THE BATMAN.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: MOVIE

The Batman isn't an anti-Batman screed, nor is it an overt identity politics rant. The overlong movie is too sprawling, too messy, too unfocused to seriously explore a single Big Theme.

But it does seem to question whether being Batman is the right choice for a billionaire playboy who wants to produce social change. It's a Batman movie that comes across as uncomfortable with the whole idea of Batman.

Yes, it offers grit and gloom and classically Batman-esque moments, but it also frequently undercuts them, as if to suggest that the underlying idea of the character is kind of silly. Throughout the movie, there are invocations of whiteness and privilege, networks of urban corruption, and a mayoral race between a young black woman and an...