Batman Begins

A plunge into the depths creates real fear, as out of darkness swarming beasts cause to appear, later at, the opera, you start to tremble, shake and cower, leads to an exit, where the price is quite severe. Some years later and a journey is begun, from the light into the shadows where you run, as Ra's al Ghul becomes mentor, or is he just, a tormentor, the cycle closes, returning to the forsaken. A new friend is made and doors begin to slide, finding technologies, to halt and stop the tide, tools to fight, the criminals, mobsters without principles, a winged vigilante, in Gotham City, now resides.

To tell the truth, I thought the Batman franchise could never be saved, and I was really let down that I may never see my favorite superhero in a good movie ever again. Then I saw the preview to Batman Begins, I didn't really know what to think. New Batman. New Alfred. New story. New style. I wasn't sure why I wanted it 'the old way', but maybe I wanted to the actors in the Batman films I grew up with, to revive themselves and make a good Batman movie. I wanted Robin and sadly, Batgirl, alongside Batman saving the world from another familiar villain.

I heard Batman Begins, and I thought great, this was called "Batman" in 1989, selfishly I said, "I want something new!".

But, of course being a big Batman fan, I went opening night to Begings. 2 and half hours later, like the rest of the audience was completely blown away. It was the only movie I had ever been to (and yes I have been to some great ones) where the crowd claps and the end. This was not just golf claps for a popcorn clip, this was a standing ovation for 10:30 pm show in a crowded theater in Austin, Texas.

I never would have thought this would have worked, even with Nolan directing. But I was wrong, so wrong. After seeing the X-Mens and Spidermans, I clearly thought Marvel had the upperhand and DC was just simply trying to keep up, again, so wrong.

Nolan gave us a dark, gritty, and pleasantly realistic, view of Batman. Bale gives a tremendous performance as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Michael Caine was a fabulous Alfred, and Morgan Freeman almost stole the show as Luscious Fox.

Even though X-Men and Spiderman(all of them) are wonderful superhero movies, Batman Begins, is just a good, no, great movie. And I think that is what blew people away, that it wasn't just some superhero, special effect, hero gets girl, good guy wins movie, it was a truly dark and well crafted movie, and it maybe stupid to say, but it didn't even feel like you were watching a superhero movie.

I don't even think Burton, and his animated style(which works), could have revived this troubled series, that Schumaker wrecked, because like Fantastic Four and Daredevil, tried over do it and give us the latter part of things.

So, here is to you Chris Nolan. You saved a franchise. You made an unforgettable movie, that will be remembered as the best superhero movie of all time, but just an all around great and unforgettable movie classic.

Director Christopher Nolan is rebooting the Dark Knight with a ever darker style. It is faux realism. He starts off with the death of Bruces' parents. After not able to kill their killer, Bruce is in a Chinese prison where he meets the mysterious Ra's Al Ghul. It is the anti-Obi-Wan Kenobi. His message is a dark perversion of Justice. When he returns to Gotham, he invents Batman.

There are two things that keep this from an even more impressive start of Nolan's Batman Trilogy. The first is Katie Holmes. She is not up to the task. She is still playing that little girl character from Dawson's Creek. She doesn't have the seriousness or gravitas to play this gutsy lawyer character. It's a big character, and not just another girlfriend.

The second is that Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) isn't a big enough villain. The evil plan has too much of a silly Bond feeling. It is too unrealistic in a Batman movie that is suppose to be realistic. It leaves a bad taste for the climatic ending. Other than those two, this is still a great start to the trilogy. It sets the tone for the final two.

Finally, after the previous 2 outings of the caped crusader, the Batman franchise is back on track. Having been a big comic collector over the years and a long time fan of the Dark Knight, I was especially disappointed by 'Forever' and 'Batman and Robin'. To me, these film lost the essence of what drives Bruce Wayne to do what he does and turned Batman into more of a pop star than misunderstood hero.

