The Batman

Director Matt Reeves brings a fresh energy to the DC Comics icon with this noirish thriller set early in the Dark Knight's career. The 1987 Year One comic is an inspiration for a story that evokes the rain-drenched, serial-killing menace of Se7en, as an elusive murderer takes hideous revenge on Gotham's elite. Robert Pattinson convinces as haunted orphan Bruce Wayne and he fits the Batsuit well, forming a dogged (if not dynamic) duo with Jeffrey Wright's honest cop Jim Gordon. Zoë Kravitz also impresses as street-savvy cat burglar Selina Kyle (who has her own demons), and the burgeoning Bat/Cat relationship is teased out nicely. Ranting villain the Riddler brings an element of Joker-like danger to proceedings, while Colin Farrell (under a mass of prosthetics) leavens the darkness with some wry one-liners as a mobster Penguin. This reboot is more detective thriller than all-action superhero epic, but those prepared to indulge its epic length will be rewarded with a pyrotechnical climax. With its sepulchral cinematography and fearsomely foreboding score, this is a Batnoir for the ages.