Strong reboot to the Batman saga

Rating: Null/10 (19 July 2011)

Kudos must be given to Tim Burton, who rescued the Batman character from the bottom of the barrel campy 1960s TV show and gave him some respect with his Gothic-inspired 1989 blockbuster and its sequel Batman Returns before Joel Schumacher put a nail in the coffin with Batman and Robin. Similarly, one must now give thanks to director Christopher Nolan, who reboots the franchise in a completely new and exhilarating manner.
This film, aptly named Batman Begins, retells the Bruce Wayne/Batman creation, but does so in a fresh way. It documents Wayne's journey from young boy, whose parents are tragically taken from him, to a disillusioned young man, who watches helplessly as criminal kingpins go free without repercussions to dominate the landscape of Gotham City. The action takes on a new angle as Wayne departs his beloved Gotham City and disappears for a number of years ostensibly to find himself. He is recruited at one point by the enigmatic Liam Neeson, head of a rather shadowy organization, and mentored in fighting skills and mental acuity. When the true evil purpose of the organization is made known, Wayne balks, escapes and returns to Gotham to claim his mantle as the scion of the wealthy Wayne fortune. He also intends to launch a daunting campaign to reclaim Gotham City from its criminal elements in the guise of frightening vigilante Batman.
Ironically, whereas many proclaimed Burton's vision in 1989, it is now fairly decried in favor of Nolan's more thoughtful, realistic take on the legend. Truthfully, it is difficult to gauge the success of the two films together as both visually and tonally they are so different. Nolan certainly succeeds in areas where few have attempted to take a comic book franchise previously. He presents fully realized characters, firmly establishes their relationships to one another and allows the story and action to generate logically and organically from those roots. Characters that were given short shrift in both the earlier films, TV show and even the comics, are nicely fleshed out here and given far more vital roles. The expert cast certainly helps in that area.
Intriguingly, this certainly marks the first time that the Bruce Wayne/Batman character emerges as the most interesting person in the film and seems about time that he was not overshadowed by the villains of the piece. Christian Bale crafts a fascinating portrait of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego - with his Batman a lot more intimidating than earlier versions. This also ranks as the first time that there is shown to be an intentional effort to present a public front to Wayne that would seem to make him an unlikely suspect as Batman. Bale moves effortlessly between the thoughtful seriousness of the real Wayne, the boozy disaffection of the public Wayne, and the primal charge of his new nighttime creation.
Alfred the faithful manservant has always been present, but underused in the Batman lore and it is nice to see the role not only beefed up considerably, but played by such a reliable stalwart actor as Michael Caine. If Alfred has had it bad, then Commissioner Gordon (here Lt. Gordon) has often been portrayed as a overweight oaf or a sputtering nitwit. How refreshing to see a dignified Gary Oldman in the role portraying Gordon as one of the few honest cops left in a corrupt police force and a wholehearted backstage supporter of Batman. Linus Roache provides a warming presence as Wayne's visionary father and Morgan Freeman is a more than welcome addition as a new character, who basically becomes Batman's Q - creator of all those wonderful gadgets.
The action sequences are exciting and believable without overwhelming everything around them and Nolan keeps everything moving at an invigorating pace until the climax.
If the film has any missteps - and they are minor - it comes in two areas.
First, the film does not really establish a primary villain for our hero to challenge, which seems a bit strange. While it is interesting to see Batman deal with mundane gangster-types, as embodied largely by Tom Wilkinson, they are lacking the true dynamic of a great villain. Neeson and his cadre are ostensibly the biggest villains of the piece, but they do not emerge as such for some time and then offscreen again for a huge chunk of the film. The most memorable of the villains in the film is certainly Cillian Murphy's chilling Dr. Jonathan Crane and his alter ego - the Scarecrow. Nolan and Murphy coordinate a fairly plausible adaptation of a rather ludicrous villain. Unfortunately, Crane remains a largely supporting character. As wide-ranging as the diabolical plan of the League of Shadows is and as well-acted as the various villains are, none of them really seem much of a challenge for the hero.
The second misstep is much more minor, although still an irritation. The film adds another character - an assistant district attorney, played by Katie Holmes, who is also a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne and his unrequited romantic interest. All heroes need their leading ladies in some form, but did Nolan and company really have to make this Rachel Dawes such a wet blanket. One can certainly admire her do-gooder sensibilities and her tenacity in facing down intimidating opponents, but her irritatingly preachy diatribes at Wayne grate. She seems especially insensitive of his feelings during the debacle of the trial of his parents' murderer. Holmes really does not help matters here either. She brings kittenish sex appeal to the role, but does not have much chemistry with Bale, is not particularly convincing as an attorney and never seems to be operating on the same level as the rest of the stellar cast.
That said, this was certainly a most promising and invigorating beginning to a series that had fallen into almost laughable disgrace.