Robert Pattinson's Batman Voice is finally here in the new trailer for The Batman
Matt Reeves' The Batman is slated to hit theaters in March 2022
More than a year after its first trailer arrived—carrying with it a now totally inaccurate “2021" release date—the latest full trailer for Matt Reeves’ The Batman is here. Taking hints from both Christopher Nolan’s influential Dark Knight trilogy, and Zack Snyder’s more recent take on the character, Reeves stakes his claim on the character by delivering a Batman film that steers harder into Gotham’s horror side.
Somewhat surprisingly, though, the trailer pulls back a bit on Paul Dano’s Riddler, who’s clearly being set up as the apex, Ledger-level villain behind all the Fincher-esque chaos unfolding in the city this time. Instead, we get heavy focus on Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, giving a very convincing version of the classic cat-and-flying-mouse flirtation dynamic with Robert Pattinson’s Batman, and Colin Farrell, still functionally unrecognizable, but apparently having fun, as the movie’s version of The Penguin.
In terms of Bat-stuff, meanwhile, we get lots more footage of the new Batmobile, and, more importantly, a further demonstration of Pattinson’s Bat-Voice, which we’d only gotten a taste of previously. It’s definitely operating in something of a Christian Bale register—this is a very angry, growl-y Batman, if all those shots of him stun-gunning a clown thug half to death didn’t make it clear. Beyond that, this is very much a Batman-ass Batman trailer: Lots of moody lighting, lots of bombastic orchestral chords, lots of people shooting R-Pats in his gun-y chest logo even though he’s clearly bulletproof there.
Reeves is no stranger to the world of scary bats, having directed the superb Let The Right One In remake, Let Me In, before cutting his action teeth on Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and War For The Planet Of The Apes. But almost immediately, Reeves’ version of the caped crusader has felt like the event DC has struggled to deliver over the last decade.
The biggest appeal of the new trailer might be simply how much Pattinson we get; Reeves and his team, wisely, have gifted their star a costume that allows his expressive face to do its job even from beneath the cowl. Over the last decade, the actor shed his skin, and fangs, moving on to subversive and surprising roles for challenging auteurs, such as David Cronenberg, the Safdie brothers, Christopher Nolan, and Claire Denis. He’s got his art-world cred on lock. Now he’s ready to take over the world as Reeve’s “reclusive rock star” take on Bruce Wayne.
Rounding out the cast is Andy Serkis as Alfred, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone.
The Batman hits theaters on March 4, 2022.