Movie Reviews - new films reviewed

In BATMAN BEGINS, we meet Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale - making Batman real) in a prison in the Far East. After his parents have been murdered, Bruce has left Gotham City and travels the world to collect first-hand experience with crime and evil in search for a way to bring back justice to corrupt Gotham. He meets Ducard (Liam Neeson in top form) who trains him in the way of Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) and his Leage Of Shadows. But after his training is finished, there is a disagreement between Bruce and Ra’s Al Ghul about the best way to fight evil and bring justice - a deadly disagreement. Leaving Ra’s Al Ghul dead but saving Ducard’s life, Bruce Wayne heads back to Gotham to fight for justice his way.
He has to deal with not only gang boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson brings the right arrogance to the mafia-boss) - and corrupt cops, but he has to fight also for his legacy. Wayne Enterprises is run by Earle (Rutger Hauer - arguably his best role since Blade Runner) who wants Bruce out and has made Wayne Enterprises an arms manufacturer . His only friend there is Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman - good as always) who is in charge (more or less) for the development of military applications - and he is the man who will deliver many of Batman’s gadgets, including the new Batmobile.
Batman busts up a drug delivery for Falcone and leaves him tied up for the police. But sinister Doctor Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy - scary) has him transferred to his Arkham Asylum - and this is just the beginning, as we learn they both work for a mysterious somebody who has his own plans for Gotham, involving experimental drugs and a microwave beam weapon developed by Wayne Enterprises - and Batman’s only allies are his butler Alfred (Michael Caine is Alfred), his childhood pal Assistant DA Rachel Dodson (Katie Holmes) and incorruptible cop Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman - he can do good guys!).

Forget Batman and Robin - say thanks to all the comic and movie gods - gone is the ham, the camp, and the cheese from this stinker - BATMAN BEGINS for real! This Batman is based in reality, explains how the rich boy developed his fighting skills and where his gadgets come from, and in case you ever wondered why any self-respecting mobster should be afraid of a man in a bat-suit you will see it in this film.
It’s the first time Batman is depicted as the creature of the night he really is, and gives meaning to the title Dark Knight - the film’s tone is close to the comics Batman - Year One and The Dark Knight Returns.
Christian Bale is perfect as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, and his allies are spot-on as well (with the exception of Katie Holmes who doesn’t really fit her part).
The bad guys are a good match not only story- and characterization-, but also performance-wise. Liam Neeson and Ken Watanabe deliver as misguided men with a mission, and Cillian Murphy breathes creepy life into the Scarecrow, one of Batman’s classic villains. And you can’t give enough credit to the scriptwriters (David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan), the director (Christopher Nolan again) and Cillian Murphy for making the Scarecrow not only not ridiculous and not corny, but an actually scary character!
While saying goodbye to the camp, BATMAN BEGINS still features all the essentials: Wayne Manor, the Bat-Cave, the Batarang, the Batmobile, the ropes and wires and the utility belt - all slightly modified to fit into the real world (as is Batman’s costume which ditches the yellow symbol - not a bad idea to lose this target-mark - and makes the cape a useful application!).
It’s still second to Spider-Man as far as comic-book movies are concerned, but don’t miss this one, don’t spend too much thought on the microwave-beam-weapon stuff (which could never ever work in the way it is used here), and watch out for the next Batman movie - featuring villain The Joker!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2005 at 4:17 pm and is filed under 5-star-movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.