One of the best comic book movies ever

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2005)

Tim Burton's "Batman" is the best movie of the Batman series, but Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" isn't too far behind. As a stand-alone movie, though, it sure does deliver, and etches itself a very high place in the "superhero movie" genre.
Christopher Nolan, who directed "Memento", one of the most engaging and brilliant films of the past decade, decides to take a turn for the more mainstream and straightforward with "Batman Begins". But his great director's flair is still present, and he delivers one excellent movie. Unlike previous installations of "Batman", including Tim Burton's, Nolan's Batman is completely real. Most comic-book movies, including the first Batman movies, tend to have that "comic book" feel to them. They are colorful, visually exciting, entertaining, but ultimately unbelievable. Everything in the "Batman Begins" world is completely realistic and plausible, and it's this plausibility that draws you right into the world, and helps you identify ever so much with the characters and the situations they are in. The movies in the X-Men series, especially X2, benefit from this same element, as does Spider-Man 2 to some extent, but most comic book movies don't have this type of realism (Hulk, Daredevil, etc). Characters' vulnerability, emotions and concerns seem ever so real, which adds so much to the film experience.
While Tim Burton successfully managed to craft an extremely three-dimensional Batman/Bruce Wayne, and also managed to flesh out his relations with his enemies, Christopher Nolan also succeeds  but in a different way. The Batman/Bruce Wayne character in "Batman Begins" is so real that it's very easy to identify with his situation, and his struggle. The movie also cleverly and successfully manages to express Batman's motives, his reason for doing what he does, for fighting his fight. It's so rare to see a clever script in a summer blockbuster movie lately, but Batman's script, story-wise and thematically, is exceptionally good. Nolan also manages to create and flesh out great villains. It seemed to me that the quality of the villains in the Batman movies was steadily declining, to a point that in the 4th movie, the villains are Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane, possibly the most ridiculous villains in any comic book movie. "Batman Begins" creates two excellent and realistic villains  no silly costumes, no weird deformations, and extremely three-dimensional. The first, "Scarecrow", is EXTREMELY creepy, and was executed in an excellent way. In the comics he was a bit lame, but the movie really makes him cool. And the second villain "Ra's Al Ghul" well, you'll have to see the movie for yourself, I wouldn't want to ruin it.
The acting is superb. Never since Michael Keaton has Batman/Bruce Wayne been played so well. Christian Bale plays him, and the contrast between the Bruce Wayne persona and the Batman character is cleverly emphasized by change in style of dialog, attitude, and even tone of speech. Of course, this is all in order to emphasize the change Bruce Wayne has to go through, personality-wise, to become Batman, who is essentially someone whom his nature shouldn't allow to exist. Nolan has also managed to collect himself an excellent supporting cast. Michael Caine plays Alfred the butler, in a different way from the Alfred who accompanied all four of the previous installments, but also, in my opinion, in a more realistic way. Morgan Freeman plays Lucius Fox, the man behind Batman's equipment and gadgets. Liam Neeson plays Ducard, Ra's Al Ghul's assistant, and the man who trains Bruce Wayne. Tom Wilkinson plays Carmine Falcone, a bad guy but not a villain, with a strong, mock-American gangster accent, which gives him character and charm. Cillian Murphy plays Dr. Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow with such creepiness and malice. Even without the Scarecrow getup, Dr. Crane is one creepy character. And when he's in the Scarecrow getup spooky. Gary Oldman plays Jim Gordon, whose role has never been bigger and whose character has never been more fleshed out. And finally, Katie Holmes plays the love interest, Rachel Dawes. She acts fine, she just doesn't stand out among the rest of the cast.
The film is also made exceptionally well. Surprising enough, it's a summer blockbuster that isn't based on CGI effects. In fact, aside from some bats, I'm pretty sure that everything else appears as it was filmed, directly on-camera with no tampering. This is quite impressive, but obviously comes from Nolan's lack of blockbuster movie-making experience. Gotham City looks much different than it did in the previous installments. I still think that Burton's slightly over-the-top but extremely Gothic Gotham City is the best, but it gets really out of hand and over the top in Batman 3 and 4, so "Batman Begins" is a nice change. There's absolutely nothing over-the-top about Gotham City in "Batman Begins", which I suppose is a welcome change seeing as the movie is aspiring to realism. The action scenes are also EXTREMELY well crafted and photographed. And don't think that this movie is all about characters and drama. "Batman Begins" isn't short on action scenes at all. They are plentiful, exciting and they deliver.
Despite all these good things, "Batman Begins" also stumbles here and there. Some of the dialog isn't that good, some lines and elements are repeated too much, and some of the events are kind of cliché. But, these problems are minor, and can only be expected from a summer blockbuster made first and foremost to please the masses.
All in all, "Batman Begins" is a great movie, which is hugely successful on almost every level, including of course entertainment value. If you want to have a good time in the cinema AND see a great movie, "Batman Begins" is the film for you. I rank it as one of the best comic book movies ever, up there with the first two Batman films, X2 and Spider-Man 2.