The Batman Review Roundup--Here's What The Critics Think

DC's The Batman comes to theaters on March 3, and ahead of that, reviews for the superhero film have begun to appear online. We're rounding up review excerpts below to help you get an idea for if the film is worth your time and money.

Here at GameSpot, we scored the film a 6/10 in our The Batman review. Reviewer Mason Downey wrote, "This is a Gotham that is both familiar and new, grounded and somehow completely bizarre. If The Batman has one major masterstroke that should be replicated in future live-action adaptations, this is it."

The Batman is directed by Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet the Apes) and stars Robert Pattinson as Batman. The rest of the cast includes Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon.

You can see a sampling of review scores and excerpts below, and more critical consensus here at GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

The Batman

• Directed by: Matt Reeves
• Written by: Matt Reeves, Peter Craig
• Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Colin Farrell
• Release Date: March 3

GameSpot -- 6/10

"Unfortunately for Reeves, however, The Batman only succeeds as a story a little less than half of the time--which, given it's staggering three hour runtime, is certainly still an achievement, but leaves some things to be desired nonetheless." -- Mason Downey [Full review]

IGN -- 10/10

"The Batman is a gripping, gorgeous, and, at times, genuinely scary psychological crime thriller that gives Bruce Wayne the grounded detective story he deserves. Robert Pattinson is great as a very broken Batman, but it’s Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano who steal the show, with a movingly layered Selina Kyle/Catwoman and a terrifyingly unhinged Riddler. Writer/director Matt Reeves managed to make a Batman movie that's entirely different from the others in the live-action canon, yet surprisingly loyal to Gotham lore as a whole. Ultimately, it’s one that thoroughly earns its place in this iconic character's legacy." -- Alex Stedman [Full review]

San Francisco Chronicle - No Score

"When he finally gets to show his face, Paul Dano seems genuinely and disturbingly crazy as the Riddler, and John Turturro has a good time playing Gotham’s biggest mob boss. Colin Farrell, as the Penguin, is unrecognizable under the makeup, which is vaguely amusing. And Michael Giacchino's music is quite good--eerie, repetitive, modernist. But nothing that works here adds up to anything worth a long slog in a movie theater, watching Pattinson punching guys and knocking guns out of their hands. From start to finish, The Batman is mostly just a collection of bad ideas." -- Mick LaSalle [Full review]

USA Today - No Score

"Reeves' The Batman is doing its thing far outside of the DC movie universe where Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman hang out. That’s a good thing: Pattinson's main man holds down a revamped Gotham that feels distinctively gritty with its blueprint of madness and mayhem, a place you would never want to live in but still would love to revisit as soon as possible." -- Brian Truitt [Full review]

Variety -- No Score

"A movie like this will inspire countless debates: Does The Batman really need to be this dark? Can it hold a candle to Nolan’s trilogy? There’s room enough for both to exist, and space for sequels to build on this foundation, which assumes a certain familiarity with the character’s mythology. That’s the beauty of Batman, who transcends all the other heroes in the DC Comics stable: Like Dracula or Hamlet, this iconic antihero stands up to endless reinvention. Whether campy or pop, self-questioning or complicit, he tells us something new about ourselves every time he steps out of the shadows." -- Peter Debruge [Full review]

NY Post -- 2/4

"The Batman is the first Caped Crusader adventure in a while to come off as completely purposeless. Christopher Nolan's movies reframed the comics as realistic, psychologically complex tales of urban blight, and Affleck’s Bruce was built to fit into a wider DC universe. The Batman is here just to ensure that Marvel has box office competition. It's a shame Joaquin Phoenix's Joker was the one-off and The Batman has planned sequels. I’d rather see more Arthur Fleck." -- Johnny Oleksinski [Full review]