The adventures of the darker dark knight.

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2006)

Batman has always had a massive presence in the film industry. From Adam West to George Clooney these movies have always been box office hits. Unfortunately the series' quality has been spiraling downwards since Batman Returns. Sure Batman Forever had it's moments (most of which belonged to Jim Carrey as the indispensable Riddler) but everything was just so much more kid friendly and that's where things went wrong. Batman is meant to be dark and Gothic. Images of death and violence are commonplace in the better films, cartoons and comics.
After Batman and Robin I puked my guts out, and after that I started to worry if Batman would ever be serious again. My prayers have been answered with Batman Begins.
I'll say right now that I'm not a huge Batman fan. I don't exactly rush out to the theaters to see the movies or even buy the comics for that matter but I do have a basic knowledge of the series and luckily that's all you need for Batman Begins. What we got here is a new beginning. We see how Batman is born and we see how he learns to use fear as a weapon.
The story was really very interesting and the combination of great acting and flawless visuals made this into one of the best films of the year. Just one glance at this film and your eyes are stuck to the screen. Everything is just so dark and moody.
It's not just the visuals either; everything about this movie is dark. This is not one to bring your nephew to and if you scare easily best not bring yourself either. It's all about fear and some scenes reach horror movie heights. The Scarecrow for instance is the scariest Batman villain yet and the funny thing is that he's just a Jeffrey Combs impersonator with a potato bag on his head. However the way he toys with the minds of others by utilizing a bizarre hallucinogenic drug makes him into an extremely sick and frightful monster. This is most evident in his final scene but I can't bring myself to spoil what happens, you'll just need to watch the film.
Sounds good huh? I assure you it's the best Batman movie ever made but the reasons mentioned above are only part of it. The big thing is Batman himself. For once I was just as interested in Batman as I was in the villains. I wanted Batman to have screen time; I wanted to see him take down the villains in the end. Why? Simple, for once they developed him properly. We fully understand Bruce Wayne's struggle and his choice to become Batman is for once shown logically.
This movie takes the time to build characters and build the plot. Like Spiderman 2, this is a superhero movie for people who don't watch superhero movies. It can appeal to action fans, horror fans and drama fans and that is a pretty wide range if you ask me. It even has a few well-placed jokes to help lift a bit of the darkness.
Well now that I mentioned the action, people are going to want to know how much there is. Batman has always been filled to the brim with stunts, fights and chases. This movie has a bit more emphasis on the dramatic aspects (a wise choice indeed) but it also delivers the action. An impressive car chase is probably the highlight but early scenes also feature plenty of sword fights and the final battle inside a speeding train is extremely exciting.
It's true, Batman Begins has a little something for everybody. It also accomplishes the difficult feat of being both an honest attempt at film-making and being a summer blockbuster at the same time. I highly recommend that you at least give this film a chance even if you're not generally a Batman fan for this movie has the power to make you one.
My review from Frider Waves: http://friderwaves.com/index.php?page=batmanbeg