Realistic Batman Film

Rating: 10/10 (17 June 2005)

Title: Batman Begins (2005) Director: Chris Nolan Cast: Christian Bale, Cyllian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer Review: Um, I think we should be thanking Joel Schumacher in a strange sort of way. Now, before you start hurling your baterangs at me for saying that let me explain. As we all know, Joel Schumachers disastrous run on the Batman franchise nearly annihilated any possibilities of future Batman films making it to the silver screen. His films where campy, cartoonish and didn't take themselves seriously. Dumb story lines, too many characters, bat nipples, reverse photography, neon colors, you name it Schumacher did it. And with one final blow know as Batman & Robin the series ended its ones fruitful and artistic run that Tim Burton helped shape with his first two films.
Now I say thank you Mr. Schumacher because if he hadn't made his laughably cartoonish versions of Batman, then maybe we would have never seen a serious Batman film like Batman Begins. Schumachers films pushed the studios to go in a completely different way this time around, the complete opposite of what Schumacher did. Nolan has finally given us what we had never seen before....a realistic Batman movie.
The story centers around Batmans origins. Where he came from, why he became the vigilante known as Batman, and what pushed him there. Once we get past the whole "formation of Batman" phase of the film, the movie kicks into high gear with Batman defending Gotham City against Ras Al Ghul, a villain hell bent on destroying Gotham to see it "reborn" from its ashes. With the help of another goon known as The Scarecrow, he plans on releasing a gas on the city that will make people have nightmares and make the city destroy itself basically.
There's more good points in this film then bad ones so Ill start with the good ones. First off, this movie has depth. Its story is deep and it takes its time to develop Batman as a character. In a great moment in the film we see how he deals with the anger he feels towards the man who murdered his parents something that had been previously ignored in other films. He is not a perfect citizen, he has many flaws and makes many mistakes in this one. After all, this is his first adventure. So Bale as Batman gave the character a depth that had not been there before.
The rest of the cast is excellent. Without a doubt the best cast in any Batman flick EVER! Michael Caine as Alfred was lovable as Bruce Waynes father figure. Morgan Freeman was basically that character in the James Bond films that supplies Bond with all the cool gadgets. Cyllian Murphy was creepy as the Scarecrow, the guy who runs Arkam Asylum, where all the super looneys get locked up in. Having The Scarecrow in the film allowed many cool scenes involving nightmarish images. You wont believe what Batman looks like through the effects of the Scarecrows nightmare inducing gas! The look of the film was very realistic when compared to Burtons gothicky Gotham or Schumachers campy sets...this Gotham feels real and alive. In many instances it felt like the city in Blade Runner and that was because Nolan used that city as an inspiration for this Gotham. Of course its got its few futuristic touches here and there (like that train that goes around the city) but its nothing too far fetched. The Batmobile is awesome! In previous films the Batmobile felt like if it could never really pull a curve or anything, this new Batmobile is a tank that will swerve any way you want it, turn through the narrowest curve and destroying anything in its way! The car chase involving the Batmobile running through the rooftops of Gotham was very very memorable.
And as an added bonus...CGI was only used when necessary! Hurray, it seems like certain directors are finally releasing that CGI is best when kept to a minimum and used only when there's no other way of filming a scene. So Kudos to Nolan for that.
But there's always something that doesn't work. What was it? Well for me anyways, I didn't like how Bale changed his voice when he was Batman, he sounded kind of goofy. Some people in the audience actually giggled when he talked with his raspy voice. And then there's the thing with the story being very similar to that of the first movie. In the first one Joker (Jack Nicholson) wanted to poison the cities water supply so that everyone who drank it or used it would die with a smile on their face, here its the same thing only Ras Al Ghul wants to poison the water supply so that everyone will have nightmares and kill each other. I don't know, I just found the story to be too much like the first one in that respect.
But those are only minor nit picks, because I really thought the movie achieved what it intended to do, which was give us a fresh and realistic look at the Dark Knight. While at the same time making us say "cool!" every five minutes.
Rating: 5 out of 5