FLIMS

THE BATMAN If you thought Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy made the Dark Knight myth as dark as it could get, wait until you see Matt Reeves’s new take on the character. The Batman is not just dark, it’s positively Stygian. Shot by Greig Fraser, its mood is grungy neo-noir in which the action often comes obscured by rain and shadows, the black tinged with highlights of blood red. Think Seven, with masks.

Donning the Batsuit this time is Robert Pattinson. As a depressive, taciturn Bruce Wayne, he wears a lank fringe like the oldest emo in town; as the Batman, meanwhile, he’s a menacing monolith, delivering terse lines in a muted Clint Eastwood monotone. Paring the character to his bare essentials, as a straightahead crimefighter whose inner angst we don’t need to worry about too much, Pattinson gives the Batman all he really needs in a film