The Batman is what some might consider to be a “work of art.” Almost every aspect of the film is perfect, and the movie most definitely compensates for its extensive runtime. 

Olympic Heights senior Thomas Pardo describes The Batman as “peak comic cinematography,” and said that “there could have been nothing better.” With this movie and Suicide Squad, DC is slowly rebooting their studio, and the best option for them would be to completely forget the Ben Affleck Batman era and start the Robert Pattinson Batman era.

What makes this movie feel different from the other Batman films is that in this film, Batman lives up to his title as “the world’s greatest detective.” In his hunt to track down the Riddler, the audience sees not only how strong Batman is, but also how smart he is. The best description for this movie would be a cross between Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and David Fincher’s Se7en. 

It pulls together Christian Bale’s deep voiced, menacing Batman with Brad Pitt’s adept and sharp detective and the results are extraordinary. Some believe that this version of Batman may be the best fans have seen on the big screen yet, and Robert Pattinson portrays him with an Oscar-level performance.

Director Matt Reeves did something with this movie that we have not seen in any of the other Batman movies: he almost completely removed the Bruce Wayne aspect of Batman. Pattinson only plays Bruce Wayne in four scenes during the film with the rest of the movie focusing on our caped crusader. 

Despite only being in four scenes, Pattinson captures the essence of Bruce Wayne perfectly. Unlike the Christian Bale version of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight, Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is antisocial and rarely talks to anyone other than Alfred. He is still mourning the loss of his parents and would rather be Batman than Bruce, and Pattinson’s acting makes that completely evident to the viewers.

Among the best aspects of The Batman is its fight choreography. In each scene that Batman is fighting someone, it is clear to the audience that his fighting skill is far superior to whoever he is fighting. Not only that, but his fighting style is brutal, and each fight looks and sounds incredibly realistic. 

Speaking of realism, very little special effects and computer-generated imagery were used for the film, and most of the scenes were filmed using live action. Particularly impressive was the car chase scene with the Penguin – without a doubt the best scene in the film – which was done without the use of computer generated imagery (CGI), even when the Batmobile jumped the ramp over a blown up fuel truck and hit the Penguin’s car, making it roll over three times. 

Another fantastic use of practical effects was the elevator scene in which Batman fights about a dozen guards in pitch black, only lighted by the spark of firing guns. Without a doubt, The Batman had some of the best practical effects seen in movies in the last decade.

A big topic of debate for this film is its runtime. Its 2 hours and 56 minutes runtime seems to be a recurring theme for these big time superhero movies. Although it does seem like a long time, all 2 hours and 56 minutes of this movie are necessary to the plot; however, Reeves set up the film so that there is never a long stretch in the film without an action scene to prevent it from feeling slow or boring. 

In doing so, Reeves has delivered the best of the Batman films to date.

This article originally appeared in The Torch.