tighten up and lighten up

Rating: 6/10 (3 December 2005)

Batman Begins shows a different view of how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman via the low road while earlier films use the high road. The plot was interesting, the actors are good, but the movie seemed too long winded in the first hour (ZZZ) and was overall too dark (as in lighting). I have noticed that many current Sci-fi movies (Hulk, Underworld, and Van Helsing ) seem overly dark and grey. There is probably some deep "dark" meaning to this homage to film noir, but I personally believe it is really used to save on production and on FX costs. I also believe this dependence on darkness, actually hurt Batman Begins because little could be seen during the exciting parts (being night is no excuse). The part where all of batman's new toys are shown and talked about reminds me of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" when too much time was spent showing every feature on the star ship. The radical ideas of the secret order were a good touch that should have been totally moved from the last hour of the film to the first hour to fill the training scene. If the first part of the film was tightened up and the rest lightened up, I would give this movie an "8" because there is a good movie hidden in the darkness.