The BATMAN Movie Review – Movie Recap

It is Halloween in Gotham City. A man spies 
on the apartment of Mayor Don Mitchell Jr.  
The Mayor watches a debate between 
himself and his opponent, Bella Reál,  
who wants to stop the Gotham Renewal program 
that Mitchell benefits from. The masked man,  
known as The Riddler, sneaks up on Mitchell 
and bludgeons him with a hammer until he dies.  
He then starts to wrap duct 
tape around Mitchell’s head.
 
Billionaire Bruce Wayne narrates over how he has 
spent the last two years as Batman seeking out  
criminals in Gotham. Working with the police 
department, he has gotten the Bat-Signal as a  
means to warn crooks that Batman is coming for 
them. Bruce stalks a gang of thugs with clown  
makeup as they follow a man off the subway 
and harass him. Before they can beat him up,  
Bruce steps out as Batman and begins to pummel 
the thugs as he declares, “I’m vengeance”.
 
Batman joins Lieutenant James Gordon at 
Mitchell’s apartment to investigate his murder.  
The Riddler left a card addressed “for 
the Batman”, along with a card containing  
a riddle and a cipher – “What does a liar do when 
he’s dead?” Commissioner Pete Savage comes in to  
chew Gordon out for allowing Batman to be involved 
in the investigation, even though Riddler intended  
for Batman to be there. He determines that 
the answer to the riddle is “He lies still.”
 
Bruce returns to the Batcave and gets 
help from his butler Alfred Pennyworth  
in finding a code within the cipher

that
leads them to find the word “DRIVE”.
Batman goes with Gordon into Mitchell’s garage
to find a car that had been broken into and
contains a flash drive, along with Mitchell’s
severed thumb. Together, they find incriminating
photos of Mitchell with a woman named Annika
outside a club called the Iceberg Lounge.

Batman goes to the Iceberg Lounge
to speak to mobster Oswald Cobblepot
also known as The Penguin. After being
denied entry by the thugs at the door,
Batman fights his way through a slew of
goons before meeting Penguin directly.
He questions Penguin about Mitchell and Annika,
but he claims to not know anything. Batman notes
a young woman, Selina Kyle, working at the club
and obtaining a drug called “Drop” to sell.

Bruce keeps an eye on Selina as she returns
to her apartment that she shares with Annika.
They watch news showing her in pics with
Mitchell since they got leaked after Batman
and Gordon opened the files.
After Annika goes to bed,
Selina sneaks out as Catwoman
and goes to Mitchell’s apartment,
which is now a closed-off crime scene.
Batman finds Selina trying to grab
whatever info she can find on Annika.
They go back to her apartment and find it
ransacked with Annika missing. Furthermore,
they see news saying that Riddler has killed
Savage, along with a viral video sent by Riddler,
saying that Mitchell and Savage were not
good men as everyone had been led to believe.
He has Savage hooked to a device where
two rats will gnaw at him to death.

Batman and Gordon look into Savage’s
death. They find more incriminating photos, this
time showing Savage working with a Drop dealer.
They find another message for Batman,
along with another riddle and cipher,
reading “el rata alada” or (the winged rat).
The Riddler suggests that there is a “rat”
among the group of people he is targeting.

Batman gets Selina to go into The 44 Below, the
deeper, more exclusive club within Iceberg Lounge.
He gives her camera contact lenses to use so
that he can see what she sees inside the place.
They find several city officials are guests
with criminal ties, including District Attorney
Gil Colson. He talks about a rat within
the department that is being protected,
while another woman there mentions Annika. Selina
follows her but doesn’t learn anything more.
She ends up running into Penguin, as well as
crime boss Carmine Falcone, who already knows
Selina from previous encounters. Selina takes
off the contact lenses after telling Batman
she cannot continue and then takes a cab. Colson
goes back to his car and is attacked by Riddler,
who places a device around his neck.
Bruce attends Mitchell’s funeral,
where he runs into Penguin and Falcone.
The latter recognizes Bruce and notes
that his father Thomas saved his life
after Falcone had been shot. During the
service, Colson’s car crashes into the church.
He emerges with a bomb around his neck, a phone
taped to his hand, and another message for Batman.
He comes in and answers Riddler’s call.
Riddler begins to set off the bomb and give Colson
riddles to solve to save his life. Batman helps
with the riddles, but when Riddler tells Colson
to name the rat in the case against mobster Sal
Maroni, he chooses to die alone because
giving up the rat would cost his family’s
life. Colson blows up, and Batman is
knocked back unconscious by the explosion.

Batman wakes up in the police
station and fights several officers.
Gordon cools him down and talks to him privately.
Batman notes to Gordon that one of the cops
in the station, Kenzie, was seen at 44 Below.
Gordon helps Batman with a distraction
by having him punch Gordon in the face
before Batman uses his flight suit to escape.
He deploys his parachute just before going
under a bridge, resulting in him crash-landing.

