14/16
Following the events of The Batman (2022), Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin, makes a move to take over the criminal underworld in Gotham. Except for the bat signal in the final scene of the season finale, we never got our Robert Pattinson cameo as “The Penguin.” In this short video, IMDb attempts to answer: Where the hell was Batman? Colin Farrell fought hard to have his version of the Penguin smoke tobacco in The Batman (2022), but it was unsuccessful. For his own series, however, the character is portrayed as an occasional tobacco user, with a preference for cigars. The DC Studios logo is set in a rainy Gotham alley. An umbrella falls and the logo changes to the Warner Bros. logo. Featured on The Graham Norton Show: Lady Gaga/Demi Moore/Colin Farrell/Richard Ayoade/Jack Savoretti (2024). The first episode is a direct continuation of Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2024). The Batman, and I imagine those who haven’t seen the last one will be a bit lost. But I watched The Batman a while back, and this series did an admirable job of quickly catching up with where the movie left off without bogging me down in a didactic recap. It also recaptures the aesthetic and dark tone of the movie quite well, though the series has far more moments of sly levity than the movie. As in The Batman, Colin Farrell does an excellent job portraying The Penguin as a stereotypical mob “street guy”: gruff, profane, mercurial, and quick to violence; but also cunning, sly, and able to read people. The character may have absolutely nothing in common with the comic book version, but he’s interesting in his own right. I have my doubts about the series casting The Penguin as a teenage sidekick; and I don’t know if The Penguin’s machinations will be enough to sustain an entire season. But so far, it’s off to a great start.