More than just a run-of-the-mill superhero caper

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2011)

Together with "Superman", Batman is probably the comic-book character who has most become part of popular culture. They have, in a way, become urban legends, in the sense that they are the legendary folk-heroes of a modern, urbanised industrial culture, just as Robin Hood and King Arthur were the legendary folk-heroes of rural, pre-industrial Britain.
The two crime-fighting superheroes are superficially similar, but their legends are different in tone. The "Superman" stories are more optimistic; life in the light, airy city of Metropolis is generally good, and any malefactors are dealt with by the gentlemanly Superman, originally from an alien planet but an ardent patriot for his adopted country, who fights crime out of an idealistic belief in truth, justice and the American way. Gotham City, by contrast, is a darker, more sinister place, a decaying-crime-ridden city. Batman himself, in most incarnations of the character, is portrayed as psychologically disturbed, a superhero crime fighter whose motivation is not so much idealism as revenge for the murder of his parents.
The original "Superman" franchise was responsible for kick-starting the modern superhero movie, a genre which has enjoyed a remarkably long lease of life, and when this franchise ran out of steam in the late eighties, the torch passed to the "Batman" series. Although many people praised the two Tim Burton films, the four episodes from the nineties never struck me as being entirely successful, largely due to the lack of a single actor who could incarnate the hero in the same way as the late Christopher Reeve succeeded in making himself the definitive Superman. Michael Keaton always struck me as miscast, Val Kilmer was just dull, and even the normally charismatic George Clooney failed to arouse much interest.
In my youth the Batman I was familiar with was Adam West from the light-hearted TV series, but his interpretation of the character was abandoned by Tim Burton in the first two episodes of the film series. The two episodes directed by Joel Schumacher, however, were much lighter in tone, even if they never became quite as camp and jokey as the TV programme, and the critical failure of the second of these, "Batman & Robin", led to the franchise being rethought. "Batman Begins" was the first "Batman" film for eight years, and the new director Christopher Nolan returns to the dark, brooding look of the Burton films.
"Batman Begins", as the title suggests, takes the legend back to the beginning. It tells the story of the young Bruce Wayne and of how his wealthy parents- portrayed here as idealistic philanthropists and benefactors of the city- are gunned down by a mugger. Burning with desire for revenge, Bruce disappears to the Himalayas to train with a mysterious crime-fighting organisation known as the League of Shadows. And here the film springs a surprise. The influence of Chinese martial arts movies has led to the stock cliché in American films of the noble Asian martial-arts warrior who combines fighting skills with a quasi-religious philosophy and a strong moral code. It therefore comes as something of a surprise when the League turns out not to be an enlightened brotherhood of holy warrior-monks but a ruthless vigilante force which Bruce, concerned about its lack of compassion, refuses to join. The head of the League, Ra's al Ghul, later turns up as the chief villain, author of a plot to destroy Gotham City, which he sees as hopelessly corrupt. The other villain featured is the Scarecrow, a corrupt psychiatrist who specialises in the use of fear-creating hallucinogenic toxins.
I won't summarise the rest of the plot (it gets far too complex), but I will say that of the five "Batman" films I have seen this struck me as the best. (I haven't seen the recent "The Dark Knight"). One reason for this is a remarkably strong cast. Christian Bale is certainly the best of the four actors to have played the main character; he is able to suggest the psychological anguish which torments Bruce/Batman, yet at the same time make him a largely sympathetic character with whom the audience can identify. Other distinguished actors in the cast- all of whom play their parts very well- include Michael Caine as Wayne's butler Alfred, Liam Neeson in a rare appearance as a villain as Ra's al Ghul, Tom Wilkinson as the gangster Carmine Falcone, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, an executive of Wayne Enterprises who becomes Batman's ally, and Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, one of the few honest cops on the Gotham force. (Gordon is here a mere sergeant, not Commissioner of Police as he was in the TV series). The weak link is the insipid Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Bruce's childhood friend who becomes a crusading prosecutor. (Rachel was presumably invented to provide an important female character in an otherwise male-dominated film).
The other reason for the relative success of "Batman Begins" is a more intelligent than usual script dealing with such weighty matters as vigilantism, the relationship between justice and revenge and the relationship between fear and power. (Both Falcone and the Scarecrow draw their power from their ability to inspire fear in others). Overall, this is more than just a run-of-the-mill superhero caper. 7/10