Thankfully though, Nolan has gone back to the roots of the character, portraying a confused and angry Bruce Wayne, who ultimately rises to become Gotham's greatest champion. Don't expect to see loads of shots of Batman in this film though. It is the story of Wayne and focuses mainly on his years of training and preparation for becoming Batman. You are almost teased throughout the first half of the movie, waiting to see the excellent Christian Bale in the costume, as it keeps holding back to keep you in anticipation. When Batman does finally turn up on screen, it is well worth the wait. In my opinion, Bale was born for this role and for the first time when watching a Batman film, I enjoyed the scenes of Wayne being Wayne as much as Wayne being Batman.

One of the strongest features of the film, is the way that it manges to suck you in believe that a 'Batman' could be a reality one day. The technology is current, with no use of silly OTT weapons and gadgets, again making the film work by today's standards. Plus, we are not allowed to forget that Batman is still just a man under the costume and there are times when he gets a bit of a kicking and shows that he can be vulnerable too, something we sometimes forget when watching a superhero flick. Gone too, are the silly villains!!! Jack Nicholson was the perfect Joker but from there it went downhill. Thankfully, in this movie the bad guys are actually fairly 'normal' and manage to be menacing at the same time.

Which finally brings me to the cast. I always had high expectations for this film when the cast was announced. Let's face it, what a line up! Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katy Holmes, Ken Watanabe and Tom Wilkinson are not to be sniffed at. Even an old favourite of mine makes an appearance: Rutger Hauer! Awesome. Actors of this calibre would never have gotten involved in this project if they didn't have faith in Christoper Nolan's talents and thankfully they took the leap...

For the comic book fans out there, waiting to see this movie, let me assure you that you won't be upset. Imagine the darkness of the 'A Death In The Family' and the 'Year One' story lines. I have never met a fan of Batman who didn't love these books. Well, this is the kind of Batman you can expect from Bale: Dark, brooding and tortured by his past, yet the hero we have come to love. For those of you who are not comic fans, then just look forward to seeing how Batman should be. This film is a credit to Bob Kane's original vision and a testament to all the talented artists and writers who keep the legend of the Dark Knight alive in the comic books today....

Thank you Mr. Nolan and thank you Mr. Bale. In fact thanks to everyone who worked on this film. Batman finally Begins from here....

Batman Begins is a well told story of the origin of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale). It covers a lot of the same ground as Michael Keaton's original Batman, but goes much further in depth in many factors of his creation. It goes into great detail about subjects such as how he got his costume, what exactly it is. Same goes with the Batmobile. We also find out why he chose to be bat-like.

One of the more interesting aspects here is how it shows Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache), and how he molded Bruce's life and instilled good judgment within him, a point which is misunderstood about him by most people he comes in contact with. Thomas, too, teaches Bruce valuable lesson, such as "We fall so we can learn to pick ourselves up". This is pretty close to the theme of the movie or motto Bruce Wayne lives by. The resemblance of the father & son is pretty good, too.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the training Bruce Wayne endured becoming "invincible". Bruce is trained by Ducard (Liam Neeson) in many ways like a ninja (The concept of Batman IS similar to a ninja). He is taught many valuable lessons in this temple and is shown no mercy. Eventually, we even see his first real enemy as a superhero/vigilante.

Although I am not positive as to how true to the comic book this movie is, I am sure it took a few liberties, as did Spider-Man. Most of the small examples I have noticed are for the better and make for a good story. The Batmobile is more believable as an expensive armored vehicle that the military would not spend the money on than a juiced up Corvette (or whatever that was). Same with the Batsuit.

Katie Holmes is excellent as Rachel Dawes, a D.A. who is not afraid to go after the big villains in court. Also worthy of mentioning is Michael Caine as Alfred the butler. I do not believe they could have found a better man for that role, although I could not get the image of Caine as Austin Powers' dad out of my head when he was on screen.

Finally, in my opinion, Christian Bale makes a much better Batman than the three recent previous ones in Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney. Something about him makes Batman darker and more mysterious. Hopefully, DC Comics and movies have learned from their mistakes and we will not have to worry about Batman picking up a sidekick in this newest installment of the Batman series. 9/10