I decided to take myself to the opening night of Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman’ as I was curious on what his take on the character would be like. After being decidely disappointed by what Zack Snyder failed to do with Ben Affleck’s older, grislier and disenfranchised Caped Crusader, I was cautious about this new iteration. The trailer didn’t help by making the film look like a ripoff of Seven being spliced into a pseudo-seedy Gotham where wannabe criminals were routinely beaten by a pseudo-Batman. Needless to say, I wasn’t confident in the direction. It looked like it was trying too hard to be dark and gritty rather than just being.

I was there when they shot scenes at the Necropolis in Glasgow. The city itself might as well be Gotham at this point with The Batman filming first, then Batfleck scenes shot last summer for The Flash and, now, Batgirl has been shooting for over a month with Michael Keaton. My own novella has my home city as the setting for my Bat-inspired story.

Back to The Batman. It opens with a hushed, weary monolgue from Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne. Whilst many critics have complained about his take as being too ‘moany’, ‘whiney’ and ’emo’, I see this Bruce as stuck. Lost in arrested development because he just doesn’t know what to do with all the destructive emotions he has. He writes a journal (several volumes, by the looks of it), he hides in the basement of Wayne Enterprises, he pores over news reports and police feeds and…he works on a car.

What he’s not doing is taking Alfred’s advice (an underused Andy Serkis) and getting back out in the world, running his father’s company and doing some good in the public space. He’s allowing his dark, destructive emotions to manifest so that he has to go out and beat seven shades out of criminals whilst dressed like a bat.

And as we get our first look early on at this new version, it’s clear he’s not mastered his art. I think Reeves leaned into Pattinson’s natural awkwardness and it works. This Batman hasn’t figured out how to lurk from the shadows in a convincingly intimidating way. Not that it matters because, once the criminals start the fight, Patman ends it. He’s brutal, ruthless and gets lost in his rage right to the point where murder is about to happen, then he pulls back. He gets knocked down, shot at, kicked and knocked out…twice. But, he gets back up and keeps going. He’s a human Terminator. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t figured out the subtle art of intimidation yet. He’s two years in and his rage and hatred more than compensate for his lack of finesse and refinement at this point. He’ll get there…if he survives.

This is something that’s not really been shown in a Batman film before. Human vulnerability. Nolan touched on it in Batman Begins where we saw Bale’s Bruce Wayne make his first outing in a makeshift ninja costume. He hurt his ribs after a misjudged leap towards a railing. But that was about it. Next time we saw Bale in a costume was as the finished article. Patman, however, picks up from Bale’s makeshift ninja outing. His costume looks homemade. He uses a squirrel suit to ‘fly’ and his car is a Frankenstein’s monster of various muscle cars. It could feature as an amatuer bad guy’s car in the next Fast and Furious film.

He misjudges his flying, he stalls his car, he has to infiltrate nightclubs with a backpack to then change into Batman. He’s doing what most men in his position would do – trial and error and always by the seat of the pants. He plans, but not meticulously. He’s smart, but doubts himself to the point where he overlooks things. He’s not Batman. Not yet.

Which, I think, is why he goes around referring to himself as ‘Vengeance’. It’s fitting as that would be the defining emotion made up of everything he’s feeling at this time. Vengeance is precisely what he’s channeling. It’s his purpose.

Let’s move from Patman and on to the main plot of the film. Our antagonist is The Riddler. For this contemporary interpretation, we’ve been given an incel-type that goes around murdering major public figures because he believes he holds the answer to the mystery of Gotham and its founders.

His style is not unlike Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight. He’s visceral, brutal and secretly loves the fact his meticulous plan is going so well. And, like that Joker, he’s very alone. We don’t see him working with minions or setting up a gang to take on the police or Batman. It’s just him and his online incel followers on the dark web who feel just as enraged and delusional as he does. He takes the law into his own hands so blindly, he doesn’t bother to look at the intricate details. He just thinks he’s right and he has to prove it. His victims are the opposite of him. Men of power and influence. Each one he brings down, he gets more confident and brutal. One victim’s deathtrap was not unlike the contraption placed on Winston inside Room 101 in 1984.

But it’s clear that, as deranged as The Riddler is, he’s not got the guts to go toe-to-toe with those he preys on. He sneaks about like a slimy gremlin before bludgeoning them in the back of the head. He’s a coward.

