If you were unsure if you wanted to see Batman Begins, the latest movie in the franchise, let me help you with that decision: go see it. Now. Skip work. It’s that good (though skipping work for any movie is a good plan). It is everything that Batman Forever and Batman & Robin weren’t: Batman Begins is well acted, serious, and fascinating to watch.
There’s much to like about this movie: firstly, it uses a villain that’s untouched from previous movies and the TV series (though Ra’s Al Ghul did show up in the Batman animated series), but doesn’t make the mistake of all the previous movies by making the villain the focus. In a way, this is really the first actual Batman movie we’ve had (again, I’m not counting the excellent animated features). Bruce Wayne is front and center and Christian Bale has the character down pat (though, I will say that I prefer Michael Keaton’s portayal). Of course, those of us who appreciated Bale in Equilibrium knew he could nail the part.
I know there are those who think the movie is too serious, but I didn’t mind that at all. The stupidness of the previous two Batman movies left me quite full of silly Batman scenes, thank you very much. Erring on the side of seriousness is probably not a bad thing.
The plot is appropriately grandiose for the villain, but I do tire of the city/world threatening evil that plagues nearly all superhero movies: I would have preferred a smaller plot (whatever happened to villains just robbing a bank?), but summer blockbusters have to have something big, I suppose.
I’ve never been a big fan of the Batman suit in the movies and I’m not about to become one: it looks stiff and awkward (though less so than in previous movies). And I HATE it when Batman glides. The way the action is photographed makes the suit seem better than it is, mainly because it is never on screen for more than 2-3 seconds at a time during the action. Hey, guys, how about actually leaving the camera on Batman for a little longer next time?
Katie Holmes barely registers as the requisite love interest, but Gary Oldman is just incredible as James Gordon: usually, Oldman’s scenery chewing leaves me annoyed, but he tones it down for this movie and really does a great job. Both Michael Caine, as Alfred, and Morgan Freeman, as Lucius Fox, do fine jobs with the screen time they have. Rutger Hauer is wasted (in a generic “evil businessman” role), as is Ken Watanabe. Cillian Murphy makes a decent Scarecrow, despite his distracting baby blue eyes.
Liam Neeson is one of those actors who can do both hero and villain easily, and his character in Batman Begins can be seen as being both: he gives Bruce Wayne the tools he needs to become Batman, but miscalculates how driven Wayne is. Neeson does a good job.
There are moments in the movie that are just perfect: Batman using his namesakes as a distraction, the moments between Thomas Wayne and his son (too bad Martha Wayne isn’t given any depth at all), a novice Batman slamming into walls as he tries out his equipment. There are also parts that are distracting: too much time is spent on the Batmobile, and the love story is bland. But I still enjoyed it quite a lot.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 10:33 pm and is filed under DC Comics, Entertainment, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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