruce Wayne, this is also the main reason why the movie used "I'm Vengeance" instead of "I'm Batman" because he didn't realize it until now that "he needs to become something more". This is the kind of prelude that every Batman had but was never shown.