Mediocrity

Rating: 5/10 (16 June 2005)

A nice effort, I suppose, but a failure nonetheless. I actually prefer the first three installments of the 1980s & 1990s Batman franchise, though none of them are great movies, either. Tim Burton  and even Joel Schumacher  brought at least some vision into their Batman worlds. Nolan attempts to do this realistically  that was the original idea, anyway  but he is bogged down by screen writing and action movie clichés. There weren't half as many explosions in all four of the 90s Batman films combined. Batman Begins does little to deepen the story, as some critics have claimed. The backstory was told perfectly, and with great economy, in 1989's Batman. There was no emotion lost. Nolan takes nearly an hour to tell it, and he doesn't make it any more interesting. They didn't find a better actor to play Batman. Christian Bale is as dull as Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney. The villains are uninteresting. Ra's Al Ghul (which is mispronounced throughout the film) has always been my least favorite of the Batman villains. Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka "the Scarecrow" is wonderfully played by Cillian Murphy when he's out of his mask, but he is supremely uninteresting when he's in it (doesn't help that Nolan resorts to stupid distorted images and noise pollution whenever he puts the mask on). Katie Holmes is a wonderful actress in small projects, but, like Natalie Portman, she doesn't translate well to blockbusters. Plus, Tom Cruise just ruined her for me. Gary Oldman and Tom Wilkinson are horribly miscast (Wilkinson as a mob boss?). They actually might have just switched roles and it would have been better. The only things the film gets excessively right are Alfred and Lucius Fox, played by Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman. But, really, while these two consummate actors bring an air of class to this kiddy pool, they out-act both the hero and the villains to such an extent that it warps the movie. I really should not desire more scenes with the butler. I should add Liam Neeson to that, as well. He's very good, and perfectly cast. Batman Begins is often a good actioner, but it should have been much better.