BATMAN BEGINS : Starts An Entirely New Franchise Off On The Right Foot...

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2006)

BATMAN BEGINS
Personally, I don't loathe the final installments in the BATMAN series as much as others have. I can enjoy BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN for the ridiculously over-the-top popcorn films they are... while also enjoying the campy badness of them. And I've always been a die-hard fan of Burton's films, especially BATMAN RETURNS.
So, for me, BATMAN BEGINS was not necessarily the pheonix rising from the ashes of a dead franchise to the same extent as it was for other people... but it's still a pretty damn good movie.
The movie follows the origins of Bruce Wayne and his evolution towards becoming Batman with much more detail. By taking his history, and giving more "real-world" validity to Batman's powers, supplies, and batcave give the film a more gritty thrill.
I was nervous that the lack of outlandish villains would be disappointing to me. My favorite part of every other Batman film has been the over-the-top villains. Here though, chief enemies are Rahj-An-Guhl (an incredibly skilled fighter with an army of his trainees), Carmine Falcon (Gotham's leading crime boss), and Dr. Jonathan Crane (the man who will become The Scarecrow).
Christopher Nolan's script and direction managed to draw me in anyway. Despite my resistance to enjoy a Batman movie without fantastical villains, Nolan has made up for it with a detailed story that is more gripping than any previous film. Batman is not just a hero in this film, but a man on a personal mission. Never before has Bruce Wayne's internal drive been captured like it has here by Nolan and Christian Bale's performance.
Overall, every performance in this film helps to escalate the quality. It was hard to tell on occasion if all the characters were so strong when simply on the page, or if it was due to the fact that Nolan has hired some of today's best actors to bring more substance and weight to more thankless roles. The stand-outs for me were Cillian Murphy (chilling as Dr. Crane/The Scarecrow) and Tom Wilkinson (reaching a darkness that I've never seen from him before). However, the work from Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman deserve credit too. The only slight weakness was Katie Holmes simply because she didn't surpass her material (the Razzie nod is ridiculous though).
The first hour of the film focuses heavily on Bruce Wayne's disappearance into foreign prisons and foreign lands where he gains the training necessary for his mission. This section is also blended in with flashbacks to Bruce's life with his parents. Overall, this was the weakest part of the film for me.
I appreciatted the effect and depth it gave the rest of the film, but I feel like it could have moved a little quicker in the beginning. And some of the scenes of Bruce as a child didn't quite work for me. Especially the murder of Wayne's parents. What should have been an emotionally shattering scene fell far short. I didn't get a sense of how terrifying and life altering that moment was for Bruce. The moment just wasn't strong enough for me to fully represent the catalyst that defined Bruce's future.
Aside from these flaws though, this film was great entertainment... with more depth than is usually expected from a superhero franchise. Instead of embracing the comic-whimsy that recent SPIDERMAN films have done, Nolan's BATMAN BEGINS embraces and fuels the darkness that haunts Bruce and his beloved city.
And congratulations of having one of the best teaser-endings prepping for a sequel that I've seen in a long-long while. Despite the few flaws, I definitely can't wait for more of Nolan and Bale's BATMAN.
... B ...