PAGE A22, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 11, 2022
The Batman is a fantastic watch
By TJ REID
For the Keizertimes
When the Comics Code Authority
was established in the 1950s to appease
those who thought the funny books
were corrupting the minds of children
with questionable themes, inherently
dark characters like Batman entered an
era of lighthearted camp. It was not until
the 1980s that Batman would perma-
nently reclaim his throne as the proto-
typical dark-and-troubled king of angst,
despite LEGO and George Clooney-
with-bat-nipples iterations. Before
now, the darkest version of Batman
to ever glide onto the silver screen
was in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark
Knight trilogy, a series that helped ele-
vate comic book movies to more “seri-
ous” cinema. But just when I thought
the Caped Crusader couldn’t get any
darker, Warner Brothers decided to
double down with The Batman, an
extremely well-made, intense film that,
much like a black hole, does not let a
single photon of light escape its inky
depths.
Directed by Matt Reeves and led by
Robert Pattinson’s almost uncomfort-
ably unhinged, brilliantly subtle, and
undoubtedly Kurt Cobain-inspired ren-
dition of the titular hero, The Batman
is not for the faint of heart. There is no
comic relief to be found, the violence
is regularly even more brutal than The
Dark Knight at its bloodiest (it is still,
somehow, PG-13), and the mystery at
the center of it all demands your full
attention and brainpower for the entire
176-minute run time if you expect to
understand everything that’s happen-
ing. If these things don’t turn you off
you will find The Batman to be a fantas-
tic watch. The supporting cast, which
includes Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman,
Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, and Paul
Dano as the startlingly creepy Riddler,
Robert Pattinson dons the cape in The Batman .
PHOTO/Courtesy of DC Comics
Review
is perfectly cast and act the heck out of
a script that is sharp if not always com-
pelling. Some of it feels like a horror
movie (who imagined the Batmobile
could be so scary?), some of it feels like
a David Fincher-esque psychological
thriller in the vein of Se7en or Zodiac,
and none of it is what I would describe
as “fun.” The Batman is not a movie you
want to see if you want to escape the
horribleness of the real world and watch
a superhero bam, smash, and pow their
way through a colorful rogues gallery
for a few hours. “Colorful” is the very
last word I would use to describe The
Batman—black, dark red, and various
shades of gray seem to be the only col-
ors that exist in this version of Gotham
City.
This limited and dreary color pal-
let is one of a few nitpicks I had that
kept The Batman from reaching loftier
heights in my estimation. I had other
issues as well, such as the soundtrack,
which is overly bombastic, far too
intrusive, and has a fixation on a cer-
tain two-note refrain that will drive
you absolutely insane by the time it is
played for the millionth time, as well as
the script’s occasional dip into melo-
drama and self-importance (some of
Batman’s brooding voiceovers come
uncomfortably close to self-parody
at some points). Yet despite these
flaws, The Batman is a thrilling, well-
crafted film that is well worth your time
if you don’t mind your movies having
a whole lot of dark and not a lot of fun.
The Batman is now available exclu-
sively in theaters.
One school club is coloring the world
By BEE FLINT
Of the Keizertimes
At the beginning of the year, McNary
High School switched to having clubs
during school hours instead of having
them after school. The clubs are either
6, 9 or 18 weeks long.
One of those clubs is The Art Club
which is led by Mark Kohley, an art
teacher at McNary. The Art Club, along
with the other clubs at McNary, meet
every Wednesday from 2:25-3:20 p.m..
The switch to having clubs during
school rather than after is to get stu-
dents more involved in activities.
“We really emphasize trying to have
every student involved in one sport,
one activity or one club throughout the
year,” Kohley said.
In the art club, students can
work on their own projects or work
together on murals around the school.
“Our goals in the art club is to come up
with mural ideas to strengthen educa-
tional ideas and to simply beautify and
kind of connect different parts of the
building together,” he said.
Teachers reach out to the art club
with their mural ideas, from which
students can then
choose. Kohley sug-
gests that members
only pick the murals
that interest them.
A group of stu-
dents in the club are
working on a mural
of the world that will
be in the school cafe-
teria. Another group
is doing a nature
themed mural above
a teacher’s class-
room door.
Kohley has also
noticed that the
art club has given
members a chance
to meet new people
while working on
projects.
“I think they’ve Art Club members paint a mural in the McNary High School cafeteria.
PHOTO/Bee Flint of the Keizertimes
[the
students]
become not just
getting involved with each other and interested in joining the art club to talk
interested in the type of subject matter
the educational process, and this is kind to him and learn more about it.
in a club, but the people themselves,” he
of a different direction to take it.”
said. “What we’re trying to accomplish
Kohley encourages students who are
is to create a culture where students are