The Batman | 2022 | PG-13 | – 2.7.5

Why is “The Batman” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes, scenes of torture and murder with some bloody wounds and surroundings, acts of violence including beatings and threatening with guns and explosives, scenes of drug manufacturing and dealing, and at least 1 F-word and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When the Riddler (Paul Dano) begins murdering prominent politicians in Gotham, the Batman (Robert Pattinson) struggles with feelings of inadequacy when he appears unable to stop the sadistic serial killer. Also with Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Andy Serkis and Peter Sarsgaard. Directed by Matt Reeves. [Running Time: 2:55]

The Batman SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A man and woman kiss passionately. A man lies on the floor moaning after having been shot and a woman straddles and kisses him tenderly (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A man and a woman nearly kiss; she caresses his head and face as she invites him to go away with her (they do not kiss and he declines to go).
► A woman wears a very short skirt and a tank top that reveals her legs to the upper thighs and her bare shoulders, with her nipples visible through the fabric of the top. A man watches through binoculars as a woman changes her clothes and we see her wearing a tank top and underwear (cleavage and her bare abdomen and bare legs to the hips are seen) before putting on a skin-tight leather jumpsuit. A shirtless man is shown in a few scenes and we see his bare back, shoulders, chest and abdomen to the hips. A woman wears a sweater that falls off her shoulder and we see her bare shoulder. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders in a few scenes.
► A man says of a woman that she is, “One hot chick.”

