Robert Pattinson had a lot to prove as Batman in The Batman. For many fans, he was still the actor who played Edward Cullen in Twilight, not an acclaimed actor who had been doing great indie movies in the ensuing years. He proved all the naysayers wrong, as fans and critics alike have been praising his portrayal of the iconic character every chance they get.
There have been some great Batmen over the years, but Pattinson’s Batman has a certain something that many of the others didn’t. His performance of the character, and this version’s actions in the film, does a lot better than any of the other Bat-actors.
He Has The Most Batman Moment Ever
The Batmobile is an indelible part of the Batman mythos and The Batman takes an interesting approach to it. Instead of some unrealistic supercar, the Batmobile in the movie is a souped muscle car, one that fans never get a great look at until close to the end of the movie’s chase scene, jumping through a fiery explosion to slam into Penguin’s car.
After this comes the most Batman moment ever caught on film- Batman, the rain falling around him and illuminated by the fire behind him, slowly stalking toward the Penguin. Pattinson’s lanky Batman and his slow, deliberate walk make this scene work in a way no other Batman actor before him could have and it’s one of the movie’s marquee moments.
He Makes Audiences Feel Bad For Him
Batman has always flourished in sad stories. His origin is the saddest story of all and Pattinson’s performance captures that in a way that other Batman portrayals haven’t. They’ve certainly tried but these movies writing Bruce Wayne as the billionaire playboy make it hard to actually feel bad for them; even if they’re pretending, it seems like they enjoy their life.
Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne definitely does not enjoy his life. He only seems alive at all when he’s Batman and even then, it’s only a cursed half-life. His Batman is sympathetic in a way no other Batman before him has been, really playing into how Batman’s formative tragedy would mold him.
He Has The Best Character Growth
Gotham is a very dangerous city and it molds every inhabitant in different ways. The tragedies of Bruce Wayne’s life have seen him grow into a withdrawn man obsessed with vengeance, which is where viewers find him in The Batman. As the movie goes on, though, he starts to realize that maybe his current method isn’t the best.
This hits home in the Riddler interrogation scene and everything that comes after. These events force him to re-evaluate how he approaches his life as Batman. The movie ends with a very different Batman than how he began. While other Batmans grow in their movies, none of them can boast the kind of growth that Pattinson’s does.
He’s Actually A Detective
Batman’s detective skills in the movies have often been rather non-existent or dependent on tools. Batman in the comics isn’t always the best detective but he’s better at it than most of the movie versions. Pattinson’s Batman, on the other hand, is a real detective. A lot of this has to do with the Riddler being the movie’s villain, but Riddler was in Batman Forever and Kilmer’s Batman never actually seemed like one.
It was nice to have a Batman who actually flexed these muscles. Pattinson’s Batman may have missed some clues but even that felt accurate to him based on where he was in his Batman career.
