When The Batman came out last month, it quickly raced up the rankings to become of one of the most acclaimed Batman movies out there. To many fans, it’s now nipping at the heels of The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, which has stood as arguably the finest entry in the superhero genre since its release in 2008. While we’ve yet to hear Nolan’s verdict on it, one star of the iconic film has now come forward to offer their thoughts on Matt Reeves’ new movie.
In short, they couldn’t be more glowing. Looper recently chatted with David Dastmalchian, who appeared in The Dark Knight as Thomas Schiff, one of the Joker’s (Heath Ledger) goons, and asked him what he thought of The Batman. The Ant-Man and the Wasp actor heaped praise on the production, calling it “beautiful and powerful.”
“I thought it was amazing,” Dastmalchian said. “I loved it. I thought it was so beautiful and powerful. I thought all of the casting exceeded my already high expectations. I think that Colin Farrell was the sleeper surprise of that film. I thought his portrayal of the Penguin really brought a life and energy into a movie that was so incredible.”
On top of singling out Colin Farrell’s portrayal of the Penguin, Dastmalchian went on to throw some love in the direction of cinematographer Greig Fraser, who he worked with on Dune.
“I have to give a major shout out to our Dune cinematographer, Greig Fraser,” he continued. “The way that he and Matt Reeves created the visual look of the film, along with their incredible production design and costume people, and all of that — but the cinematography to me was amazing, really amazing.”
Dastmalchian’s adoration for The Batman comes with some weight as he’s someone who knows a thing or two about the DC universe and the superhero genre in general. His role in The Dark Knight began a long association with the comic book world, as Dastmalchian has gone on to play both Abra Kadabra on TV’s The Flash and Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad. His history with DC supervillains is likely why he highlighted Farrell’s turn as Oz as the movie’s standout performance.
Now Dastmalchian has chimed in, hopefully, we’ll find out what Nolan thought of The Batman at some point. Before its release, the filmmaker praised both Reeves and star Robert Pattinson, but now that it’s out, we want to know whether he agrees with producer Dylan Clark that Reeves’ effort has bested his Dark Knight trilogy.