Finally, a PROPER Batman Film.

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2005)

As a fan of Tim Burton, I like his Batman films, but as a Batman fan, they couldn't have been further from the Batman flavor. Or that's what I thought till Joel Schumacher killed Batman with his 'films'. It's sad when a cartoon has better writing then FOUR feature films combined, but that's all the real Batman fans were left with if they wanted well told intelligent stories about Batman and his multi-layered villains aside from reading the books. That is until a ballsy director and writer came along, those people being Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, and FIXED Batman. Goyer, I had faith in. I'd just hoped he could retain the characters' personalities. Nolan, has MORE than proved he can deliver a dark and gritty Batman film without turning it into dark camp like Burton,or something so insane and flamboyant it would never happen, like Schumacher. I think that's why this film succeeds where the other films failed miserably, because aside from a man in a rag/mask calling himself Scarecrow, and another man in a Batsuit calling himself Batman, the film is camp free, a first for ANY live action Batman representation.
Nolan gives us a gritty city with slums that echo the worst from around the world, AND he makes it dark enough to be very 'Batman' without making it look unnatural. Gotham City is supposed to be ugly and decayed, a virtual urban cesspool of crime, and a nightmare for the viewer. I loved Burton's Gothic flavor, but he couldn't capture reality. Everything felt like a fantastic set, but what Nolan does, is give us something that exists. Part of the nature of this film is the internal. Fears, primal impulses, what drives us to do the things that we do. How does a well meaning person go down a path of corruption? What is a person willing to do for justice and is it that far away from vengeance? These are the things the other films NEVER touched on, or if they did, it was never done right. This film does that. It's gritty, it's a crime movie. I think it's the first time since Batman'89 where organized crime was touched on at all, which is a large staple of the BATMAN comics. The other side of Batman, which usually revolved around insanity, or the criminally insane was also focused on, and once again.. DONE RIGHT. We finally see the inmates of Arkham Asylum as the criminally insane, sadistic predators they are. They are camp free,it's done damn near perfect. The film addresses these men are too sick to be put into prison, rapists, murderers, etc.
This is a film that should shatter the preconceptions the inferior films have left with the mainstream film going audience, as well, please the REAL fans of Batman. I think the only people who MIGHT throw a fit are the people who swear on Burton's films as the ONLY way to be Batman or people who loved Schumacher's films. Secondly, I think strict Batman purists might have a problem with some story development, other than that, it's an excellent film. Another great thing about this film is it shows you can have multiple villains in a comic book based film and NOT have it pointlessly cluttered. The last time a Batman 'film' attempted to use three major villains, we ended up with the messy 'Batman and Robin'. This film delivers an intelligent mature plot (which easily could have come from the books, Long Halloween, No Man's Land come to mind) which involved three villains; Ra's Al Ghul, Carmine Falcone, and Scarecrow, and balances them perfectly keeping everything in the realm of believability. Bad guys shouldn't be scheming one dimensional stereotypes, they should be real people with goals. It's the first film to understand the psychology of Batman. It's adult, without being Restricted, entertaining, without being mindless, visually stunning without being unrealistic, and finally, WELL ACTED.
Bale was BORN to play Batman, my only issue is him using his angry 'I'm gonna kill you' voice from Shaft and American Psycho for the Batman character to the point where it can be a bit much. That aside, he is STELLAR. Katie Holmes as always, it's great. If you're a fan of hers, you'll love her in this, especially visually. Cillian Murphy, much like Bale, he was BORN to play Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow. He did it perfect; creepy, intelligent, everything the Scarecrow is without going overboard. What Nolan Goyer and Murphy have done here is bring the Scarecrow to life, possibly making him one of the coolest on screen villains in the history of film. That's a bold statement, but I think it's warranted. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, do I need to say anything about these guys? They were fantastic. Most noteworthy for the comics fans, we have a James Gordon who LOOKS like Gordon, and works with Batman UNLIKE the previous films. We also have another great Alfred. Comical, fatherly, and all around awesome, it's MICHAEL CAINE, you can't go wrong. I'd also like to address how awesome it was that Linus Roache was cast as Thomas Wayne, he LOOKS like Christian Bale. Liam Neeson, next best thing to using David Warner.
I think I have addressed everything about this film that'll give you an ideal of what it'll be like without getting too far into the plot. In order to talk about Ra's Al Ghul I'd have to get into some detail, so I'll skip my big Ra's paragraph. I'm over the word limit, so I will say it was all done perfect but the stunning Katie Holmes should have played Talia, Ra's daughter. They got the PERFECT man for Ra's Al Ghul, trust me. So many films when they add a twist like this, it's done wretchedly, but not BATMAN BEGINS. I think the REAL Batman fans will love this, and fans of well made, acted, and written films will as well. 10/10