Batman and Gordon believe Penguin is the
rat, so they tail him to a drug deal.
Batman catches Catwoman on her own mission,
where she ends up discovering Annika’s body
in the trunk of a car. When she tries to go
for Penguin’s money, it leads to a shootout
between his men against Batman and Gordon.
Batman hops in the Batmobile and chases
after Penguin through the streets.
Penguin causes a major
accident to shake Batman off,
but the Caped Crusader comes bursting out of
the flames and causes Penguin to crash his car.
Batman and Gordon interrogate him,
but Penguin insists he is not the rat.
The two leave him handcuffed before driving off.
Batman receives a message from Riddler,
leading him and Gordon to the abandoned orphanage
for their next clues to Riddler’s latest target.
They find Drop addicts, as well as a projector
that shows campaign footage of Thomas Wayne’s run
for mayor. They realize that Bruce is the target.
He races back home trying to contact Alfred,
but their housekeeper Dory informs Bruce that
Alfred has been injured after another message for
Batman exploded and sent Alfred to the hospital.
Batman meets with Selina and asks her about
her connection to Falcone. She admits
that she is his biological daughter.
Her mother, Maria, worked at
the same club and was murdered,
and Falcone never assumed custody of her, so she
wants to steal from him and get what he owes her.
Batman and Selina also share
a romantic moment and kiss.

A viral video from Riddler makes waves,
as it reveals that there is a dark history
between the Wayne and Arkham families. A
reporter had been trying to do an expose
on Martha Wayne over her years in and out
of asylums while seeking psychiatric help.
Allegedly, Thomas had spoken to
Falcone about handling the reporter,
and Falcone killed the man, leading everyone to
believe that Thomas put a hit out on the man.

Bruce goes to the club as himself to
speak to Falcone and get answers straight.
Falcone acknowledges the news about the reporter,
but he merely tells Bruce that his father
had asked him to take care of the reporter,
but things escalated. He also suggests to Bruce
that is was Maroni who had his parents killed.

Bruce visits Alfred in the hospital and
confronts him over what his father did.
Alfred insists that Thomas really was a good
man and that he was appalled by what happened
to the reporter. Alfred also suggests that
Falcone was the one who put a hit on the
Waynes because Thomas had felt guilty about the
murder that he was going to confess to the police.
Just as Bruce appears to forgive Alfred,
they see the Bat Signal shining.
Batman and Gordon find Selina having
apprehended Kenzie, wanting to
kill him as payback for Annika.
Batman talks her down from shooting him, just as
he and Gordon figure that Falcone was the rat.
Kenzie admits that almost
everyone in the Renewal program,
including Riddler’s victims, works for
Falcone, as he has many people under his thumb.
They play a recording from the scene
of Annika’s murder, where she is heard
talking to Falcone about his involvement in
the Maroni case, just before he killed her.
Selina kicks Kenzie over the ledge, but Batman
and Gordon catch him, letting her get away.

Selina goes to the Iceberg
Lounge to kill Falcone herself.
Batman and Gordon head there as well
and make an attempt to arrest him.
Selina makes her attempt, but Falcone
overpowers her and attempts to kill her himself,
until Batman steps in and
punches Falcone in the face.
He once against talks Selina down from killing.
Gordon takes Falcone in to be arrested,
but the mobster takes a moment to insult
Penguin. He pulls out a gun, but someone else
fires a shot and kills Falcone. Batman looks
up to find Riddler in his apartment window.
The cops run up to the
apartment but find it empty.
They then receive a tip from someone
having seen Riddler go down the fire
escape and sit in a diner. The cops find and
arrest him there without much of a fuss.

Authorities learn that Riddler’s real name is
Edward Nashton and that he is an accountant. He is
locked up at Arkham Asylum. Batman goes to speak
to Riddler, who talks about how he envied Bruce
Wayne for the attention he received, since Nashton
was also an orphan who endured a less privileged
childhood than Bruce did. He believes Batman
is on his side, but Batman tells him otherwise.
Riddler alludes to one last plan he had
that Batman failed to find out about.

Batman goes back to Riddler’s apartment and works
with another cop to find the
password to an encrypted video.
It features Riddler addressing his
followers and talking about his big
plan to destroy the seawalls around Gotham
Harbor and flood the city on Election Night,
where Reál will be elected mayor. He had also
invited his many followers to join in the crime.
Soon, explosions are heard, and the
city quickly begins to fill with water.
Authorities make attempts to gather people to
higher ground since evacuation is impossible.
Crowds gather at Gotham Square Garden,
but Riddler’s followers show up armed,
and one of them shoots Reál in the
arm, but Gordon manages to protect her.
Batman comes in and fights the thugs,
while Selina shows up and helps.
The water hits the building
and begins to flood the place.
Batman grabs a flare and begins
leading people to safety.

In the aftermath, most of the city is underwater,
and criminals like Penguin will engage in a power
struggle. Batman is viewed as a hero for his
rescue efforts, and he makes a personal vow to
be better and less driven by vengeance. Riddler
weeps as he sees the news over how his plan
turned out, but his cellmate tells him to cheer
up and offers to be his friend, knowing they can
put their talents to good use. The inmate then
starts to let out a familiar maniacal laugh.

Batman meets with Selina, who is planning
to drive upstate and leave Gotham since she
deems it beyond saving. The two-part
ways and ride their motorcycles away,
though Batman looks back at her one
more time before returning home.