'The Batman' flies high with its dark and serious Dark Knight, but hangs around too long

"The Batman" presents a muscular vision of the Dark Knight that hardcore fans have long desired, a dark and serious epic that's somewhat offset by two disclaimers: At nearly three hours, the movie hangs around too long, really feeling it down the stretch; and despite its origins, this detective-driven take owes more to movies like "Seven" and "L.A. Confidential" than other superhero fare.

First, the very good news: Robert Pattinson is terrific as a young, brooding Batman/Bruce Wayne, narrating his story in a hard-bitten style that recalls the hushed tones of Dirty Harry and the film noir detectives played by Humphrey Bogart.

Batman again operates in a corrupt, muddy-toned Gotham whose ornate trappings are part New York, part "Blade Runner," and when pressed into action, his fights are bruising, not balletic. The look might be stylized, but director/co-writer Matt Reeves has steeped Wayne's tragic history in gritty realism, even more so than Christopher Nolan's trilogy starring Christian Bale.