Batman Begins: Two Reviews for the Price of One
06/16/2005 00:04 Filed in: Movies and Television
In spite of the horrible George Clooney version in 1997, you should give Ol' Bats one more look.
This blog entry contains a guest review by Andrew Wells . I'll make a few comments toward the end.
WARNING: There are some spoilers below.
Andrew writes:
The Batman movie is to DC what Spiderman 2 is to Marvel...they not only got it right, they almost got it perfect.
Christian Bale is perfect. He is believable at all levels--Batman, playboy Bruce Wayne, and tortured Bruce Wayne. I thought they made a little too much of playboy Bruce Wayne--I never thought of the Bruce Wayne persona as an alcoholic and playboy, but it makes sense, given that Batman is constructing his persona. Michael Keaton was scary as Batman; Bale is downright menacing everytime he speaks.
Of the rest, Liam Neeson was the best, intense and mean as nails as Bruce's League of Shadows mentor--and also unexpectedly sympathetic. The last shot of him I thought very touching. The Jim Gordon character was good at first, but toward the end he was used as comic relief, and I didn't like that. The character playing Scarecrow was actually scarier without his mask (in a good way). And the Rachel character didn't take too much away from the movie, though you find it hard to believe she is the city D.A. by the end... I mean, she's so young.
Other good things:
• Special effects were happily kept to a fair minimum till the ending.
• The chase involving the Batmobile is impressive.
• The first shot of the League of Shadows mountaintop fortress is beautiful.
• "Can I show you my mask?"
• "Well, at least we'll have extras."
• Bruce Wayne's increasingly hilarious reasons for borrowing weaponry from Lucius Fox.
• "It's kind of technical."
• Bruce's first attempt at jumping buildings, and the way they stage Batman's first appearance.
• "We burned London to the ground."
• Scarecrow's exit.
• The surprising amount of psychology they put into the movie--we really get to see the "birth" of Batman (not just the putting on of the suit), and the implications it has and will have on who Bruce Wayne is, and the cost it will have for him and for his family, his family history (including the way Bruce's parents fit into the villian's plot), and for the city of Gotham.
• The surprise "cameo" at the end.
The bad, if any:
I didn't like the treatment of the Gordon charcter in the latter part of the movie. And I had trouble with the construction of the Bruce Wayne playboy persona. And most of all, as seems to be the standard much today, all the action was shot close up and jarringly edited. Oh, and with about all movies I see these days, they didn't use enough light in the projector and the sound mix was deafening...I actually had trouble hearing some of the dialogue which is unusual for me.
But it was great, great, great. Highly recommended. I'll probably get the DVD, to savor it better.
Rick adds:
In the comic books, Batman returned to his darker roots in the Denny O'Neil/Neil Adams stories of the late sixties and early seventies. This was partly in reaction to the high camp of the television series with Adam West. But then in the eighties, Batman was taken to a rougher, grittier level with the Frank Miller version seen primarily in The Dark Knight Returns and then in Batman: Year One. Frank Miller's Batman was the inspiration behind Tim Burton's 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton, and that version continued in Batman Returns (although I did not care much for the latter--but I know, Andrew, that it is your favorite of last decade's series).
However, I feel that Batman Begins most fully realizes the essence of the Frank Miller Batman. Here Batman is rough, tough and a bit scary to both the bad guys and the good guys. Although scriptwriter David Goyer insists that his inspiration for Batman Begins came from stories other than Miller's Year One, this movie could not have been made without Year One having been written first. If you don't believe me, pick it up and look for the similarities.
At first I was a bit wary of having a whole movie dedicated to Batman's beginnings. The thing I usually don't enjoy in a super-hero movie is the origin story. To me the process of getting there isn't as exciting as what they can do now that they are there. But Batman Begins created a solid back-story to the character. If you've ever wondered how he trained, why he chose the symbol of a bat, where the Batcave came from and the technologies behind the costume and the Batmobile, this movie answers these kinds of questions. Not only does it answer them, it puts them in the context of a compelling story.
And don't think of this as a prequel to the previous four movies. The franchise is completely restarting. When Kathy and I saw it, she kept trying to fit it into what we knew from the other Batman movies. Forget what you learned about Batman in the previous movies. Everything is now new again.
A few nitpicks:
• I know Katie Holmes is the hottest new actress in Hollywood right now, but I felt she was the weakest cast selection. In real life Holmes is 27 years old. She looks 20. I had trouble seeing her as Gotham's district attorney which she promotes to by the end of the movie.
• The plot by Ra's Al Ghul to poison the city is highly convoluted. They poison the city's water supply. Then they are supposed to fire this microwave contraption which will evaporate the water and spread the poison into the air. Well, there are too many steps involved in all that and too much that can go wrong. Why not just fly a crop duster over Gotham and poison everyone that way? See...if I were a criminal mastermind, I would get the job done. I would be practical in my methodology, and I would never EVER explain my whole plan in detail to the one person who might be able to stop me.
• What was the deal with Batman being able to summon a swarm of bats? I've never seen that before. It felt like a parody of Aquaman summoning sea life.
• The movie is hard to hear on two different levels. Most of the movies I see these days are at the theater in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which to me has the best sound system in the area--I think just because it's the newest theater. Well, by the end of Batman Begins my ears were ringing. This movie is just plain LOUD. And there were a number of times that I just couldn't understand the dialogue either because of background noise or because it was just unintelligible.
Other than that, the movie is excellent. Although there were some aspects I liked in the previous four Batman movies, Batman Begins is by far better than any of them. Forget how disappointed you were with Loony Clooney's version of Batman. Make sure you see this movie.
