HE'S Batman

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2007)

Dark, moody and exciting. But enough about me Back in 1991 Tim Burton clobbered any vividly coloured, spandex-wearing pre-conceptions we had of Batman for good. He created a vision that could only have been gother if each copy came with a free snakebite and black. However time did not treat the caped crusader well, frankly the franchise began to get a little out of hand once they started adding nipples to the Bat-Suit. So could Warner Brothers breathe new life into the Black Knight? The world of Batman is not our own. It is a fantasy. A twisted vision of what we know is the truth. The perfect examples being that Liam Neeson is a bad guy and Gary Oldman a good guy. As if that wasn't disturbing enough it is also a world where Gotham City (think New York but more so) is overrun with corruption, greed and crime. Actually it is very much like New York. Young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has a harrowing experience and becomes Batman in order to clean up the place. Frankly, if you don't know what a Batman movie is going to be about but are old enough to legally watch the movie you are not going to be in the least bit interested anyway, so that's it for plot summary.
Christian Bale as the millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his dark alter ego Batman is inspired casting. He's good looking and stylish enough to play Wayne, but his physicality and almost animalistic movements make him perfect to portray Batman as well. He's helped in the fact that his costume is clearly more flexible than the versions we have seen on our screens since 1989. He is ably supported by an outstanding cast. While I am still reeling from the idea of Liam Neeson playing bad guy Ra's al Ghul it was another fantastic choice. Neeson's turn as Qui-Gon Jinn, as well as many other roles makes him the perfect person to play tutor/father figures, making his betrayal all the harder hitting (and unexpected). Katie Holmes shines in a role that could have fallen very flat, though personally I am getting tired of the number of women that end up discovering Batman's identity in these movies. Michael Caine as the third father figure Alfred (after Ra's/Henri and Bruces ACTUAL father) is heartwarming, showing true love for Wayne, as well as a warm sense of humour. I still haven't mentioned screen legends Morgan Freeman and Rutger Hauer, the always good Tom Wilkinson and always great Gary Oldman, as well as the unfortunately underused Cillian Murphy. But to talk about each outstanding performance in this amazingly cast film would result in me wearing my fingers down to the second knuckle joint, and I just don't want to give up my dreams of playing the banjo in front of the Queen one day. Suffice it to say that not one of the actors is miscast, and not one of them is wasted.
The massive sets look wonderful. With an almost Film Noir lighting set up, and the ever beloved dry ice, the run down areas of Gotham feel like some kind of dirty nightmare. Unsurprising given that the director, Christopher Nolan, also directed the Noir masterpiece Memento. All of the love and attention is captured on film, and is superbly supported by the use of CGI, rather than completely suffocating it.
I think the best way to describe Nolan's direction is confident. He shows a willingness to take chances with the camera that many others wouldn't. He also clearly has a deep understanding of the world he is portraying, with many shots looking like the covers of comic books. The use of flashbacks throughout any movie can be confusing, yet with Nolan's assured direction each one makes sense and brings together a story that takes place over many years. Warner Bros took a bit of a gamble with him directing. What a great one it was. The idea of this movie was to re-launch the 'Batman' franchise after Joel Schumacher decided to take Tim Burton's Goth out of Gotham. It well and truly succeeded. Everything abut this movie feels like the comics now - as opposed to the more campy 60s stories - and for a modern, cinema audience that is the key to creating movies that people are going to truly rave about. Many of the set pieces in the 1997 film Batman and Robin are actually very impressive and yet the movie almost finished off the series, but Nolan proves that you do not have to make a Batman movie with your tongue in your cheek. At no time does he feel embarrassed or apologetic for creating this world. This may well be because of the success of more recent, post X-Men, superhero movies, but whatever the reason Nolan manages to re-launch this franchise without once needing the Bat-Copter.
In choosing to focus the action on Bruce Wayne becoming Batman the film gives Bale the chance to make the part his own. Did he succeed? Who is this Michael Keaton you talk of?