Batman Begins (2005)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman

Carmine Falcone: WHO THE HELL ARE YOU???
Batman: I’m Batman.

Man oh man am I glad this movie didn’t suck. I don’t know what it is about the Batman franchise, but it seems to have a disproportionately high number of bad adaptations. Or at least if not bad, overly cheesy. I mean, how hard is it to make a non-cheesy movie about a billionaire playboy who dresses up like a bat and fights crime with a teenage orphan? Nevermind, don’t answer that. Anyway, I was pleased to find Batman Begins give me Batman just like I like him… dark as hell and nipple-free. This is the Batman from the comics. When he fights he’s not trying to impress you, he’s trying to take you down. It’s fast, it’s brutal, and it’s over almost before you know it.

As you can tell by the title and the trailers, Batman Begins is an origin story. It covers everything you’d expect… the murder of Thomas & Martha Wayne, Bruce’s foreign travels & training, his eventual return to the cesspool Gotham City has become, and the making of an oath to rid it of corruption and crime. However, what makes this movie great, is the fact that it somehow makes Bruce Wayne’s extreme behavior seem almost rational and logical. This is a movie you can take your girlfriend or non-nerd friends to. In fact, the first half of the movie plays just like any other good drama/action flick… there’s been a grievous wrong committed, and someone must set it right. When Bruce finally dons the Batman garb, it makes sense. The villains he faces, Ra’s Al Ghul & The Scarecrow, both seem very real and very menacing, without resorting to theatrics or crazy gimmicks. In particular, Cillian Murphy is really good as The Scarecrow… I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in Wes Craven’s upcoming Red-Eye. There’s also plenty of comedic moments to keeping things from getting too heavy… most of them courtesy of Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine of all people. I guess what I’m saying is that Batman Begins isn't just good for a comic book movie, it’s good period.

Of course there’s plenty of references in this movie for all us comic book geeks too. From Lucius Fox to Joe Chill to Carmine Falcone, I was pleasantly surprised at the attention to detail this movie went into. The Falcone story has always been one of the greatest things about the Batman comic books, and has been sorely lacking from other Batman movies. And, let me give my congratulations and thanks to whoever cast Christian Bale in this movie. I’ve always though that Michael Keaton made a good Batman, but a pretty dumb looking Bruce Wayne. Val Kilmer on the other hand looked great as Wayne, but didn’t have the jaw to pull off Batman. (And as for Clooney… nothing he did could save Batman & Robin.) Bale, however, somehow manages to perfectly pull off Bruce Wayne’s carefree spoiled persona, as well as Batman’s intense, take-no-prisoners attitude.

Batman Begins is full of great moments, but my favorite is probably Commissioner Gordon’s closing speech about ‘escalation.’ It’s an issue that always comes up when talking about Superheroes… if you were just an average Joe, would you want to live in a city like Gotham, or Metropolis, when you know every villain is going to try to take a shot at the good guy? Batman may get rid of the street thugs, but if that means creating the Jokers, Riddlers, and Poison Ivy’s of the world, is it really worth it? There’s no clear answer, and it’s subtlety like this that raises Batman Begins from another failed Batman attempt to something really great. I for one can’t wait for the inevitable sequel… the closing shot is a good a teaser as I’ve seen in a long time.


Micah

Want to share an opinion about this movie or review? To the forums!