Batman Begins restarts and redeems the franchise
Steven Hill
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I was filled with an odd mixture of dread and hope when I first entered the theatre to see the latest movie incarnation of the Batman character from DC Comics.
My apprehension for the movie Batman Begins stemmed from the four previous Batman films (alternately directed by Tim Burton and Joel Shumacher) where great liberties were taken with the original source material and the multi-million dollar budgets seemed to have been spent more on big-name actors and special effects, rather than on a good script. However, I still had a glimmer of hope for this film, as all indications during its filming pointed towards Warner Bros. finally making a Batman film that would please fans of the Dark Knight Detective.
Hope won out, in the end.
Gone is the futuristic, neon-gothic Gotham of the previous flicks and in its place is a city that looks and feels real. And that's one of the things that sets this movie apart from the others. It is portrayed as real - or as real as you can get with a guy dressed up as a bat fighting crime. Its tone is also much darker and more intense.
Gone are the scenery-chewing villains and the focus of the film, rightly so, is on Bruce Wayne and his pointy-eared alter ego. Instead of continuing from where the previous four films left off, Batman Begins throws them all out the window and starts from scratch - giving a character study of who Bruce Wayne is inside, why he chooses a life as Batman and where he gets all those neat toys. Half the movie goes by before you see actor Christian Bale in the costume, but the payoff is well worth it.
The stellar cast all give strong performances, from Michael Caine's perfect butler Alfred, to Gary Old-man's portrayal of a young (Commissioner) Jim Gordon. The only exception is Tom Cruise's betrothed Katie Holmes, who is okay as Batman's childhood friend/love interest, but her character seems only there to draw more wives and girlfriends into the theatre and not to advance or add too much more to the plot.
and I like it too, says Raiser
Bryan raiser
Special to The Chief
If nothing else I know that you know about this movie and have probably seen more than one preview. I know this because at $100 million, this film's marketing costs are the most ever for a single film in history. That's some hype to live up to, especially considerign the Batman film franchise was left for dead five years ago after Batman and Robin so justly crashed and burned in embarrassment.
Thank heavens for cutting edge directors as Christopher Nolan (Memento) brings the dark back to the story of the dark prince. Batman Begins regales us with the tale of how it all began. The film opens with Bruce Wayne as a young exile, taking a small vacation in a Chinese prison. He then get's taken under the wing of a hard headed mentor (Liam Neeson) being a member of the mysterious League Of Shadows. They're an elite group of anarchic justice freaks led by the mysterious Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe). Bruce is trained in martial arts and the criminal mind, but not willing to kill, he's excised and forced to return to Gotham finding it worse than when he left. From here it's fantastic action, bat mobile hijinks and some truly fantastic performances from some of Hollywood's most seasoned professionals. With this film you won't be disappointed. If nothing else this Batman sequel has managed to do what all others have failed and that's to have people looking forward to the next installment.
