Batman Begins

<While my reviews are traditionally posted about something I experience that day, I am making a weird exception this week.  I'll be seeing all three Batman movies on Thursday at a marathon, so there will be three reviews coming.  Tuesday is Batman Begins.  Wednesday will be the Dark Knight, and Thursday will be the marathon experience.  My Friday review will be the Dark Knight Rises.  While this is unorthodox, I'm okay with it, so I suggest you be okay with it too.>


Something happens every time I watch Batman Begins.  Each and every time, I always realize that it's better than I remember.  It's not that I recall the film as being bad; it's just so over-shadowed by The Dark Knight that I forget how well made it is.  The same thing happened at the marathon last night.

As Nolan was re-starting the franchise, he chose to tackle Batman's origin story, which we had seen before. For whatever reason, it felt more epic this time around.  It seems that in some superhero movies, the origin story is just something they get through as quick as possible to move on to the awesomeness that is the superhero life.  In Batman Begins, the origin story actually permeates the whole film.

The scenes recalling young Bruce and the events he endured are very touching and well done.  The actors involved all handle the material nicely.  If you give yourself over to it, it's very sad and very touching.  The poignancy of these scenes is necessary for the film and the development of Bruce Wayne.  Yes, he is Batman, but he's also a person.

The film is put together well, although it isn't quite as polished as some of Nolan's other films.  While it doesn't have the level of epic found in the Dark Knight, it does tell a well crafted superhero story, one that was better than many we had thus far been exposed to.  While the movie does feel a bit like a typical superhero film at times, it is actually much better thought out and presented.  The character building is important and boosts the film up.

Visually, Batman Begins is quite good.  The cinematography and special effects are nice.  Nolan is known for preferring practical effects, and that level of dedication to the craft is refreshing.  The only real complaints come when watching some of the fight scenes, especially one early in the film.  When Bruce is in the prison and fighting a multitude of assailants, they all kind of look the same.  Because of the quick cuts, it's hard to follow the action at times.  It's generally acceptable to believe that the person being hurt is not Wayne, but I don't like my action indecipherable.  Later in the film, when the characters are dressed differently, there is no struggle to follow the action.

The casting for Batman Begins set the movie up for success.  With impressive actors like Christian Bale and Liam Neeson, it's not hard to deliver convincing scenes.  When you add in Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, you're just showing off.  As always, I enjoyed seeing my old buddy Rutger Hauer running around.*    If there is a weak performance in the bunch, it comes from Katie Holmes.  I'm not sure if it's her acting or if Nolan and company struggle with writing for a female character.  Batman Begins is largely a boy's club.**

I'm happy to admit that Nolan has pulled off a feat with Batman Begins that has often been the downfall of other, less amazing superhero film; he successfully utilizes two villains.  While multiple foes are rarely the downfall of someone as amazing as Batman, they are often to blame for murdering the script.  With Batman Begins, the inclusion of various iconic villains is explained in a way that makes sense.  It probably helps that neither of the two included antagonists were too well known outside of the comic book readers.  For myself, someone who mainly watched the cartoons, putting these two characters together against Batman worked.  Neither of them had a strong enough following to cause outrage at one being more important than the other.***

If you haven't seen it, you should watch Batman Begins.  If you have seen it but not recently, watch it again.  It's probably better than you remember.  It's often lost in the shadow the Dark Knight, but Batman Begins paved the way for that particular masterpiece.

*There are other amazing actors to be found herein, such as Gary Oldman and Cillian Murphy.  I just thought there was too much name dropping going on in that paragraph up there.

**I'm not complaining about a largely male cast, as it fits the source material.  I'm merely wondering how much of the problem is the actress and how much is the character.

***Although, Nolan proved her could tackle two well known villains in a single film.