Batman is one of the
most legendary comic book characters, not powered by radiation or
alien powers, but just a detective's mind and a fat wallet. Batman
movies have been a cinema staple for many years and have seen many
incarnations. There has been Adam West prancing around with a
cartoon bomb in tow, there has been a gritty version based around the
animated series of the early 90's, and starting in the late 80's a
couple of film makers made very visual cinematic versions of the
character. Most of these movies started before comic book movies were
the blockbuster powerhouses they are now. Of course, it started with
Tim Burton directing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Batman. I
enjoy his two movies, Batman and Batman Returns, to
varying degrees and appreciate what they were at the time they came
out. Then afterwards, Joel Schumacher made 1995's Batman Forever,
which wasn't as well liked, but still a fairly big hit. Then his
follow up movie, Batman and Robin was such a big critical and
commercial flop that it pretty much killed Batman's big screen
viability for years and probably put comic book movies on hold for
years until X-Men came in and sparked interest again. I was
flirting with the idea of reviewing all of these Batman movies, but
maybe I'll get to that another time. For now I wish to focus on
Christopher Nolan's trilogy.
Batman Begins
was a crucial film for restarting Batman. When I heard the
announcement of a new Batman film was not particularly interested;
all I wondered was how they were going to screw it up again.
Bringing in writer/director Christopher Nolan was a stroke of genius
for rebuilding the crumbled movie franchise. While he wasn't a hugely
successful director commercially speaking, his films Memento and
Insomnia were very well liked by critics and a selective fan
base. That was what made me want to see this new Batman. I loved
Memento and felt that a grittier and more psychological take
on the character would serve it well. Watching the movie now, it has
already gained a nostalgic quality for me. It takes me back right to
2005 when this was one of the big movies of the Summer and I first
started working at a movie theatre. It's only now starting to feel
like a long time ago.
The previous Batman
films only touched briefly on the character's origin story so Batman
Begins is the first to give us an in depth look at Bruce Wayne
(Christian Bale) and what would motivate him to dress up like a Bat
and fight crime. It starts with him as a young boy when his parents
are tragically killed at gun point by a desperate thug. As Wayne
grows up he harbours a deep bitterness toward Joe Chill, the thug
who, 14 years later, is about to be released because in prison he
shared a cell with Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), Gotham's most
powerful crime boss. Chill is willing to testify, but when he is
killed, Bruce is cheated of his vengeance. Realizing that he is
becoming someone who he does not like, he disappears from Gotham and
travels the world to study the criminal mind. He finds himself in an
Asian prison where is met by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) who offers
him a chance at freedom and an opportunity to train to become an
unstoppable warrior. When he finds that he is being trained to become
an assassin rather than a crime fighter, Bruce rebels and leaves the
League of Shadows to return to Gotham and fight against the crime
underworld under a new iconic identity.
Batman Begins
takes on the difficult task of taking the Batman mythos and trying to
work it into a very realistic universe and their way to justify some
of these characters works surprisingly well. Even Batman himself is a
bit of a stretch, if you think about it really. But as you are taken
not only through the technology at Bruce Wayne's disposal, but also
the inner workings of his psyche, it doesn't feel in the movie like
it's an enormous stretch at all. He dresses up as a bat to be an
icon, an image of fear to criminals rather than some random masked
vigilante. He is unstoppable as a crime fighter because he's been
trained as a ninja. Yeah, why not? I buy that. It's all handled very
seriously and with much consideration.
The theme of the movie
is fear and it is explored pretty thoroughly. Fear is the source of
power that Carmine Falcone has as many cops and even a judge do what
he says on a whim. He controls Gotham through fear of his power.
Batman's way to counter this is to fight fire with fire essentially,
creating a counter fear for the criminal world to be afraid of just
the same. Fear and panic are the source of human destruction which is
why it is literally used as a weapon in the final act. The Scarecrow
also puts a more literal spin the theme, as he develops a fear toxin
which causes people to have panicking hallucinations, which is very
true to what The Scarecrow is like in the comics. But their take on
Johnathan Crane/Scarecrow is a little different than other renditions
of the character that I've seen.
Crane is played by
Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who broke out a few years earlier with 28
Days Later. Murphy is mesmerizing in the role and every scene
he's in, he steals the show. This was the movie that made him one of
my favourite actors, which is an opinion I still hold to this day.
What works so well is that as we get to see Crane progress in the
movie, we learn that he is just as dangerous and unhinged as the
mental patients that he treats in Arkham. When he is introduced he is
intelligent and confident, but as you see himself out of the public
eye, a devious criminal is revealed. Murphy makes some very strong
choices while playing the character, seen particularly in the scene
where Batman and Scarecrow meet in Arkham's basement. As Batman
looms over the cluster of criminals, Crane comes across as fascinated
and entertained by the presence of Batman.
Christian Bale is a
strong Bruce Wayne and Batman. He is strongest when he plays Bruce
Wayne pretending to be Bruce Wayne, if that makes sense. As he
returns to Gotham, he needs to publicly separate himself from the
Batman who lurks at night so he puts on the disguise of the shallow
playboy billionaire. Also, at this point his Batman voice isn't as
over the top as it would come to be in the next movie, so good work
there also.
I don't really want to
comment on every actor, but overall it was very well cast and
performed. I also really like the story as a whole, as we see Batman
work his way through the criminal underworld. The more villains he
takes down, the closer he gets to a much bigger plot. Nolan knows how
to reveal the story and plot points in such a way that the audience
keeps guessing. And while the third act gets a little bit messy,
that sometimes feels like an issue in the editing room. It doesn't
overly detract from the movie as a whole. Batman Begins
treated its title character with more respect and consideration than
any Batman film had done before and raised the bar for comic book
films. And while, apparently this was considered a box office
disappointment (even though it was one of the top 10 grossing films
of the year... go figure), it gained a solid reputation and would
garner more fans through the next couple years. Then, when a sequel
was announced, there was a more than healthy amount of hype for it.
It started here; a complex and compelling super hero mystery, with
enough style and substance to save Batman from the embarrassment of
the silly (crappy) movies from the decade before. Thank you
Christopher Nolan for your care and precision.
5 Stars
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