A Comic Book Hero Transformed into a Credible Hero

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2005)

Not at all being one for the comic book fantasies that continue to flood the screens and gobble the dollars, camouflage weak scripts with tacky overblown computer graphics, introduce bizarre meanies and barely clothed wonder women, etc, I approached this BATMAN BEGINS with a big bag of prejudices. And in no time at all that bag of unjustified prejudices began to fill with applause for a truly fine film that carries style, wit, character, and enough dazzle to please everyone. This is a surprising good movie! It takes courage to move a larger than life fantasy hero into the realm of humans who through reasons of their own feel the need to become superheroes to the down and outers of the world. Watching the early life of Batman as produced and trained and stimulated by believable characters makes the non-believer want to return to the earlier forays into the genre. So very much of the success of this film lies in the hands of a brilliant cast: Christian Bale (once again a hunk after his pathetically shriveled body in 'The Machinist'), Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Linus Roache, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and yes, even Katie Holmes (!) all master the tightrope of parody, serious drama, and comedy. The costumes and cinematography are exciting and the direction by Christopher Nolan is pitch perfect.
It is good to have a dusty old bag of prejudices fall apart. Maybe there will be more action hero movies that take themselves seriously as an art form! Grady Harp