Not just a great comic book movie, a GREAT MOVIE

Rating: 10/10 (26 June 2005)

I read one review of "Batman Begins" that essentially summarizes my feelings for this movie: "It's like 'The Godfather' with batarangs." So many people make the mistake of thinking that this is just another dumb, cliché comic book-summer movie for the kids, but it's really not. This is the first big blockbuster movie for director Christopher Nolan, and, instead of selling out like most action film directors and going for the easy thrills, he sticks to his sophisticated, intriguing, thought-provoking indie film style of directing, and trust me, it works. This is the best Batman movie I've ever seen, the best comic book movie I've ever seen, and one of the best movies in general that I've ever seen.
There were so many things that annoyed me about the previous Batman movies, especially that crap-fest "Batman and Robin." The villains were focused on more than Batman, the movies were too stylized (Burton) or too campy (Schumacher), and they didn't really tell you anything about the process Bruce Wayne goes through to become Batman. You can ask someone who just watched any of the first four Batman movies why exactly does Batman fight crime, and all they might be able to answer with is "because his parents died." That's just the tip of the iceberg; there is so much depth and intrigue to this character that hasn't been shown in a movie yet. Until "Batman Begins."
The first half of the movie doesn't even mention Batman. Instead, we get to see Bruce Wayne transform from an innocent youngster into a misguided, hate-filled teenager into a dedicated man with a purpose in his life. The second half of the movie? Action. Entertaining fight scenes, amazing visuals, witty dialog, interesting plot twists, and a Batmobile car chase that, despite the fact that a car is jumping from rooftop to rooftop, appears absolutely realistic. Plus, one of the greatest scenes of all time in which a seriously angry Batman interrogates a crooked cop; and by the way, that's really Christian Bale talking, it's not any fancy post-production audio tricks.
There are some complaints about the movie, especially with the fight scenes. The shots are kept very tight so that you can't really see exactly what's happening, but, in a way, that's why they're so cool. That's how Batman is: fast and mysterious, and never really allowing the men he's fighting to see what he's doing until they find themselves lying on the ground with a broken arm. Also, there are some complaints that the movie has too many villains, or that they don't receive enough screen time. However, try to remember that the title of the movie is "Batman Begins," not "Villains Do Stuff That Batman Has to Stop." The villains are present for as long as they need to be, without stealing any of Batman's thunder; this movie is more so a character study of Bruce Wayne than a typical action movie where we need to see villains killing someone every ten minutes to remain entertained.
This review may seem a bit long, but I dare you to go see this movie and not spend this much time talking about it. Between the great acting, brilliant interactions among characters, amazing scenes, and endless sequel predictions (the last 5 minutes are just plain awesome), this movie will definitely have you talking for quite some time. If you like action movies, if you like horror movies, or even if you like indie movies, go see this movie. It's great.