What's next for the world's greatest superhero?

Matt Reeves' The Batman is winning over critics and audiences alike. It's now the second highest grosser of 2022 and has an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In this contrarian review, discover why the movie shows the mess DC Comics is in, it's thematic flaws, and more👇

The genius action choreography I can't see. DC's dark color palette interferes with the audience's appreciation of The Batman's fight sequences and action set pieces. The scene elements are not separable. Following the action is confusing and taxing for the viewer.

A worn out theme. In Nolan's Batman Begins, the villain wanted to burn it all to the ground while Batman believed that Gotham was worth saving. The exact same dynamic is at play in The Batman. While breaking new stylistic ground, this reboot isn't able to bring in new themes.

The messy DC universe. Without a proper conclusion to Ben Affleck's Batman, Matt Reeves had to set his Batman on Earth-2, an alternate world. With multiple actors playing the dark knight in different movies and potential TV shows, DC is looking at a confusing timeline ahead.

The case of the missing villain. In The Batman, we rarely see the villain Riddler in action. We only see him via the filter of Batman resolving his riddles. By never getting significant screen time, the villain fails to establish his personality or presence and can't invoke fear.

Diary entries v/s philosophical dialogue. The philosophical musings in The Batman are restricted to the voice-over readings of Bruce Wayne's journal entries. This monotonous, non-interactive approach works less well than the active philosophical dialogues of the Nolan films.

What now? What's next for Batman? At the end, the film teases a sequel with the Joker as the villain. Will this trilogy, then, take the same direction as Nolan's trilogy? Why do two similar trilogies? Penguin, a side character in this film, is getting a spin-off TV show.

The Spiderman Trap. Just 5 years after Tobey Maguire's trilogy, Sony rebooted it with Andrew Garfield. Since the plot and character development were near identical, the reboot didn't resonate. Batman must avoid falling into the Spiderman trap.

An alternative to identical reboots is exploring niche Batman stories. In a comic Divergence, a govt-approved, robot Batman is built after Bruce Wayne's apparent death. In Damned, Batman is haunted by an evil enchantress. Offbeat Batman stories can be mined for fresher films.

Bottom line. The Batman is expertly executed, but not very original. The sequels will need to set themselves apart thematically and stylistically from the Nolan trilogy. Digging into esoteric Batman lore will inject the shock value into this trilogy that the first film lacked.