Michael Vincent Hollingshead

OMG, BOR-ING!!! What a disappointment! Holy smokes, what a waste of time and money for them to have made this - it's all rough takes and retakes and pretty much useless talking in between. Unless one is 'the' most obsessed Beatlephile, this is a load of useless footage. People forget there's a very good reason stuff winds up on the cutting room floor. The movie TRAILER was better than the first two HOURS of this drivel-show. Sigh. smh...

Methodically paced, The Batman is a study of nearly every role portrayed; so despite some reviewer's complaints that it's too slow moving, the film takes the time to flesh out each significant character (and sometimes even a minor or nearly insignificant one or two). The Batman is a dark visual masterpiece, with its constant intemperate gray weather looming over Gotham like the sinister crime bosses who run it into the ground for fun and profit; with unique imagery where rather than seeing a typical gun fight, the camera captures flashing blasts of bright orange in a a blackened hallway to illuminate the silhouettes of both the repeating assault weapons of the thugs and the swift fists and body blows coming from the Detective. The serious nature of the events unfolding before us is a decidedly much more dark departure from previous incarnations of Batman; omiting even the slightest hint of camp; and ensuring that our vision of Bruce Wayne is more akin to the likely tortured soul who never got over witnessing the murder of his parents in an alleyway at a young age. The Batman initially surprises the audience by NOT having him declare "I'm Batman!" when a thug asks him who he is, but he instead says, "I'm vengeance!", at least until he hears those same words out of the mouth of one of the Riddler's cult followers. This causes him to reflect even deeper on making sure he doesn't become the very thing he's fighting against; and made me wonder still if he found it curious that both he and the Riddler kept a diary of their being emotionally tormented by their past and their desire to effect change. At the end of Batman Begins, Rachel Doss (Katie Holmes) tells Bruce that his billionaire playboy persona is his 'real' mask. Judging by The Batman, who wears no such persona to throw anyone off the scent that he might be Batman; the dark, sullen, tormented soul you see in Bruce, in The Batman, is clearly not an alter ego. What you see is what you get. And it's definitely worth seeing. 🦇

Brilliant portrayal of actual events, with multi dimensional characters and edgy performances. It initially occurred to me the writers 'might' have wanted to show more of the actual plight of the Black community to note the necessity for the Panthers' activism, till I remembered that would be more about Black people yet again having to 'explain' themselves and their motives if they dane to show anger and outrage. In the end, the writers did well to let the characters speak for themselves, and they do-so justly and rightly.

While the topic itself initially had little appeal (I'm a retired Social Work Chaplain having worked among the homeless and mental health communities during my 38+ year career), I love many of the actors in this film and had never seen Lady Gaga act before. This was a remarkable character study of all of these decidedly misguided people. GREAT soundtrack collection of songs to boot! 4.5 stars! 🌟