Well, it’s been a whole year since the premiere of The Batman, and if you didn’t watch it, here’s your chance to make up for lost time. In theaters now, the film follows billionaire playboy (and future Batman) Bruce Wayne as he struggles with paranoia, crippling anxiety, and the looming threat of a Gotham City plague that he mistakenly created. Embarking on a self-imposed quest for redemption, Wayne teams up with his former warden, turned business partner, Alfred (Jeremy Irons), to face down an army of thugs, drug dealers, and murderous psychopaths who want to bring him down.
Now that the dust has settled on the hype surrounding The Batman, it’s time to take a step back and reassess the film’s legacy. Below, you’ll discover everything you need to know about Robert Pattinson’s turn as the Caped Crusader, including key quotes from the actor himself.
The Dark Knight Returns
When The Batman was first announced, fans were ecstatic that they’d finally get to see a grown-up version of Batman on the big screen. The idea of Robert Pattinson playing the famous caped crusader who protects the streets of Gotham City was nothing short of groundbreaking. Here was an actor who’d previously played a teenage boy coming into his own and embodying a character who is, for the most part, supposed to be an adult.
Indeed, beyond the charisma and magnetism that made him a superstar and earned him a spot on Forbes’ prestigious 30 Under 30 list, Pattinson has been quietly amassing a phenomenal acting resume that dates back to his film debut in 2006. While most of the actor’s characterizations are gritty and realistic—even if they are often comical—the severity and complexity of some of his roles (particularly in 2015’s Map Of The World and last year’s Beautiful Souls) hint at his impressive depth and range.
An Intimate Connection
One of the things that makes The Batman such a special movie is how director Matt Reeves crafts an intimate connection with his audience through his depiction of Bruce Wayne’s mental health crisis. In the years since its premiere, the film has become something of a cult classic for its ability to bring the audience into the mind of a character who is usually depicted as being impervious to emotional connections.
Indeed, until recently, the most prominent depiction of mental illness in popular culture was most likely to be found on the big screen, whereupon the afflicted individual would typically be played by an actor with a high-profile celebrity. With the exception of his acclaimed performance in the Coen brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, here was a glimpse into a world where neuroses and psychoses were something to be ashamed of, kept hidden from the prying eyes of the general public. Most importantly, Reeves brought a humanizing touch to the often cold and heartless world of mental illness, making the audience feel compassion toward the characters instead of simply pitying them.
An Expressive Performance
When it comes to acting, Matt Reeves is a genius who always finds the best in his actors, and it’s clear that he saw something in Robert Pattinson that he couldn’t find in a bottle. One of the things that makes the actor so special is that he brought his entire being to the character of Bruce Wayne, embodying a billionaire playboy who is also a tortured and lonely man whose world has suddenly turned dark. With his expressive eyes and impassioned delivery, Pattinson brought a raw authenticity to a character that, until that point, had never been played with such intensity and depth of feeling. Indeed, in Reeves’ cinematic adaptation of Richard Powers’ novel, The Yellow House, Pattinson shares the screen with an exceptionally gifted and wide-ranging actor in John Malkovich, who portrays Powers’ twin brother, Charlie, and it’s clear that, for one reason or another, the two men have a lot in common. From the first scene of the movie, in which Malkovich’s character is revealed to the audience, the audience is immediately drawn into the dynamic between him and Pattinson’s Wayne, setting up a fascinating contrast between the two men.
A Balanced Portrayal
Despite his prodigious talent and his obvious attraction to the iconic Batman character, Robert Pattinson isn’t the first actor to don the cowl. In fact, prior to The Batman, several actors had played the Caped Crusader on screen. In some cases, their approach was very similar to how Reeves would later write, direct, and act in his own film. Take the case of George Clooney, who portrayed Harvey Dent/Two-Face in Batman & Robin. Similarly, Kevin Spacey was arguably the best at playing the mentally ill character of Frank/The Riddler in the 1997 Robin Hood film, in which he was also the adult supervillain. What’s more, according to some (though not all), there’s an even earlier incarnation of Batman in cinemas now: Jeremy Brett’s 1966–1967 portrayal of the caped crusader was regarded by some critics as being among the best ever.
Indeed, while the idea of Robert Pattinson playing Batman is intriguing, it’s important to keep in mind that this is but one film in the larger cinematic universe that is the Batman. We need to remember that, because of the nature of the character, there will be others. This is, after all, an actor who has played the same character in four different Shakespearean tragedies (Twelfth Night, Macbeth, King Lear, and Antony And Cleopatra), earning him the nickname “The British Michael Caine.” However, one thing is for sure: If there’s one place that you’re sure to find the great English actor, it’s on the big screen, playing the Caped Crusader.