Enigmatic and Complete

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2005)

It is not often that I go to the Cinema with high, solid expectations and have a movie reach up to them and beyond, but not often did I see a movie as complete as Batman Begins; a Cinematic gem of the latest era of movie making. Christopher Nolan is one of those few directors who simply cannot fail at making a good movie, but I daresay that Batman Begins completely shatters his earlier 'Insomnia'. Rarely did a story inspired by series of cartoons inspire so much emotion and Nolan's method to accomplish this is like a lock that has no key. Enigmatic and mostly defying description.
The story is told almost flawlessly from the point of view of the soon-to-be-Batman, a grim story of pain and guilt and how they were supplanted by an all-containing anger. Christian Bale is one of the greater younger actors, powerful when he speaks and even more so when he is silent. Though on a side note, the viewer is thrown into the story lightly abrupt from here to there and even though the prelude to the inevitable creation of the legendary Winged Dark Knight is a long one that makes a person become one with the chair he sits on, I would have found it to be even better if the transformations were longer and bared more gravity. This is only a slight reservation and in a sense it is good that the movie is relatively fast paced (and when it is not, a lot of things happen, whether carried forth through razor sharp dialogue or crushing silence mixed flawlessly with a good soundtrack), but in my eyes it would have been better if the film had been longer. I would not have been turned off to this film if it were 20 minutes longer (the movie was about 140 minutes), if it better and more righteously went into the process of the journey to become what we all know he becomes. Unlike the Return of the King, in which about 20 minutes in the movie were slow-motion and another 20 were blatantly obsolete, in Batman Begins there are NO scenes without power, without credibility. Liam Neeson, the man that together with 'padawan' Ewan McGregor saved 'the Phantom Menace' from a downward spiral into the annals of cinematographic failure, supplies an intense and solid character and showed, next to Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Christian Bale, the largest talent.
So, not only is the story exceptionally well brought to screen and the battle scenes exceptionally 'kickass', in absence of a better word, the acting was excellent as well. Not only the four above-mentioned shone in this movie, but also very worthy of mention were good old Dutch actor Rutger Hauer as the negligent businessman Earle, Tom Wilkinson as the arrogant crime lord Falcone and especially Cillian Murphy as the sadistic psychologist Jonathan Crane.
All these people and many more have worked together to make a whole coherent like none other and unequivically the best movie of the year 2005 so far; In a cinematographic point of view, it outperforms large names as 'Revenge of the Sith' and 'Sin City' on virtually everything (except for of course Lucas' beautiful CGI).
I am well aware of the fact that this movie is supposed to be a prequel to a less than successful series, but know that whatever you will think of this movie, you'll most likely agree with me that 'Batman Begins' is better than all earlier Batman flicks combined and then some. Honestly, comparing this gem with the old 'mud' is unfair as the shadow of this 'haut performance' engulfs them entire.
A great story, excellent acting and aesthetically pleasing design has made this one to remember. It has drama, action, lingering humor here and there and gravity but never in the movie's runtime does it have too much of any of these things.
One slight reservation: The movie was exceptionally dark. It served its cause tremendously as the darkness was one of the great suppliers of atmosphere throughout this movie, but now and then, it was just one tiny bit too dark as when for example Bale comes down a flight of stairs, one sees virtually nothing. It can be that the digital projection the cinema used darkened it, in which case this argument loses its strength. The fighting scenes, though very good, were rather shaky and here and there comparable to 'Bourne Supremacy'. This loses it half a point.
Now then. After having read me bringing almost nothing but praise to this movie, one might wonder why my opinion sticks at 9 out of 10. There is one single answer for that. Christopher Nolan. He can do better.
Watch Memento.
Wow.