I saw the Batman and… meh.

I love the acting of the Riddler in his unmasked sections (he looks like an accountant and that is great).

Some solid action scenes, but none of the set pieces really strikes me.

The gadgets are really nice (lenses, parachute, etc.) but the scenario leaves me cold. The Riddler and the plot are clearly inspired by Seven while Batman’s moral (and notebook) are clearly taken from Watchmen’s Rorschach.

The film does some work to demonstrate that the “you are either an innocent or a criminal, there is no middle ground” mentality is a false dichotomy (showing us a prostitute that has no other choice, Catwoman who didn’t choose to be a criminal’s daughter, even the Waynes are not all white). But it is not enough for my taste. I suspect most people will get out of the movie theater thinking that Batman is cool, not that his moral system is unsound and that he is a young vigilante still searching for a healthy mindset… (to the film’s credit, it does some effort to make things explicit where Watchmen doesn’t try, letting the reader realize that Rorschach’s moral system is problematic by themselves.)

I believe my two problems with the scenario are the fact that the riddles make barely any sense (but that is inherent to riddles) and the fact that there is no true finale. The movie goes crescendo until the Riddler’s arrest. The stakes keep increasing afterward but we don’t really care as a viewer because we know that we just need to wait for the problem to be solved (in part because we know the Riddler is safely locked in Arkham and that Gotham cannot really end up under the sea).

I like the fact that Batman and the Riddler are aligned for most of the movie and that the only real difference is that Batman was born rich. But, the political message of the movie is… meh. A lot of people tried political solutions to Gotham’s problem (Wayne and his foundation, the previous mayor, the incoming mayor) but the movie is clear on the fact that it changed nothing and… that’s it. The movie, implicitly, tells us that what people need is the right state of mind to solve their problems. That is not a great message.

Another reviewer suggested an alternative ending that, retrospectively, would have made the movie significantly better (at the price of some potential public backlash): Batman should have given up being a vigilante at the end of the movie. He should have realized that this is not working nor healthy and started being politically active. That would be coherent with his arc presented throughout the movie and get rid of the bad messages found in the movie.

In short, there are some good things and some bad things. The movie could have been superb but misses the mark and ends meh which is a shame.