*This review does contain some spoilers* During a recent family holiday we made our way to the cinemas and caught the most recent Batman film not just once but twice — just because I was convinced that there had to be moments of the dialogue that I’d missed (and we had time to kill) while part of my brain was wandering off in a completely different direction which really turned out to be an excursion in futility. Yes, the question of who the Riddler was addressed although not entirely to my satisfaction because in the end the Riddler was less a human being but an entity and a violent reaction to the underbelly of corruption that was destroying Gotham from the inside. Despite that, his very presence in the narrative throws up relevant moral and ethical questions about means and ends in the elusive search for justice. Riddler positions himself as a vigilante of the same ilk as the Batman because it is his most cherished belief that ultimately they are partners-in-crime by virtue of shared goals. This Riddler sees himself as a crime fighter in that tradition although the vast majority of those who think he’s lost the plot will vehemently beg to differ. Moreover his ubiquity is inexplicable in a way that Batman’s ability to move quickly in and out of situations isn’t. The film doesn’t entirely explain the “super villain” aspects. Here they haven’t been bitten by a radioactive arachnid, fallen into a vat of toxic goo or trained with rigour by a secret organisation or assassins and yet they accomplish a variety of inhuman feats. He doesn’t seem to have worked out much either.
The Batman (2022)
The Batman (2022)
The Batman (2022)
*This review does contain some spoilers* During a recent family holiday we made our way to the cinemas and caught the most recent Batman film not just once but twice — just because I was convinced that there had to be moments of the dialogue that I’d missed (and we had time to kill) while part of my brain was wandering off in a completely different direction which really turned out to be an excursion in futility. Yes, the question of who the Riddler was addressed although not entirely to my satisfaction because in the end the Riddler was less a human being but an entity and a violent reaction to the underbelly of corruption that was destroying Gotham from the inside. Despite that, his very presence in the narrative throws up relevant moral and ethical questions about means and ends in the elusive search for justice. Riddler positions himself as a vigilante of the same ilk as the Batman because it is his most cherished belief that ultimately they are partners-in-crime by virtue of shared goals. This Riddler sees himself as a crime fighter in that tradition although the vast majority of those who think he’s lost the plot will vehemently beg to differ. Moreover his ubiquity is inexplicable in a way that Batman’s ability to move quickly in and out of situations isn’t. The film doesn’t entirely explain the “super villain” aspects. Here they haven’t been bitten by a radioactive arachnid, fallen into a vat of toxic goo or trained with rigour by a secret organisation or assassins and yet they accomplish a variety of inhuman feats. He doesn’t seem to have worked out much either.