A Masterpiece: The Batman Saga Starts Over

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2005)

I was going to begin my review by commenting that this film, a shockingly masterful superhero epic directed by Christopher Nolan, should not even be considered as being part of the same series constructed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher during the 1990's.
After looking at the "Movie Connections" section of the IMDb entry for this film, I am pleased to see that it isn't. Batman Begins, apparently, is an entry into a completely new series, separate from the one created by Tim Burton and decidedly more faithful to the comic books in its approach.
And aren't we the better for it. Nolan's vision of Batman, while similarly Gothic in nature (an indelible stamp that Burton has left on the series,) is a far more realistic, gritty take on the iconic series. It is a world of psychological doubts, political intrigue, and decidedly unheroic vengeance. As one film critic so aptly put it, "at last, a Batman movie that's actually about Batman." Batman Begins has, indeed, become the poster of a new era in superhero movies, one that has been completely redesigned and transformed by the attacks on September 11th and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 9/11, America learned that massive explosions, toppling buildings, and merciless villains weren't just creations by the movie industry. They were things that were waiting for us on our doorstep.
Thus, the superhero movies of late have been ones that are increasingly set in the world of reality. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man saga emphasizes that the hero is, at the end of the day, nothing more than a kind-hearted New York kid trying to pay the bills. The Incredibles are nothing more than a dysfunctional family trying to get by in a decidedly un-incredible world. And Bruce Wayne is still a billionaire playboy, but, in Nolan's version, has a couple more mental hangups about his childhood.
These anti-heroes have become the new superheros of our era, people who are not made of plastic, steel, and witty one-liners, but exist in our world, where we ourselves cope on a daily basis with the news of merciless villains attacking our way of life.
Nolan's entry into this new era of anti-superhero movies (which I suspect will become the defining masterpiece of the new genre) is so patient in its storytelling, yet so expansive and awe-inspiring in its ambition, that it crafts a superhero movie that audiences have never been treated to before.
This is an action movie where the first major action set-piece, complete with explosions, occurs approximately an hour and forty minutes into the film. How's that for daring? But Nolan doesn't stop there. This director seems to delight in the idea of probing every fascinating facet of Bruce Wayne's world, giving us a tour as no other director (including Burton) could have. While Burton and Schumacher were busy blowing up pieces of plastic, Nolan busied himself constructing real human beings for us to meet.
We meet a decidedly more emotional, nostalgic Alfred, played to perfection by Michael Caine. We meet the sparkling, witty Lucius Fox, played with typical brilliance by Morgan Freeman. We meet the colorful underworld king, Carmine Falcone, played with considerable menace by the talented Tom Wilkinson. And we meet the idealistic, driven Rachel, the original love of Bruce Wayne's life, who, to my surprise, was one of the highlights of the film, as portrayed by Katie Holmes.
The combination is enough to enrapture any fan of the comic books, enough to make any Tim Burton fan doubt their allegiance, and enough to get anyone unfamiliar with the Batman saga hooked on Mr. Nolan's intoxicating, colorful, realistic world that has emerged, like other contemporary superhero movies, from the ashes of America's recent foray into the terrible world of explosions and super-villains.