Re: Batman Begins
Well mine won't be the first negative review.
It's great, especially if you're a fan of the "dark knight" style Batman.
SPOILERS
The entire first hour is spent on creating the emotional and psychological makeup of Bruce Wayne and how he evolves into The Batman. Pretty ballsy for a flick in which most would expect just wiz-bang action and FX.
And speaking of FX, the whole thing was kept pretty low-key. Ok, the car chase was pretty outlandish, but the flow of the film was very restrained and therefore watchable.
Nolan just needs to learn how to do hardcore action or hire someone who can for the sequels. There are two scenes where Bruce/Batman is in an all-out brawl: the opening prison sequence and later as Batman surrounded by thugs. And I couldn't tell what was happening and it was annoying. That style of editing also ruined the flashback fo Bruce's parents getting killed. However, it works marvelously in the stalker/horror scenes. Batman, like his enemies, creates and exploits fear (something that is, thankfully, dealt with quite heavily throughout the film), so there's this one sequence where he's preying on some thugs and it's filmed in classic horror style- brilliant! Maybe my favorite part of the film.
The most surprising thing about the movie is that the drama works better than the action.
The guy that played Scarecrow did an awesome job. I hope they find an equally appropriate actor of Joker in the sequel.
Gary Oldman is remarkably restrained and putsy-like as Gordon and it worked. I loved how Batman just liberates him to act on his good nature. Cain and Freeman added the humor and elegance that they always do.
(I read an interview with Freeman and he has such a good attitude about his job- he doesn't play up the artsy-farstsy shit like others of his stature often do, he treats it like a profressional, which is why he's equally great and appropriate in Batman as he is in Glory, which is probably his finest performance ever IMO).
Katie Holmes is getting a lot of flack and I don't know why. Ok, she wasn't brilliant, but was fine as "the girl."
What accent was that mob boss guy trying to effect? Really annoying. But I loved Batman tying him up to the spotlight, inspiring Gordon to create the "bat signal"- "I couldn't find a mafia boss"
I also love that the events in this film explain why Gotham ends up full of literally insane criminals. The "Narrows" area is now a breeding ground for Jokers, Riddlers, Penguins, Catwomen, etc. Just like the X-Men franchise has one quick explanation for all its characters (genetic mutation), so too does Batman. This means sequels don't have to spend a lot of time on villain origin stories but can if they want, giving them a lot of leeway for sequels.
One plot element I didn't like was this Shadow group who apparently is responsible for sacking Rome and burning London and such for some weird philosophy of justice via genocide. Um... okay, whatever.
Oh, and Ra's Al Gul is nothing like the character we were speculating on from the animated series.
The most important thing about this movie is that it gives us a cinematic Batman character we can dig and, if all goes well, Christian Bale will be to Batman what Christopher Reeve is to Superman.
