Rebirth of the Bat

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2009)

The temptation not to say tendency to portray iconic fictional heroes (moreso comic-book characters) in a light over-humorous manner, running eventually to campness is something that has afflicted franchises like James Bond and Superman, but especially Batman. The only benefit of this is that there is usually a revolt into style, a return to a back to basics outlook which serves the character best. I am a reasonably big comic-book fan, especially the DC range, although I "grew out" of the habit in the late 70's with my own adulthood, thus missing the revolutionary approach to the Batman character by Frank Miller in the Dark Knight / Year One series but did my homework here by reading them before watching Christopher Nolan's revisionary movie on old Bats. Both, I have to say were quite exhilarating and I might advise that anyone still to see the movie read the comic first as it definitely improved my enjoyment as well as updating notable reference points I'd forgotten about. To the movie itself then. To mix metaphors by borrowing a comic-book-cliché, this is a real page-turning watch, skilfully mixing characterisation with action to a background setting of the decadent corrupt Gotham City, itself almost a character in its depiction as a bleak industrial monolith, if stopping short of Tim Burton's Gothic vision of the 80's. It takes a full hour before the Batman uniform (make that armour) is donned by Christian Bale, yet you don't feel cheated by this. Bruce Wayne's journey to his alter-ego is gradual and believable, played out to a background of exposition as characters such as good-cop Jim Gordon, Assistant DA Rachel Dawes, boffin Lucius Fox and faithful butler Alfred are filled in for us. Of the twin-villain menace, Nolan has arguably picked out two slightly lesser-known members of Batman's Rogues' Gallery, Ras Al Ghul and Scarecrow, but makes both work by imbuing the former with the old master-pupil dichotomy and the latter with a terrifying reality-distorting persona, which ironically Batman also taps into to frighten the criminal fraternity without the use of hallucinogenic drugs. The acting is of a high order, without irony and while there are humorous one-liners scattered about, these are terse and don't distract from the overall bleakness which Batman is seeking to banish. Christian Bale is excellent in the title role, even if he doesn't at first automatically suggest Bruce Wayne in appearance. He gets heavyweight support from the likes of Liam Neeson as Ras and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, but I found Michael Caine a distraction as Alfred, too big for the part. Katie Holmes acquits herself well as crusading DA Rachel and Gary Oldman is also fine as the one good cop Gordon. The fight sequences, if occasionally gloomy and blurry, are mostly effective, the action sequences, particularly the customary race-against-time conclusion excitingly rendered and the music (by perennials Hans Zimmer and James Newton-Howard) is well-placed and adds atmosphere. I especially liked the sequence of Joe Chill's assassination, which brought to mind the real-life "TV" killing of Lee Harvey Oswald while at another point, I almost detected a homage to of all things Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Very hard to carp then with this re-telling of a familiar tale and the teaser introduction of The Joker's calling-card at the end will satisfy traditionalists keen for Grade A villainy. I certainly welcome sequels if they're in the hands of the original director and hope Nolan bales out at the right time before the descent into cartoon-land becomes too evident.