Batman Begins

Masterful, Wonderful, and. just. so. damn. cool.

Finally, the BATMAN has come to Gotham City!

This is the Batman we've all been wanting forever, the Batman Burton got us closest to and Shulmacher took eons away from. This is the Batman of the best storylines in the comics, the Batman of Bob Kane's imagination, of Frank Miller's re-imagining, of Chuck Dixon and all the other great writers of the series, and oh-so-NOT the Batman of Adam West (as much fun as we all must admit that was). Batman is indeed the Dark Knight, good, bad, and ugly... unless your a chick watching it, and then there's probably no ugly about Christian Bale.

Christopher "Memento" Nolan and David "Blade" Goyer have done such amazing justice to the Bat, utilizing Ra's Al Ghul brilliantly as one of the most complex and important villians Batman has ever had to deal with and so how managing to make a VERY comic book movie that somehow isn't that comicbook-y. What do I mean? Well, costumes are at a minimum. The Scarecrow (a great Cillian Murphy) is really just the mask, Ra's is not really costumed, except battlegear and the Batman manages to have a reason for everything he wears.

And this is really where the brilliance of Batman Begins... well, begins. I am often wary of "origin stories" because Hollywood only seems to know how to destroy them, and this movie, more than most other superhero movies actually went out of it's way to be, simply, AN ORIGIN STORY. And it's great. Rather than raping the story of all historical merit, Nolan and Goyer hold desperately true to the "true" (comics make enough of a muddle of their own beginnings, telling and re-telling them over and over again) story of the Bat, changing only small things, most notably the Scarecrow's origin which is forgivable for the cohesiveness his part brings to the film, and tell a story that is noir enough to warrant Batman's inherent title of "detective" (which they manage not to say ONCE in the movie).

And what a cast: Ken Wattanabe, Liam Neeson, freaking MICHAEL CAINE, Christian Bale, and MORGAN "THE MAN" FREEMAN, who is awesome. Amazing casting, great acting, great performances all around... except, of course, the unfortunate casting of Katie Holmes. My girlfriend put it best; she has no screen presence... .at all. The little girl that plays the younger her, Emma Lockhart who is terrific and very pretty, has more charisma in her little toe than Holmes has anywhere altogether. In fact the only part of Holmes that seems to be aware of some need to make an impression seem to be her nipples, which absolutely love being in the spotlight. This was, in fact, my favorite part of her performance, but I would have rather watched The Gift a few more times to see them, than have her in my Batman movie. I can't imagine what her and Tom Cruise talk about... oh, wait, he never shuts up.

Luckily her lacking acting ability doesn't hurt the film except for about two minutes when Nolan and Goyer decide to give her six whole lines in a row, which she mangles beyond all sense and reason. Oh, Scarlett Johannson, if only you'd done this instead of The Island!

Otherwise... freaking awesome. This is my kind of Batman, dark, angry, heroic and able to date to girls at once... giggity, giggity, giggity! Oh, yeah! Goyer understood that the key word in Bruce Wayne's description is PLAYBOY millionaire.

Now, if only they'd release the sequel tomorrow, I'd be completely happy.

A striking blow
by Joe De Matteo

Super

Go to Batman Begins with mild expectations and the desire to enjoy a good movie, oh, and clear your mind about all things Batman. You'll be entertained. Batman Begins is an excellent film.

UPDATE: I've gotten a lot of grief for this opening line.

This is what I mean by it. There have been a many incarnations of the Batman story. The comics alone have changed a few times over the years, Add to that the TV rendition and the movies, and all had their detractors and fans. Batman Begins is the original story line, and deals with his "beginnings." If this is the first thing you're seeing Batman since the old TV show, or Micheal Keaton's Batman, whether you loved or hated those, this is different, so go with a clean slate for on which Christopher Nolan can paint.

Batman is the perfect character for the early 21^th Century. We're living in a time of good vs. evil. A time when some look down upon those fighters of evil, judging them not by the safety of our people, the survival of Liberty, our society and culture, but through some perverse feeling of disdain seemingly satisfied to see Americans suffer and fail.

However, it is also a time when most of us celebrate those who fight our enemies, and recognize them as the heroes they are. Batman is a hero, wounded to his very sole, yet he stands between us and those who would prey upon us.

It is because Christopher Nolan has chosen to tell us, not another adventure, but the Batman story that makes it a special film. This is the story of a boy who witnesses the brutal destruction of his world, and what that does to him, what he becomes behind that event.

Bruce Wayne is not Christopher Reeves' Superman, pure of heart and good to the core. Bruce Wayne is a real human, imperfect, making imperfect decisions with one goal, to protect the innocent by vanquishing the evil doers.

It is a terrific tale told almost epically. The film has body and depth to the point that it could launch a new Batman series. My only hope is that Christopher Nolan conducts his new franchise, if it is to be one, in the way that George Lucas (StarWars, Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and the The Wachowski Brothers (Matrix) did, by treating the series as whole - one big project, one story.

Batman Begins is a keeper.