Despite originally being planned as a DCEU vehicle for Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight, The Batman is gearing up to be its own standalone juggernaut with Robert Pattinson being dubbed by some early reviews as “your new favorite” Batman. The latest take on the Caped Crusader had its London Premiere last night and the first comments to come in its wake have been overwhelmingly positive, adding to the hype for next week’s general release of the movie in cinemas.When Ben Affleck backed out of his planned solo Batman movie, the script underwent an overhaul and Matt Reeves was brought in to direct a new actor in the lead role. When that new actor was announced as former Twilight star Robert Pattinson, there was outcry from some DC fans who could not get beyond the star’s former teen idol status. However, as the movie has drawn closer, numerous trailers, teasers and images have been released and with each one, more and more people have jumped on board the Pattinson train to the point that it now looks set to potentially be the biggest Batman movie of all time.First look comments from the premiere have seen MTV Movies saying that “Matt Reeves delivers a nail-biting, gritty and fun Batman coming-of-age-story, Unilad called it “euphoric,” Empire describes it as “gripping” and Insider went so far as to claim, “Robert Pattinson will be your new favorite Batman.” Not bad for a movie that was announced D.O.A. before a single scene had been shot.
Matt Reeves Has Done With Robert Pattinson’s Batman What Chris Nolan Did With Heath Ledger’s Joker
When it was originally announced that Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker in the second movie of Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, the internet was swamped with those who could not accept that a new actor was taking over the role last played by Jack Nicholson with gleeful malice in 1989’s Batman. Of course when the late actor’s role played out on screen in The Dark Knight, no one could deny that they were witnessing a special performance that was completely different to Nicholson’s take on the psychotic villain, which was confirmed when Ledger posthumously won an Oscar. There are a number of parallels between the initial reaction to Ledger’s Joker and Pattinson’s Batman that help to prove that it is always worth waiting to see a performance before making a judgment about it.
In a previous interview, Matt Reeves explained how the movie evolved from a DCEU movie to one that needed to bring in a brand new Batman. "Ben [Affleck] had been working on a version of the script, and I said, ‘Here’s the thing: I respect that the DC Universe has become an extended universe and all the movies were kind of connected. But another Batman film, it shouldn’t have to carry the weight of connecting the characters from all those other movies. I didn’t want them in there."
Speaking on the red carpet of the premiere, Reeves detailed why he wanted Pattinson on board the movie and what gave him all the faith he needed that the actor was right for the role. He said:
“He’s amazing. He’s a great actor. Honestly, the work he has done post-Twilight, I think he was great in Twilight and he became this pop icon, but he did something really brave. He went down this path of just making these Indie movies, working with great filmmakers, and he’s like a chameleon, he’s become such an incredible actor. I saw a movie called Good Time that he did, and once I saw that I thought, there’s something in this performance that says to me he could be Batman. We met and it turns out he really wanted to be Batman, and I really wanted him to be so it worked out.”
Fans will be able to make their own judgment on Pattinson’s performance in The Batman on March 4.