THE BATMAN (Cert 15, 156 mins, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Action/Fantasy/Thriller, available now on Amazon/BT TV Store/Curzon Home Cinema/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from June 13 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £26.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £34.99)
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Jayme Lawson, Rupert Penry-Jones.
BRUCE Wayne (Robert Pattinson) is determined to honour the legacy of his murdered father.
He prowls the streets of Gotham as masked vigilante Batman in open defiance of the rule of law upheld by police lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) and fellow officers.
The prodigal son hopes to undermine the criminal empire of unctuous kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and his associates, including nightclub owner Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell).
A serial killer dubbed Riddler (Paul Dano) targets high-profile city residents, beginning with a forceful intervention in the fiercely contested mayoral race between incumbent Don Mitchell Jr (Rupert Penry-Jones) and idealistic ingenue Bella Real (Jayme Lawson).
Bruce is drawn into a deadly game of brinkmanship with Riddler, aided by enigmatic burglar Selena Kyle aka Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), who slinks seductively in the grey area between law and disorder.
The Batman is a dark, brooding serial killer thriller that sows the seeds of a new DC Comics trilogy, establishing a tone of grim foreboding with murky cinematography that blurs edges on the screen.
Action sequences are slickly choreographed to discordant ebbs and flows of composer Michael Giacchino's score.
Pattinson strips away charm from his reclusive billionaire, exposing deep fissures in a nihilistic soul, suffocated by a squalid metropolis that is, by his grim assessment, "eating itself".
Farrell is virtually unrecognisable beneath cutting-edge prosthetics.
The three-hour running time is excessive but permits other characters to breathe rancid air, including Kravitz's spirited embodiment of Catwoman – "Got a thing about strays," she purrs alluringly – and Dano's wickedly unhinged Riddler, who goads police with ciphers like the Zodiac Killer.
Rating: 4/5
THE LAZARUS PROJECT (8 episodes, streaming from June 16 exclusively on Now, Thriller/Sci-Fi/Romance/Action)
A MAN relives the same day in a propulsive eight-part action thriller written by Joe Barton, which arrives on Sky Max this week and streams exclusively on Now.
George (Paapa Essiedu) is stuck in a time loop on July 1 with his pregnant girlfriend Sarah (Charly Clive).
In the midst of his disorientation and bewilderment, George is approached by Archie (Anjli Mohindra), an agent from The Lazarus Project.
Run by Wes (Caroline Quentin), this top-secret organisation is dedicated to preventing and undoing mass extinction events by manipulating time.
The Lazarus Project asks George to join them to defeat Rebrov (Tom Burke), who has recently hijacked a Russian nuclear warhead.
As George harnesses the ability to manipulate time, he witnesses a terrible accident which leaves Sarah fighting for her life.
