© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The 1A Movie Club: ‘The Batman’

Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz star in the new Batman movie.
Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz star in the new Batman movie.

Batman, the beloved DC comic character, goes by many names: Bruce Wayne, the Dark Knight, and the Caped Crusader to name a few.

And the list of actors who have donned the trademark mask is growing. Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and Christian Bale have all tried their hands. Now, Robert Pattinson is taking on the challenge. 

Set against the gritty backdrop of a corrupt Gotham City, Pattinson’s Batman takes on Paul Dano’s Riddler with Catwoman, played by Zoë Kravitz, by his side.

Theinitialreaction online to Pattinson’s casting in 2019 was swift and a bit harsh. A petition on change.org advocated for giving the role to someone else.Pattinson himself said in an interview with the Los Angeles Timesthat the backlash was “70 percent negative.”

But Glen Weldon of NPR’s “Pop Culture Happy Hour” says Pattinson “shines in the darkness.” And film critic Robert Daniels calls the movie a “hypnotic piece of filmmaking.”

So how did Reeves and Pattinson’s portrayals stack up against the rest of the DC comic franchise?

Copyright 2022 WAMU 88.5