If Hitchcock did Batman...

Well, if Alfred Hitchcock directed a Batman movie, it would be something like The Batman.  Bart and I just returned from seeing it, and I like it better than any of the Christopher Nolan movies. Like the superb Daredevil TV show, it takes familiar figures from the comic books and moves them several degrees closer to reality without sacrificing their essence (the cast includes an unrecognizable Colin Farrell). 

The movie offers actual mystery and suspense, and builds in its three-hour running time to a spectacular, exciting finish. Robert Pattinson makes an excellent Batman (he certainly has the jawline for it).

As with Zorro (a name Batman is called, ironically, at one point in the movie), the film gives us a somewhat credible reason why Bruce Wayne must dress up. Virtually the entire city of Gotham is corrupt. Only a man in a mask may act freely there.