Ridiculous Pseudo-Artistic Action Movie

Rating: 5/10 (30 June 2005)

'Batman Begins' should have been one of the most disappointing movies I've ever seen only I didn't have that many expectations to begin with. However, it managed to leave me mad. As I write this review, I've just come out from watching 'Sin City,' and in this Roberto Rodriguez movie you have everything that Christopher Nolan's movie tried to get right but failed miserably! What especially bothers me about 'Batman Begins' is its pretentiousness! It's because it perverts a movie's nature trying to make it be something it cannot be; it's pretentious because, for all the acclaim Nolan got with 'Memento,' he's not an artistic director with indie sensibilities; and it's pretentious because it's no more than a summer action blockbuster pretending to be an artistic movie! But neither Nolan has the intellect to pull off a truly artistic ambition nor can anyone make an artistic movie out of $150m budget. It cannot happen because no Hollywood studio that puts up so much money will ever allow it. So Nolan can fool how many people he wants with this ordinary action movie, this is not the great masterpiece being hyped on the internet and through word of mouth.
It's no better than the 'Spiderman' and 'X-men' franchises: they in fact invented the formula and gave a better use; we're finally living in an era where superhero movies are being taken seriously and given the 'realistic' treatment. 'Batman Begins' tries to be painfully realistic and horribly fails  first of all, because at the end of the day it will still be about a man that dresses up like a bat; and because, unlike 'X-Men' and 'Spiderman,' its realistic moments are boring and messy. The ridiculous beginning with Bruce Wayne in a prison somewhere in Asia is just ridiculous. Starting the movie with dialog like 'I'm your demon,' 'no, you're practice' immediately destroyed my hopes. It then moves to a strange, gratuitous brawl.
But let's start with the fine points  I must admit there are some. First of all, I enjoyed several of the flashback scenes predating Bruce's self-exile from Gotham City. The scenes with young Bruce playing in the garden with Rachel; his failed attempt to kill Joe Chill; his conversation with Carmine Falcone at the restaurant  those were all very good. And Christian Bale was very good in all his Bruce Wayne scenes. In fact, acting is something I can't complain about in this movie: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, tom Wilkinson and Liam Neeson were all very good. Of course Gary Oldman was better than anyone else, but he's Gary Oldman: really, his performance as Jim Gordon was just superb. However, as good as actors they may be, they're still only playing mediocre, one-dimensional characters. Bale even got the chance to play two one-dimensional characters in a single movie! Now Katie Holmes and Cillian Murphy  whom everyone is over-praising  were just plain dull! And this is where all the problems with the movie begin. Starting with Liam Neeson's character, the villain Ra's Al Ghul is just one cliché after another. Every line he utters is full of pseudo-philosophical pearls of wisdom. It's like he never stopped being a Jedi  'you must face your fears,' 'you've traveled all over the world but now you must travel inwards,' 'will is everything.' Honestly, with corny dialog like this, what claim does anyone have to complain about 'Revenge Of The Sith.' I didn't feel as embarrassed watching Lucas' movie as I did watching Nolan's.
I won't even discuss the ridiculous plot. Now I'd discuss the action, only I couldn't make out anything of it, being so dark, fast-paced and full of close-ups. In an action movie not even the action they got right!? Gotham City is a city we've seen countless times in cinema over the past 23 years. It's basically 'Blade Runner' without the rain and Asians. I saw Gotham City a few years ago in 'The Matrix,' and before that in 'The Crow,' also in 'Dark City' and more recently 'Minority Report.' However I haven't seen a distinctive aesthetic like the one Tim Burton envisioned for his Gotham City lately. That was a unique vision, Nolan's is just derivative trash. Even the Batmobile is an ugly piece of metal. In its attempt to conform to the hyper-aggressive trend in modern superhero movies, we get a ridiculous tank with three wheels capable of silly stunts.
I can't expect this to be worse than 'Fantastic Four,' but then that's another movie I'm not getting my hopes high for. In the end, 'Batman Begins' is just a big disappointing pseudo-artistic action flick: it'll disappoint anyone who wants action; it'll disappoint anyone who believed the hype about the complex characters and great dialog  people like me  and it'll disappoint people who are bothered to deconstruct this piece of trash and see it for the sub par movie it really is.