So far, the summer's entertainment is shaping up quite nicely...
WARNING: There are some spoilers below.
Andrew writes:
The Batman movie is to DC what Spiderman 2 is to Marvel...they not only got it right, they almost got it perfect.
Christian Bale is perfect. He is believable at all levels--Batman, playboy Bruce Wayne, and tortured Bruce Wayne. I thought they made a little too much of playboy Bruce Wayne--I never thought of the Bruce Wayne persona as an alcoholic and playboy, but it makes sense, given that Batman is constructing his persona. Michael Keaton was scary as Batman; Bale is downright menacing everytime he speaks.
Of the rest, Liam Neeson was the best, intense and mean as nails as Bruce's League of Shadows mentor--and also unexpectedly sympathetic. The last shot of him I thought very touching. The Jim Gordon character was good at first, but toward the end he was used as comic relief, and I didn't like that. The character playing Scarecrow was actually scarier without his mask (in a good way). And the Rachel character didn't take too much away from the movie, though you find it hard to believe she is the city D.A. by the end... I mean, she's so young.
Other good things:
• Special effects were happily kept to a fair minimum till the ending.
• The chase involving the Batmobile is impressive.
• The first shot of the League of Shadows mountaintop fortress is beautiful.
• "Can I show you my mask?"
• "Well, at least we'll have extras."
• Bruce Wayne's increasingly hilarious reasons for borrowing weaponry from Lucius Fox.
• "It's kind of technical."
• Bruce's first attempt at jumping buildings, and the way they stage Batman's first appearance.
• "We burned London to the ground."
• Scarecrow's exit.
• The surprising amount of psychology they put into the movie--we really get to see the "birth" of Batman (not just the putting on of the suit), and the implications it has and will have on who Bruce Wayne is, and the cost it will have for him and for his family, his family history (including the way Bruce's parents fit into the villian's plot), and for the city of Gotham.
• The surprise "cameo" at the end.
The bad, if any:
I didn't like the treatment of the Gordon charcter in the latter part of the movie. And I had trouble with the construction of the Bruce Wayne playboy persona. And most of all, as seems to be the standard much today, all the action was shot close up and jarringly edited. Oh, and with about all movies I see these days, they didn't use enough light in the projector and the sound mix was deafening...I actually had trouble hearing some of the dialogue which is unusual for me.
But it was great, great, great. Highly recommended. I'll probably get the DVD, to savor it better.
Rick adds:
In the comic books, Batman returned to his darker roots in the Denny O'Neil/Neil Adams stories of the late sixties and early seventies. This was partly in reaction to the high camp of the television series with Adam West. But then in the eighties, Batman was taken to a rougher, grittier level with the Frank Miller version seen primarily in The Dark Knight Returns and then in Batman: Year One. Frank Miller's Batman was the inspiration behind Tim Burton's 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton, and that version continued in Batman Returns (although I did not care much for the latter--but I know, Andrew, that it is your favorite of last decade's series).
However, I feel that Batman Begins most fully realizes the essence of the Frank Miller Batman. Here Batman is rough, tough and a bit scary to both the bad guys and the good guys. Although scriptwriter David Goyer insists that his inspiration for Batman Begins came from stories other than Miller's Year One, this movie could not have been made without Year One having been written first. If you don't believe me, pick it up and look for the similarities.
At first I was a bit wary of having a whole movie dedicated to Batman's beginnings. The thing I usually don't enjoy in a super-hero movie is the origin story. To me the process of getting there isn't as exciting as what they can do now that they are there. But Batman Begins created a solid back-story to the character. If you've ever wondered how he trained, why he chose the symbol of a bat, where the Batcave came from and the technologies behind the costume and the Batmobile, this movie answers these kinds of questions. Not only does it answer them, it puts them in the context of a compelling story.
And don't think of this as a prequel to the previous four movies. The franchise is completely restarting. When Kathy and I saw it, she kept trying to fit it into what we knew from the other Batman movies. Forget what you learned about Batman in the previous movies. Everything is now new again.
A few nitpicks:
• I know Katie Holmes is the hottest new actress in Hollywood right now, but I felt she was the weakest cast selection. In real life Holmes is 27 years old. She looks 20. I had trouble seeing her as Gotham's district attorney which she promotes to by the end of the movie.
• The plot by Ra's Al Ghul to poison the city is highly convoluted. They poison the city's water supply. Then they are supposed to fire this microwave contraption which will evaporate the water and spread the poison into the air. Well, there are too many steps involved in all that and too much that can go wrong. Why not just fly a crop duster over Gotham and poison everyone that way? See...if I were a criminal mastermind, I would get the job done. I would be practical in my methodology, and I would never EVER explain my whole plan in detail to the one person who might be able to stop me.
• What was the deal with Batman being able to summon a swarm of bats? I've never seen that before. It felt like a parody of Aquaman summoning sea life.
• The movie is hard to hear on two different levels. Most of the movies I see these days are at the theater in Shelbyville, Kentucky, which to me has the best sound system in the area--I think just because it's the newest theater. Well, by the end of Batman Begins my ears were ringing. This movie is just plain LOUD. And there were a number of times that I just couldn't understand the dialogue either because of background noise or because it was just unintelligible.
Other than that, the movie is excellent. Although there were some aspects I liked in the previous four Batman movies, Batman Begins is by far better than any of them. Forget how disappointed you were with Loony Clooney's version of Batman. Make sure you see this movie.
So far, the summer's entertainment is shaping up quite nicely...