Lotus Geek :: Movie Review: Batman Begins

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I had the pleasure to go see Batman Begins at the local theatre last night, and all I can say is WOW. Now, Batman is my second favorite superhero - Spider-man being the first. I have been very pleased with what has been done with that franchise on the big screen, as I have with X-Men. In both cases the sequels even surpassed the first movies. But there is a big difference between Spider-man, X-Men, and Batman. The other two didn't really have a big screen "history" - they got to start with a clean slate, and work to impress us. Not so with Batman. There have been four other big screen Batman movies - the first one with Michael Keaton, directed by Tim Burton, wasn't half bad. However the subsequent ones went on a downward spiral, finally crashing with Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, which was a campy, sloppy farcical shell of what Batman is supposed to be. It smacked more of the campy 60's TV show than of the brooding Dark Knight. Batman deserves better.

Well, he's gotten it.

Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan is simply an amazing movie. Forget all the other Batman movies - wipe them from your mind. Luckily for the audience that's what Nolan, the screenwriter, and the cast have done - they have pretended that those other four movies didn't exist, and started fresh molding the Batman mythology anew. And this team has also decided to approach this superhero movie from a different angle than the other aforementioned superhero movies (Spider-man and X-Men). Those two other franchises are slick, polished, and action packed. They are clean gleaming thrill rides that show off what the superheros can do more than why they do it. Sure, they have their issues, but hey, they all have super-powers, so how bad can it be?

Batman is different. He begins as a normal man who has had a horrific childhood - a childhood that has left him as damaged goods. This "damage" is what drives him to be what he is, and it is a fine between his motivation being altogether honorable. I'm not going to go into the whole childhood mythology of Batman - you can get that from the myriad of reviews out there if you're unfamiliar. But trust me, the Batman that superhero fans love is different from most other superheros. Batman Begins reflects this history, and takes its time setting it up so that by the time Bruce Wayne dons the cape and mask for the first time we completely understand why he is doing it, and we're ready for it (incidentally, this doesn't happen for the first half of the movie). We also get to see that Bruce Wayne struggles to lead his double life - and he makes mistakes in both of them. By the end of the movie he is beginning to get the hang of what he has embarked upon, and we're very excited by the prospect of what that means.

Batman Begins is a gloomier, dirtier movie than most other superhero movies. This movie is approached as if this could really happen, and as such the amazingly talented all-star cast creates characters that are very, very believable. Notable mention goes to Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Gary Oldman as Detective Gordon (yep, you read it right - we're so early in the mythology that Gordon is simply one of the few "good cops" in an otherwise very corrupt Gotham Police force), Liam Neeson as Ducard, and Cillian Murphy as Dr. Crane/Scarecrow (he's the guy from 28 Days Later, a great zombie flick). But this movie belongs to Christian Bale as Batman. He is fantastic as Batman - brooding yet suave, flexible yet strong. And as mentioned earlier, he portrays Bruce Wayne/Batman as imperfect, deep characters - which is perfect for us and the mythology. I am sure they have Bale locked up for sequels - I truly hope they have also locked up Kane, Freeman, and Oldman into their recurring characters because this is a great cast that works amazingly well together. You know they had fun making this movie, because the chemistry on the screen is electric. Incidentally, there will undoubtedly be a sequel, they give a large hint about it in the denouement.

Batman Begins deserves to be seen, repeatedly. I plan on taking it in again on the IMAX screen so I can notice more of the subtleties I know are there. It has a PG-13 rating, and although I know most of these superhero movies are fine for younger kids I would caution you to view this one yourself first before taking the little ones (say, under 10). There are some nightmarish scenes with Scarecrow, and if your kids get the heebie-geebies from stuff like that, then this may not be the best movie for them.

Batman Begins is a great rebirth of the Batman franchise. I simply cannot wait for the sequel.

Rock
**A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Comments

1 - @Bob - the trauma suffered by Bruce Wayne as a kid was twofold: the murder of his parents outside of the operahouse in Gotham during a "depression" (not by Joker), and another trauma that occurred a little while before his parents were murdered. The movie does a fantastic job of setting up the series of events that cause Bruce Wayne to create (become?) Batman.

I don't read the comics (or haven't in years), but this is definitely a great treatment of his backstory, and it really is surprising that the director and screenwriter took the risk to bring this to the screen. Why? Because nowadays producers and studios want the "action" for the MTV (and postMTV) generation. They don't think audiences will tolerate a slowly unfolding tale, especially in comic book superhero movie of a character that has been around for 65+ years. They want action, lots of it, even at the expense of the plot (Catwoman, Elektra, even Batman & Robin anyone?). But the risk works, and from what I could tell audiences loved it - I know I did.

Rock

Posted by Rock At 06:56:40 AM On 06/20/2005 | - Website - |

2 - Cool! Glad to hear you liked it! I'll be heading out tomorrow night to see it in IMAX!

Now, hopefully the new Superman movie will be great! He's my ultimate hero.

Posted by Kevin At 10:49:34 AM On 06/20/2005 | - Website - |

3 - Rock,

You young whippersnappers may not remember it but, technically, the first Batman movie was Batman (the Movie) from back in 1966 with Adam West and the rest of that bunch:

http://www.foxhome.com/batman/index_frames.html

But you might not remember it (hell, you might not have even been BORN), but I, unfortunately, remember it quite well and even remember looking forward to it. (It's sad, really, when you see them start to go like this...)

Scott

Posted by Scott Good At 04:26:23 PM On 06/27/2005 | - Website - |

4 - Thanks, great review!
Question: So, is the "trauma" of the kid Wayne in this flick similar to the one in the Michael Keaton Batman ("Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?")? That plot line corresponds to what I remember from the comic book version, though in the books it wasn't the Joker who was the perp.

Posted by Bob Balaban At 06:10:30 PM On 06/19/2005 | - Website - |