The criticism that blockbuster motion pictures these days are too lengthy has been a normal gripe for awhile now, and so frequent that it’s change into stale and annoying by itself. I wish to acknowledge that I do know this, and agree with this sentiment, and but I’m completely powerless to not say Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s upcoming The Batman is just too rattling lengthy. Like, manner too lengthy.

The Hollywood Reporter says that the film runs a frankly disgusting two hours and 55 minutes, solely eight of that are the closing credit. That’s the longest by far of any earlier Batman film, almost half-hour greater than Avengers: Infinity War (2h, 29m), and mere seven minutes lower than Avengers: Endgame (3h, 2m), which starred dozens and dozens of main characters and was meant to be the ultimate chapter in an epic story that spawned greater than 20 motion pictures over the course of 11 years. All for a film merely starring Batman, Catwoman, Riddler, and the Penguin.

Look, director Reeves knocked the latter two installments of the trendy Planet of the Apes trilogy out of the park, and it’s solely potential that each single second of The Batman will probably be a continuous thrill journey from begin to end and unmistakeably vital to inform its story. But, uh, in all probability not? The runtimes of many trendy blockbusters are bloated as a result of studios confuse amount with high quality—or, simply as possible, hope audiences confuse amount with high quality. But simply because a film is lengthy doesn’t imply it has a narrative advanced sufficient or fascinating sufficient to justify its size. One of the skinny silver linings of the pandemic has been the day-and-date digital releases of flicks, the place they are often watched in manageable chucks, or a minimum of paused so you’ll be able to run to the toilet with out lacking something. (I’ll allow you to in on a little bit secret: Most motion pictures are so overlong that when many critics are despatched to assessment movies which can be 90 or 105 minutes lengthy, they get legitimately excited.)

Maybe I’ll eat my phrases when The Batman premieres on March 4, and I’ll be glad to take action. But I believe it’s quite telling that when this information broke, many critics didn’t really feel pleasure at having a lot extra Batman content material to observe, simply exhaustion.

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