Skip to main content

Beyond The Batman: Zoe Kravitz’s best geek films

Audiences and critics are praising Zoë Kravitz’s tough but vulnerable take on Catwoman/Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, along with her sizzling chemistry with the titular hero. A decidedly more discerning audience has voiced its approval as well: Comic book fans who appreciate how closely the film hews to the complicated relationship between the Bat and the Cat on the inked page.

However, the fan approval isn’t all that surprising, considering The Batman is a high point in a career that thus far has established an impressive amount of geek cred for Kravitz, with many of her roles coming in legendary comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy franchises like Harry Potter, Mad Max, and The X-Men. While some of her genre films, such as Kin, After Earth, and the Divergent trilogy, have been decidedly subpar, several have emerged as contemporary classics. Below are Zoe Kravitz’s best geek films, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Leta Lestrange looks ahead of her in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

7. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) – 36%

Neither critics nor general audiences were enchanted with the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which stretches Harry Potter author J.K Rowling’s thin source material even thinner in an effort to fill an excessive run time of 134 minutes. Set in Rowling’s “Wizarding World” 70 years before the events of Harry Potter, Kravitz plays the talented pureblood witch Leta Lestrange, one of Albus Dumbledore’s best students and close friend of the protagonist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). Though the sequel features more of Lestrange than the original film and provides her with a cataclysmic sendoff, not even Kravitz’s charisma in the role is enough to save this plodding trek through the Potterverse.

Selina wears a white tank top and looks over at someone in The Batman.
Warner Bros.

6. The Batman (2022) – 85%

While Catwoman may not be considered as much of a barometer for acting as the Joker, whose incarnations have been bestowed with Oscars for Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix, Kravitz is still standing on the shoulders of some giants who have played the role before her in Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway, and the legendary Eartha Kitt. And while Halle Berry’s Catwoman may not be as well-regarded, Kravitz nevertheless continues Berry and Kitt’s important legacy of African American women playing the character. In The Batman, she gets to fight for justice, play detective, and spin-kick goons and thugs alongside the Caped Crusader — all in full leather on a custom-built bike.

Angel shows off her wings in X-Men: First Class.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

5. X-Men: First Class (2011) – 86%

Producer Brian Singer’s reboot of the X-Men franchise he had shepherded through the initial iteration of the franchise, First Class got a shot in the arm from the style and energy of director Matthew Vaughn who came to prominence with Layer Cake and Kick Ass. The fresh conceit was to set the action in the 1960s and cast the mutants with hot, young actors such as Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. Kravitz plays Angel Salvadore, who can fly from sprouted insect wings and spit acid and who ultimately goes over to the mutant dark side. The movie is notable for being the first entry in Kravitz’ geek canon before she became enshrined as a bonafide geek goddess.

Batman points to the camera in The Lego Batman Movie.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

4. The Lego Batman Movie (2017) – 90%

Kravitz warmed up for her live action work in The Batman by voicing Catwoman in The Lego Batman movie, the first spin-off of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s much-loved original The Lego Movie. Kravitz is part of a large rogues’ gallery of famous Batman villains and joins a huge all-star voice cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, and Michael Cera. Though her part is brief, Kravitz nevertheless doubled up on her geek cred by coming aboard both the Batman and Lego universes.

Zoë Kravitz looking to her right in Kimi.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

3. Kimi (2022) – 92%

HBO Max released Kimi just a month before The Batman hit theaters. Comparing Kravitz’ performance in the two movies demonstrates her impressive range as an actor. In Steven Soderbergh’s near-future-set speculative film, she plays a tech worker who is afraid to leave her house. Her relationships are mostly virtual, as is her job resolving customer issues with “Kimi,” an Alexa-type device. When she overhears what she believes to be a heinous crime, she must conquer her fear of going out into the world in order to find justice for the victim. This digital update of classics about paranoia and voyeurism — such as Rear Window, Blow Out, and The Conversation — showcases Kravitz’s virtuosity.

The alternate versions of Spider-Man from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation / Sony Pictures Animation

2. (TIE) Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) – 97%

After the success of The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie, producer/directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller upped their animation game even further by delivering this spectacular and creative Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature. In the film, Miles Morales, a Brooklyn teen, becomes the new Spider-Man after the death of Peter Parker. The film follows as we be learns to embrace his role under the tutelage of various Spider-persons from across the multiverse. Kravitz has a small but pivotal part as Parker’s widow, Mary Jane, who provides much need motivation for the heroes. Kravitz is part of a star-studded voice cast that includes Chris Pine, Mahershala Ali, Lily Tomlin, and Nicolas Cage.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

1. (TIE) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) – 97%

It’s a stone-cold classic and a film that cinephiles will likely be watching in 100 years — just as contemporary viewers still watch the Buster Keaton classics that inspired the Mad Max films. Director George Miller’s movie chronicles Max (Tom Hardy) and Furiosa’s (Charlize Theron) quest to rescue a slave harem from the loathsome dictator Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and free the suffering peoples of Joe’s Citadel. Kravitz plays Toast the Knowing (a name that only Miller could have dreamed up), one of the young women who becomes embroiled in a fight for the future of post-apocalyptic humanity. Winner of six Academy Awards, Fury Road has quickly become considered one of the greatest and most visionary of all modern cinematic action epics.

Michael Green
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Writer
The best Batman movies and shows on HBO Max
Batman standing with Gotham and the Red Hood looming overhead.

Though Batman is a character that dominates a massive share of the pop culture space, that doesn't stop DC Comics from giving the brooding Dark Knight his own day of celebration every year. The superhero has spawned a treasure trove of engaging media across every medium he's featured in, with movies and TV being the biggest highlights outside of the comic book source material.

And even though Warner Bros. seems to be at its most volatile state in recent memory following the scorched-earth-esque merger with Discovery, fans can typically find most of the character's best stories in one place. If fans want to celebrate the occasion, then delving into the various live-action and animated Batman movies and TV shows on HBO Max seems like a fitting way to do so.
The Batman (2022)

Read more
Michael Mann’s 5 best films, ranked by IMDb
Al Pacino sits at a diner table in Michael Mann's Heat.

Michael Mann is one of the great American filmmakers. Over the past 40+ years, the director has delivered a number of classic, widely beloved films, including 1995’s Heat and 2004’s Collateral. His last movie, Blackhat, was released in theaters in 2015, and Mann hasn’t made a new film since.

This week does mark the release of Mann's first directorial outing in 7 years. Returning to the same crime genre he’s frequently explored, Mann directed the pilot episode of Tokyo Vice, the new Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe-led series that just premiered on HBO Max. In honor of the occasion, here’s a list of the five highest-rated movies Michael Mann has made, according to IMDb.
Thief (1981) — 7.4 rating

Read more
Robert Pattinson tests positive for coronavirus, pausing The Batman filming
The Batman

Production of The Batman has reportedly been put on hold after actor Robert Pattinson tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Vanity Fair reports that the movie’s production was paused only days after starting up again from the initial coronavirus shutdowns back in March. 

Read more