Good story, flat Batman film

Rating: 6/10 (17 January 2006)

I wouldn't call Batman Begins completely boring, but at best it was simply an origin story. To me, there really was nothing too exciting or crowd-pleasing in this movie. Overall I did not enjoy it nearly as much as Tim Burton's first Batman.
First, I did not care for the ultra-realistic treatment of the material. Whatever way you slice it, a story about a man dressing up as a bat, using super-modern tools etc. is going to be fiction, so why not treat it like this? The Spider-Man films managed to succeed as a comic book film, yet still seem realistic at the same time. In those films I truly could feel for Peter Parker, yet I also was simply taken away by all of the amazing cinematic choices of Sam Raimi.
The cinematic edge of Batman Begins was lost throughout much of the movie because they were trying to be so realistic. Just look at Gotham City - it resembles any ordinary city, with very little design or style (with exception of the train). In my opinion, Gotham should look like its own city, not like Chicago. I know they were trying to make it be more of a real city, but for Batman it just doesn't feel right.
The villains were very forgettable, and a lot of their motives were either trite or slightly unclear. So there was some smuggling going on at the docks, and the pipes were being poisoned... well this is an okay idea, but a Batman film should be a little more interesting than this. Every film involves the villain trying to destroy the city in some shape or form. If this is what the plot is - make it more cinematic, create subtle situations or character interaction that create higher tension. Or at least be creative in some of the vein that Burton's film had. The 3rd act of Batman Begins was a series of cuts involving horses, frightened crowds running from one side of the slums to another, and further other messes of flashing shots and editing. It is very possible to have a realistic story while pleasing the audience at the same time. Batman Begins had a solid story basis and setup, it was just the execution that I didn't care for.
The music was also very forgettable. When one thinks of Batman, you think of a haunting and stylistic score that would be fitting to accompany such a dark story. The Zimmer/Howard score sounded as if music cues from a few previous films were spliced together - resulting in nothing too inventive. If you listen, you hear some similarities to "The Rock," and "MI-2." This is Batman here folks, create something that compliments the darkness and excitement that is Batman, not the action that is a Jerry Bruckheimer film.
Overall I felt only some of the script was solid. The dialog was very ordinary. The death of the Wayne parents felt very awkward and rushed. Also, lines like "I've gotta get me one of those" are used in almost every action film I have seen. I had a a lot of trouble feeling too much emotion for the character bonds in the movie, with a few exceptions of Alfred and Bruce Wayne. Much of the film seemed too mechanical to create any sort of emotion. I did appreciate that Batman's gadgets were created from Wayne Enterprises, military intelligence etc. But Nolan just didn't do anything too outside-of-the-box or inventive for me. His directing was very ordinary. Yes, again i understand this was the direction that was intended, but the realism was accentuated far too much, to the point where this became a very ordinary film. The Batman origin is a very human story, but his heroic deeds, as well as his adversaries, are larger than life, charismatic, and should be chewing up the scenery.
Christian Bale is a good actor, but his facial expressions are very difficult to read, as his humorous side seems to mesh too much with any seriousness. Too many of his deliveries seemed more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. He reminds me a lot of Charlie Sheen in some of his mannerisms. I didn't think his screen presence was imposing or interesting enough for this role.
This is what i would call a solid movie, but not an ideal Batman film. Boring isn't the word i would use to describe the film, "flat" is more the correct term. I expected an exciting film in addition to the strong character origin. What I ended up getting was closer to a good episode of Law & Order. As far as films go, this was like eating a good cut of steak without any sort of taste to it. Batman Begins certainly built a strong foundation, but it was done in a very ordinary and pedestrian manner, without anything of any excitement being placed over the foundation. On that note, I hope they can use that foundation they built in Batman Begins to support some real excitement, life and especially creativity in any of the sequels! I'm not expecting the gaudiness of the Schumacher films, I'm expecting a little more life to the darkness!