10 Things That The Batman Gets Absolutely Right
5. The Penguin Isn't A Big Player Until The End
If one thing is for certain, all opinion-based discussion aside, it’s very clear that this film sets itself up for sequels. By the time the film ends, Oswald Cobblepot (AKA Penguin) is in a huge position of power and is thus set up to be a huge part of the inevitable second instalment in this soon-to-be series.
Colin Farrell puts in a stellar performance as Penguin – but his relative absence in the main body of this film isn’t a bad thing.
Using him sparingly kept the film from feeling over-stuffed or extending its already long runtime. The last thing any of us wanted was for the film to feel overstretched in its goals, sacrificing quality character development by overpromising with its villains and trying to tell a million stories at once. We’ve seen what can happen when you try to pack in too many baddies, and it’s not good.
They’re playing the long game here: by setting up this villain throughout the first film, they can properly dive into his narrative in the next. It's very exciting to think about the prospects of what Farrell can bring to the character next.