Catwoman, on the other hand, is not. Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle is a vigourous, sassy and confident woman who has no problem with weaponising herself to get what she wants be it money, information or revenge. She looks the part aside from being maybe a bit too petite to be believeable when she’s high and dropkicking men at least twice her size. At least Reeves got her to use her legs since they will be the strongest part of her body.

Physicality aside, Kravitz embodies the cold, calculating and selfish nature of a woman who has been despicably wronged. She barely trusts anyone but herself but there’s a genuine connection between her and Pattinson’s Batman. She sees her in him and vice versa. They make a good team and would be, albeit reluctantly, a good couple if they would allow themselves to be that open. Defintely not in this film.

But what about Gotham? I said earlier that I had reservations about this being a bit too showy and trying so hard to be harder and darker. Well, the city itself is the perfect place for this film to take place. It’s dark, dirty, gritty, grimy, claustrophobic and always raining. You’d be forgiven expecting to see Harrison Ford’s Deckard walk about in his mac.

This isn’t Burton’s hyper Goth-industrial vision, Schumacher’s neon dystopia or Nolan’s New York/Chicago being renamed Gotham. This is Gotham City. It’s the first time it’s appeared in a live-action film and it’s so good to see. It’s real, surreal and hyperreal all at once. It could be somewhere in the East End of Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Berlin, New York but it’s not. It’s relatable without being a location. You believe all the members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery are out there somewhere just biding their time to take a shot at the city they love to hate. It’s that kind of place. It’s Hell on Earth. Just as it should be.

Coming back to Batman now, and, in another live-action first, we get to see The Dark Knight use his much lauded detective skills for once. Computers are tools for this version. His brain is the computer. He’s so far ahead of Gordon and the police, it’s almost funny but it’s sadly a reflection of modern policing in some sense. And whilst he’s ahead of the police, he is behind The Riddler. But this Batman has no ego. He knows he’s early in his career and is learning. He’s at least wise and humble enough to even learn from the villians.

On those, the criminal underworld is wonderfully represented. John Turturro and Colin Farrell make an excellently intimidating pair as Carmine Falcone and The Penguin or ‘Oz’ since we’re in proto territory.

As great as Farrell is, I’m not sure why he was cast. As an achievement in makeup, it’s impossible to tell it’s him. But was Farrell needed? Could anyone else have been The Penguin? I think so. There are plenty of actors who could have played fat, ugly and disgusting.

Turturro, on the other hand, I can’t see anyone else playing this iteration of Falcone. A pencil-thin gangster of unbelievable charisma, confidence, power, strength and the ability to scare all who oppose him. If he gets more roles like this, he can put Transformers behind him.

What else have I not covered? Ah yes, the proto-Batmobile. It’s not even given a name but it’s no secret what it is and who it belongs to. And, like all pre-Nolan versions, it is a car and not a specilaised military vehicle. Like its Batman, this Batmobile is tough but vulnerable. It’s not armour-plated but looks durable. The engine is out in the open for all to see and do anything to if they have the cajones to get close enough. It’s stealthy in the sense that it looks like car enthusiasts dream project. It has a hint of Bat-wings at the back but nothing more. It’s not finished. But, by God, does it make a beastly sound. You’d think Cerberus himself was locked inside the engine block fighting to get out.

Michael Giacchino’s score (playing as I write this) is fittingly between Zimmer’s modern minimalism for The Dark Knight Trilogy and Elfman’s gothic, triumphant and bombastic anthem for Burton’s films. There are horns, but just a touch. A sprinkle of church bells. A dash of tragic piano. Nothing overpowering but nothing subtle. It doesn’t sweep over you or punch you in the face. It’s there. You know it’s there and it does its job wonderfully well.

Finally, I want to mention that the end sequence was a thing of Scottish beauty. Two motorbikes, belonging to ‘the Bat and the Cat’, are seen riding together around almost the entirety of Glasgow’s Necropolis. Glasgow’s Cineworld on Renfrew Street was stunned into silence as Batman and Catwoman rode off in a location no more than half a mile east of the cinema. The woman next to me had her hands over her mouth the whole time, she was so stunned. I’ve never seen my city feature as much nor look so beautiful on screen. I was so proud, I almost shed a Bat-shaped tear.

As far as superhero films go, this kicks the latest MCU films into touch. As a film, it’s well-made, professionally acted and expertly executed. As a movie, it has a bit of everything; Drama, tension, romance, horror, thrills, disaster, stakes, shocks, intelligence, depth, the list goes on. I thought films like this were never going to get made again, This gives me hope.