After months of anticipation, the world finally got a chance to see Robert Pattinson as The Batman on Christmas night. The premiere was broadcasted on NBC and saw a massive 22.9 million viewers, which makes it the most watched premiere in the network’s history. Since then, the hype surrounding The Batman has reached a whole new level. Although it received mixed reviews from critics, the film was a massive commercial success and became the top-grossing movie of the year.
Pattinson’s latest film was released in theaters around the world just two weeks after Christmas and immediately became a major talking point. Due to the massive success of The Batman, it’s safe to say that Robert Pattinson is now Hollywood’s favorite ginger.
The hype surrounding The Batman led many fans to believe that the movie would be a major step up from Pattinson’s previous films. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, the polarizing movie feels like a step down from some of his previous, more critically acclaimed work. Perhaps these comparisons to Scott Adkins’ Mortal Kombat are a little extreme, but The Batman isn’t exactly aimed at a niche audience.
A Bittersweet Experience
Although the hype surrounding this movie was immense, it’s important to remember that it was also just as painful as it was exciting. In an effort to learn more about what makes this movie so special, I spoke with lead actor Robert Pattinson about the experience.
When I asked Pattinson about how it felt to play The Batman, he told me that it was “a real mix of emotions” and that he enjoyed “the darker side of things.” The reality is that while the opportunity to explore a darker aspect of himself was definitely exciting, it also felt like a bit of a bittersweet experience. Sincerely, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that playing The Batman was one of the most challenging roles of his career.
Pattinson also spoke about the pressure that he felt, which was certainly understandable. After all, millions of fans were watching him and expecting something great. Playing The Batman in front of such a large audience was certainly daunting and something that he had to overcome. This wasn’t just pressure coming from the audience either, as movie critics also had high expectations for this movie as well.
A Film On Many Levels
While speaking with Pattinson, it became apparent that he viewed The Batman as more than just a movie. In fact, the actor said that he saw the film as a “statement” about society and how we perceive violence in cinema. He was very candid about his motives, remarking that he wanted to explore “the darker side of things” and show how movies can be “artistic” while still maintaining a “sense of reality.”
There are certainly grounds for making this assertion. After all, this is the same actor who took on the role of Ra’s Al Ghul, the popular caped crusader played by Liam Neeson in the DC Films crossover event, “Dark Knight Rises.” While this is just one interpretation of Neeson’s final performance, it’s easy to see how it can be viewed as a political commentary on the growing use of extreme violence in our society. In keeping with this view, many have cited Pattinson’s performance as The Batman as a call to action. The irony, of course, is that the very violence that Pattinson is reacting against is embodied by the Joker, who Wayne Manor’s security chief Lucius Fox describes as “the most violent man in Gotham.”
As previously stated, The Batman wasn’t just a comedy. Although there are some genuinely funny scenes involving Batman and his allies interacting with the Joker’s henchmen, the storytellers behind The Batman didn’t skimp out on the dark humor, which involves a great deal of swearing and vulgarity. Even Adkins, who plays the Joker in the film, has commented that the actors in the film were “allowed to say the f-word more than [he] would have been.”
This is certainly due in part to the fact that the film was made for Hollywood, which is notorious for its racy scenes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a film with this amount of swearing and vulgarity is going to be a whole lot more popular than one composed mainly of beautiful people talking about art and philosophy. The reason behind this is that the former type of film would likely never have been made in the first place.
How Adkins’ Performance Impacts The Film
If you’ve seen any of the trailers for The Batman or heard anything about the film at all, then you’d probably know that Liam Neeson’s Ra’s Al Ghul has a pretty big impact on the story. After all, Ra’s is the father-turned-lizard king that the Joker serves, and Neeson’s character is heavily based on him. The question is, did Adkins’ performance as the Joker influence how Robert Pattinson interpreted the character?
When I asked Adkins about this, he told me that he did in fact impact the way that Robert Pattinson portrayed the Joker, saying that he “went a little bit more serious” with his performance than usual. This is most likely a reference to Adkins’ previous works, which is rife with dark humor.
The fact that Adkins felt comfortable enough to say this is a testament to the great chemistry that he and Pattinson share on screen. Since we don’t get to see Adkins’ version of the Joker, we’ll never truly know how he would have played this iconic character. However, what we can say for sure is that he would have made a pretty cool Mr. Jingles. In any case, it’s clear that the two main characters share a level of rapport that is all but impossible to replicate.
An Opportunity To Explore More Of Himself
While The Batman is undoubtedly a great showcase for Robert Pattinson’s acting prowess, it’s also a chance for the actor to explore more of himself. In particular, the film presents us with an opportunity to see Pattinson in a more serious light than we’ve ever seen him in before. This is in part due to the fact that this is Pattinson’s first film in three years and in part due to the fact that director Matt Reeves decided to take the opportunity to “reinvent” the Joker character. This is something that Reeves has previously admitted to and even cited as one of the reasons why The Batman is the “most ambitious” and “darkest” film that he’s ever made. With this in mind, it would be a mistake to view the film as just another funny, raunchy superhero movie.
As previously stated, playing The Batman was a real “mixed bag,” but a chance for Pattinson to explore more of himself and the type of roles that he tends to gravitate toward. In addition to this, many have expressed that they feel that the film is an important statement about the effects of social media and the impact that it has on the way that we perceive violence. Looking at the film from this perspective wouldn’t be a total loss. While there are certainly grounds for criticizing the film for not being as good as it could have been, there is also a lot to learn from it.
Whether you loved it or hated it, there is no denying that The Batman was a massive television event. This is mainly due to the fact that it was the first time that audiences had gotten their fill of superhero shenanigans following the massive success of Marvel and DC Films’ “Black Panther.” While that film focused on Wakanda, the fictional African nation featured heavily in the promotional materials for The Bat, which included a look at the country’s design culture.
A Film With A Learning Curve
If there’s one thing that The Batman is guaranteed to teach you, it’s about the nature of villains. If you’ve seen any of the film’s trailers or have watched any of the TV spot, then you already know what I’m talking about. While it would be easy to just laugh at the antics of Penguin, Riddler and the rest of the Gotham’s criminal population, it would be a mistake to view them as mere “cartoons.”