good, but not great

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2005)

Like everyone else who has reviewed "Batman Begins" thus far, I saw it at an advance screening. (Probably?) unlike anyone else who has reviewed this movie thus far, it was introduced to me (and the other 150 or so people in attendance) by a Warner Bros. VP who stated his belief that this movie would not only meet but exceed the new standard for super-hero movies set by Columbia's "Spider-Man".
I understand what the VP meant, but after watching "Batman Begins", I can't help but conclude that comparing it to "Spider-Man" is like comparing an apple to an orange. Yes, they're both super-hero movies, but where "Spider-Man" is a playful romp and its title character geekily charming, "Batman Begins" is a disturbing odyssey and its title character painfully tortured. And while they're both rated PG-13, "Spider-Man" is much more kid-friendly than "Batman Begins", which I would not recommend for young children. Some of the elements of "Batman Begins" are downright horrifying.
All of this is what makes "Batman Begins" a good movie. Batman isn't supposed to be cute and funny, or even particularly likable for that matter. His alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, is seriously disturbed. "Batman Begins" does an excellent job of illustrating how Bruce Wayne got to be the way he is psychologically. Even better, "Batman Begins" does a phenomenal job of explaining how Batman got to be the way he is physically. Everything about Batman that one could consider, well, not exactly super, but definitely pretty darn cool -- his skills in stealth and combat; his "bat-suit" body armor, helmet, and cape; and his myriad of gadgets, not least of all the Batmobile -- is presented in such a way that makes it ALMOST completely plausible in today's society. It's also nice to see a Batman movie focus so much on its title character and minimally, yet sufficiently, on its villains.
I emphasized ALMOST above because I had a bit of trouble accepting the Mortal-Kombat-esqueness of Bruce Wayne's martial arts training. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as hard for me to digest if the segment, which took up the first quarter or so of the film, had not been as long, nor had the final fight scene in the segment been so incoherent. Overall, the film was unnecessarily bloated at 140 minutes, and most of its fight scenes were flurries of activity with no distinct focus.
Other things that kept "Batman Begins" from being truly great:
* Too-young-looking Katie Holmes' utter unbelievability as a fierce D.A. (Too bad Kimberly Guilfoyle-Newsome isn't an actress (yet?))
* Poor character aging. (Or perhaps Alfred took to sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber after Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered?)
* That bizarre accent Christian Bale used when he was wearing the Batman costume. (And, most unfortunately, a couple of times when he wasn't.)
* That bizarre growth on Liam Neeson's upper lip!