June 20, 2005
@ 02:35 PM
Comments [3]
Movie Review: Batman Begins

I saw Batman Begins this weekend and I'm still trying to decide whether it is the best Batman movie of all time or not. Although there is no villain who gives a performance as commanding as Jack Nicholson's in 1989 Batman movie, Christian Bale is a better Batman than Michael Keaton and Michael Caine plays Alfred better than I imagined possible. Morgan Freeman is also great as Lucius Fox.

The movie is over 2 hours long which is to be expected given that it spends the first 45 minutes or more on the back story leading up to Bruce Wayne deciding to become the Batman. Though the movie is a bit long it makes up for this by hitting all the right notes when it comes to exploring the Batman mythos. My favorite themes from the comic are there from the night and day difference between Bruce Wayne's playboy lifestyle and Batman's ongoing war on crime to Jim Gordon questioning whether the existence of Batman encourages the existence of the more "theatrical" criminals (e.g. Joker, Two Face and the Riddle).

I definitely can't wait to see the next movie in the series.

Score: **** out of *****


 

Categories: Movie Review

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Monday, 20 June 2005 15:06:37 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
Well, got to agree with you there... Saw Batman Begins over the weekend with my wife and really enjoyed this one. I see this as a very fine movie, laying the groundwork for a series of movies on Batman. Its a very dark movie, closer to the original comic style. The great stunts fit nicely into the storyline, and enveloped the movie instead of standing out by themself.
CrashR
Monday, 20 June 2005 18:56:49 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
Saw it last thursday with Daniel. I loved it, but I just couldn't buy Katie Holmes as a 31 year ADA. The only negative in an otherwise fine movie.

Larry Osterman
Thursday, 23 June 2005 05:23:04 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
I am looking forward to the sequel(s) as well. Bale was outstanding.

I think Nolan would have done well to include a few iconic moments alongside the blur of the action scenes. A little of this, if done intelligently, would please crowds while not disturbing the quiet central core of the film. I heard a consistent number of complaints about this issue. Remember we are now in an age where the audiences want to see Matrix-like revolutions of every bullet now. They want an explosion that goes on for five minutes. Nolan let the details blur for the sake of 'realism' but the audiences are grumbling about it.

I have an offbeat review comparing Batman to Darth Vader here: http://mistersnitch.blogspot.com/2005/03/men-in-black-capes.html
Mr. Snitch!
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