The Batman VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A man wearing a dark mask stands in the shadows of a room and attacks another man with a carpet tucker, hitting him repeatedly on the head (we see him lying motionless); the attacker then straddles the man and pulls tape from a roll as the scene ends and we later see the man dead with his face completely covered with duct tape and a bag over his hand and we are told that his thumb was cut off (we do not see the wound; we are told there is a lot of blood and we see blood in the room).
► A man in the driver’s seat of a car is struck in the head repeatedly by someone behind him and he falls forward onto the horn, honking it; the attacker taps the man’s mouth and we hear the clanking of metal and see lights on a device that we later understand to be an explosive. Gunfire erupts outside a building and a man is shot (we see blood on his face) and he dies. Cutting sheers are found stuck into a car’s tire and a severed thumb (we see blood and torn flesh) attached to a USB drive is found inside the car.
► We hear a recording of a woman screaming and then being strangled. A woman shoots at a man and misses, she fights another man, the first man hits her in the head with a pool cue, straddles her on the floor and strangles her with the cue; she then scratches his face and he strangles her with his hands before being pulled away and knocked unconscious. A woman opens a bag in the back of a car and we see a dead woman inside with some blood on her mouth and her eyes open. A man opens a package that explodes and we see flames; we later see the man unconscious in the hospital with cuts on his face.
► A man attacks a woman and drags her away (we see a knife glint); a superhero yells and attacks the man beating him savagely and repeatedly in the head and face before being stopped (we see the beaten man’s face bloody and his nose broken). Several police officers crowd around a superhero and try to remove his mask, threaten him and he punches a few of them before a man talks to him and he then punches the man hard in the face (the man falls off-screen); the superhero runs through the police station and officers chase him and shoot at him until he deploys a flying suit and sails through the air, releases a parachute, crashes onto a bus, and tumbles on the ground (he moans and stumbles away). A man threatens a superhero saying, “That suit’s gonna get all full of blood,” and the superhero replies, “Mine or yours?” and punches the superhero, who punches the man and another man and pushes past them into a crowded club; he then fights several other people, one man is thrown over a railing, one man hits the superhero with a pipe and the superhero takes it away and strikes the man with it, he is shot at, and he shoots one of the shooters with a weapon attached to his suit.
► Several people with their faces painted on a train watch and follow a man when he gets off the train; they chase him through a train station and pin him against the exit gate, goading one member of the group to hit him until they are interrupted by footsteps and a superhero appears in the shadows: one attacker holds a machete and the superhero fights him and several others with punches and kicks and neck twists, one attacker shoots the superhero, he tasers him and throws him to the ground. Many people with guns open fire on a superhero and a woman and the woman speeds away on a motorcycle, hits a man knocking him to the ground, and the superhero speeds away in a car chasing another man in a car. A commotion is heard outside a memorial service in a church as a car speeds through the doors, crashes to a stop as people scream and scatter and police hold guns on the driver; the driver stumbles out and we see that he has an explosive device wrapped around his neck and a cellphone taped to his hand, a bomb robot rolls into the room toward the man, he and a superhero argue and the bomb detonates, throwing the superhero back on the floor and presumably blowing up the man (we see the blast and flames but do not see body parts). A superhero fights several people with guns in the dark and the gunmen shoot randomly without being able to see. A woman slides down a cable into an apartment and prepares to break into a safe but is interrupted by a superhero and they fight with punches, kicks and slams. A woman punches a bound man in the head and body repeatedly (we see bloody gashes on his face), she holds a gun to his head and threatens to shoot him before kicking him in the chest and he falls back off a ledge (a man and a superhero catch him and pull him back up).
► A superhero in a car chases a man in a car and they speed through and around traffic, they drive into oncoming traffic, one cuts off a semi-truck and slams on the brakes causing the truck to jackknife across lanes of traffic, other cars crash into the truck, other trucks tip over and burst into flames and the chasing car jumps a ramp and drives through the flames, rams the other car and it flips several times landing upside down with the driver pinned inside. We see a video of a man wearing a mask and talking about killing a woman that is locked into a device with her head in a cage with rats in another compartment, and he talks about the rats eating her face. A man wearing a mask draws a gun to rob a store (we see him run out of the store later). A person spray paints on a wall in a city as a fire is started nearby and a window is broken. A man wearing a mask stumbles backward into a street where he is struck by a car; he is thrown but runs away and seems unharmed. A woman wraps a whip around a man’s ankles and pulls him to the ground off-screen, before attacking another man and leaving him unconscious.
► Armed men wearing masks load their weapons and get into position in a stadium where a woman takes to the stage and is shot from above (we see blood on her abdomen and hand); a superhero falls from a shattering glass dome above the gunmen and fights several of them leaving some swinging from cables and others motionless on the floor; the superhero is shot in the abdomen and falls over a railing, and the gunman holds his gun to the superhero’s head until he is beaten by a woman and she helps the superhero back up.
► Armed police officers surround a man in a café; he is slammed onto the counter and handcuffed. Seven vans explode around a city’s walls causing the city to flood; we hear people screaming as water rushes through the streets. Walls of water break the glass of a coliseum and flood inside where electrical equipment spark and threaten to electrocute people trapped in the water; a superhero jumps to a cable and severs it cutting the power and helps people trapped under scaffolding, leading them out. Several people with their faces painted watch a video of a man being punched and falling to the ground in a park. A superhero slams a man against a plate glass window and it cracks. A woman finds her apartment ransacked and her roommate missing. A dead man with tape on his face has the words, “No more lies,” painted on the tape. A woman reaches into her bag for a pistol while talking to a man that she plans to kill but they are interrupted and the man leaves the room. A woman climbs out a window and jumps from a fire escape to the ground below before speeding away on a motorcycle. A man is shown chained inside a cell in a hospital.
► The word, “LIES” is painted in what seems to be blood on a wall where a man is found dead. The word “BROKE” is painted on the columns of a building. A superhero and a woman argue and he grabs her by the arm. A man yells at a superhero and threatens him after a hostage is killed and the superhero explains that the dead man would rather have died than talk. Two men argue. A man yells at another man and says, “You’re not my father.” Large numbers of protestors gather in streets and chant, “No more lies.” A man talks about a city being “beyond saving.” We hear that a young boy found his father’s dead body and see a bloody footprint belonging to the child on the floor at the scene. References to the “sins of the father” are made. Several people seeming to be under the influence of a drug are discovered in an abandoned building. A woman says that her mother was murdered when she was a child and that social services took her away. We hear a news report that a woman killed her husband and then committed suicide. A woman asks a man if he is hideously scarred under his mask. A man talks about living in an orphanage and about the rats biting his fingers at night; he also talks about the babies dying from it being so cold. A superhero yells at a man in a cell, pounds on the wall, and the man yells maniacally. A woman describes a city being lawless and that there will be a power grab that will threaten a superhero. A woman cries over the telephone and is afraid as the person on the other end of the phone tries to calm her and tells her that they will leave together.
► We hear someone breathing and see them looking through binoculars at a room where someone swings a sword (we hear a scream) and when a man enters the room the person with the sword seems to stab him and he falls to the floor (he was not actually stabbed and he gets up unharmed). Two men laugh maniacally. A man rides a motorcycle through city streets, down a flight of stairs through a dark passage and into what resembles a cave where bats flutter around. Many people crowd into a city’s streets wearing costumes on Halloween.
► A woman is shown with facial wounds (bruises and cuts) in a couple of scenes on video and in photos. A shirtless man is shown in a few scenes and we see multiple scars with some seeming fresh. A superhero reaches into a cage where there are rats and a bat flutters around.

The Batman LANGUAGE 5

 – About 1 F-word, 15 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 21 mild obscenities, name-calling (masked vigilante, freak, sweetheart, demented, bastard, powder keg, rich scum sucker, scumbag, sick, twisted, pathetic, psychopath, pencil neck, Zorro, low-life, Johnny slick, hideously scarred, crazy, rat, friggin’ psycho, drop heads, rich white men, nut job), exclamations (take it easy, stop, jeez, shut-up, shame, out of your mind, frickin’), 11 religious profanities (GD), 28 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Jesus Christ, for Christ’s sake, Holy [scatological term deleted], my God, Christ, Holy God, dear God, fear of God). | profanity glossary |

The Batman SUBSTANCE USE

 – People refer to a large drug bust, and people refer to a drug and we see people packaging and distributing it in a few scenes. A man holds and drinks from a glass of whiskey.

The Batman DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Murder of public officials, vigilantism, superheroes, secrets, mental illness, guilt, martial law, looting and lawlessness, fear, political aspirations, justice, vengeance, corruption, greed, puzzles, riddles, having faith in institutions, hope, perversion, retribution, psychopathy, friendship.

The Batman MESSAGE

 – Making a difference can be an uphill battle. Choices have consequences.