Movie review
March 1, 2022 · 177 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The Batman is a dark detective story about Batman in his early years tracking a serial killer called the Riddler in corrupt Gotham City while uncovering secrets about his own family. Catwoman plays a big role helping with clues and has her own revenge story after her roommate gets killed. She calls her female roommate “baby” in an affectionate scene, and the actress who plays Catwoman has said she played their relationship as romantic. The movie also has a scene where Catwoman calls powerful city leaders “white, privileged assholes.”
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Batman.
Woke representation / casting
Includes diverse race casting for Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz, biracial) and Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright, Black) compared to traditional white comic depictions. Adds prominent queer coding for Catwoman through her affectionate “baby” scenes with female roommate Annika. The actress publicly confirmed she played their relationship as romantic and interpreted Catwoman as bisexual, making this visible LGBTQ+ representation in a major supporting role.
Woke political dialogue
Catwoman explicitly calls Gotham’s elite “white, privileged assholes” and says the Riddler is right to go after them. The actress affirmed including the white privilege reference was important. This adds modern identity-based language to the corruption critique.
Identity-driven story themes
Core story is a detective thriller about a killer exposing elite corruption and family secrets, plus themes of vengeance versus hope. Includes the “white privileged” dialogue and confirmed bisexual subtext in Catwoman’s close relationship with her roommate Annika per the lead actress’s statements. The queer element for a prominent character adds noticeable identity layer, though it stays background and is not the main driver of the plot.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Shows deep corruption in police, politicians, and wealthy families. Questions pure vigilantism because it inspires copycats like the Riddler and pushes Batman toward inspiring hope and supporting justice. Critiques broken systems and elite hypocrisy with only light additional framing from the privilege line.
Woke character or canon changes
Race-based casting changes for Jim Gordon and Catwoman from long-established white comic versions. The bisexual interpretation of Catwoman comes from the actress’s performance and post-release comments rather than script changes to canon personality or backstory.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Viewers complained online and in some reviews about the “white privilege” dialogue and race-swapped casting for Gordon and Catwoman as forced modern identity elements. Some pieces called the film subtly woke on privilege and systems. The bisexual coding for Catwoman received little specific anti-woke pushback and was mostly ignored or celebrated in progressive coverage.
Creator track record context
Matt Reeves brings humanist genre work like the Planet of the Apes trilogy with themes of conflict and prejudice. Co-writer Peter Craig focuses on crime stories with no activist pattern. The production allowed the actress’s bisexual interpretation of Catwoman, which surfaced in interviews, showing mild openness to contemporary identity readings alongside the director’s more platonic intent.
Production
