Top-Notch Stuff

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2005)

This review may contain spoilers, so beware!
Superhero movies have become rather trendy in the last few years. Studios do not seem to run out of enthusiasm and energy when it comes to producing them, and why should they? Comic-books, whether people like it or not, are a very influential sect of the media, allowing the frustrated reader easy access to visually stimulating and thought-provoking stories. It's no surprise that some comic-book characters have taken their place among the most influential figures in modern folklore and pop-culture. Unfortunately, many of these superhero movies have opted for mindless action and special effects over solid, classy story-telling,weaving a web of entertaining mediocrity (Spider-man comes to mind as being the most overrated of such movies). Thankfully, Batman Begins comes as a breath of fresh air, an anti-mediocrity that proves that superhero films can be complex and of high quality. Christopher Nolan performed his job virtually flawlessly. He succeeded in portraying a dark distorted Gotham, full of suffering, corruption and injustice. No kiddie criminality this time around, Nolan shows the criminal underworld at its ugliest and pulls no punches. The score and visuals add to the darkness of the film, and the moments of comic relief are well placed without being cheesy and are genuinely amusing.
This is indeed one of the more macabre films of its genre. Emphasis on fear and power is constant throughout, and some truly intense sequences make this unsuitable for young children. Adult themes are ripe, none more competently displayed than in Christian Bale's excellent performance, which captures the angst and torment of Bruce Wayne to perfection. One of the joys of Begins is witnessing the gradual mental and physical transformation that Bruce goes through, from a frightened kid to a sulking and depressed college graduate to a fearsome crime-fighting creature of the night. Bale's Batman is fast, shadowy, and menacing. The process of transformation takes well over an hour, thus the film requires patience and concentration, a far cry from mindless action. Yet the movie is well paced and far from boring, with many shifts and contrasts on display, from clever dialogue to violence, from Bruce's play-boy antics to Batman's nighttime prowls, from opulent wealth to desperate poverty. Michael Caine is the perfect Alfred: funny, supportive and charmingly cynical. Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman are adept at their roles as expected, and Liam Neeson makes a menacing villain. Ken Watanabe was under-used, and though I was expecting Katie Holmes to be annoying, she played her role with seriousness and confidence and was one of the film's strengths rather than weaknesses. The real surprise was the performance of Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Craine, the perverted psychiatrist. You always sense that, under his cool posture, there is a bomb of psychotic rage just waiting to go off, and when it does, it's a treat! What sets Batman Begins apart from similar films is the strength of the character development, and the frightening imagery which occasionally make it look closer to a horror movie than a superhero movie. The film has no shortage of thrills, and the action sequences are highly memorable, with Batman's flights in the night sky and the fright-gas scenes notable highlights. Unlike the awful Batman and Robin, campiness was non-existent. Cheesiness was at a minimum, with the exception of some of the romantic dialogue between Bruce and Rachel Dawes. Perhaphs some of the action scenes could've had more stable cameras filming, but in my opinion, the confusion served to highlight the speed and desperation of some of the struggles, and not once did I feel disoriented or unsure of what was going on. Overall, a surprisingly excellent piece of film-making that is highly recommended. If you like your Batman dark, your movies deep and your characters compelling, see this and you won't be disappointed. 9/10 in my book.