Brandon Tu

SPOILERS AHEAD: Brilliant film and solid 4.5/5 stars for me. I think walking out of the theater it was a bit lower, but after digesting it for almost a day now I've bumped the score up. I'm excited to rewatch it again in IMAX next week and it'll most likely bump the score even higher. I had really high expectations for this movie and it definitely delivered. The film was shot beautifully and they captured the hellhole of Gotham perfectly. Battinson was amazing as a year 2 Batman, still trying to find his calling and overcoming his trauma. Many people's criticism is that the Bruce/Batman persona was essentially the same but after realizing the context for this direction, it makes perfect sense that they would be the same. Bruce didn't care about maintaining two seperate personas, not until realizing his true purpose near the end and also when the Riddler was saying his name during the interrogation. There were subtle clues and hints throughout that let us know this was still a rookie batman. His fighting style, the way he was afraid of heights, endangering innocents during the car scene, making mistakes with the Riddler. Frankly, the entire cast was magnificent! My only nitpicks are I could feel how long the movie was, I felt like maybe 10-15 minutes could be trimmed near the end. And the voice volume in some moments were a bit too low. LAST THING, the ending sequence with him leading the people out of the arena with his flare was really moving, showing that he was the beacon of hope leading the citizens out of the dark. And also signifying Batmans transformation from raw vengeance to Gothams true hero. Was almost moved to tears.