Batman Begins - About time!

Rating: 9/10 (15 June 2005)

'Bout damn time! As expected from a film with the word "begins" in its title, Batman Begins attempts to reset the Batman film franchise, effectively ignoring all the previous Batman films. Nolan and his crew perform this task perfectly. Not wasting a moment, the film opens with the newly launched DC logo then fades directly into a dark Warner Bros shield, which promptly explodes into thousands of bats. With this simple 10-second moment, the mood of the film is set. Billionaire Bruce Wayne's past is told in a series of flashbacks while being trained in the far off corners of Asian by the enigmatic Ducard (played perfectly by Liam Neeson) and long time Batvillain Ras Al Ghul (played by the talented Ken Wanatabe). For the first time ever in a Batman film we see that Bruce's parents are loving and caring individuals that not only love their son without question, but also deeply and truly wish to make Gotham City a better place for all its citizens. As such, the pivotal moment in Crime Alley is all the more terrible. Even though I knew the moment was coming, I still found myself cringing during the deadly mugging of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Nolan did an amazing job in creating real fear and pain in a scene that I have read literally thousands of times over. In fact, Nolan's direction through the entire film creates the greatest rendition of the Dark Knight ever put to the screen, small or large.
Bale takes on the daunting task of creating a believable Bruce Wayne and Batman, a task he performs stunningly well. I have often stated that the only way to make Batman succeed is to have a perfectly acted Bruce Wayne, for he is the true mask. Bale is without a doubt the greatest Bruce Wayne. He is, at any given moment, the aloof billionaire playboy only to switch gears into the dark shadows of a man still wracked with pain and anger at the loss of his parents; as Batman, Nolan is able to channel his terror only before seen in American Psycho. There are moments in the film where the audience is truly intimidated by Batman. I would even go so far as to say that I found myself feeling sorry for the crooks of Gotham, when I wasn't clapping or grinning like a mad fan-boy. Michael Caine brings much needed depth and life to the character of Alfred Pennyworth. Ever more so then Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred is the father figure that Bruce long ago lost in the bowels of Gotham, although he never over steps his bounds. Caine perfectly captures the wry humor that keeps an ever deeply brooding Bruce Wayne grounded. Rounding out this stellar cast is Gary Oldman as Sgt. Gordon who does a wonderful job of bringing Gotham's only good cop to honest life and I am deeply looking forward to more Gordon in future Batman films. Morgan Freeman as the business and tech savvy Luscious Fox, an old friend of Thomas Wayne and the man who holds the ideals of Wayne Enterprises long after his friend passed on. Cillian Murphy brings just enough analytical arrogance and flat out insanity to the part of Jonathan Crane, also known as the Scarecrow. Murphy perfectly plays a man barely hanging onto his own sanity. A man who takes true visceral pleasure out of the fear of others. Liam Neeson perfectly plays Ducard, a man who sees a potential protégé in Bruce Wayne. Neeson is able to take the now familiar role of wizened adviser and make it something completely different, even a tad sinister. I even found myself pleasantly surprised by the acting of Katie Holmes in the role of Rachael Dawson, assistant D.A. in Gotham City. While I don't completely feel her role was needed, it was not distracting and Katie's character is so much more then eye candy, unlike her predecessors in Kim Basinger or Nicole Kidman. Speaking of Gotham City, it is wonderful to see a Gotham that looks like an actual city. While I loved the work that Anton Furst did in Burton's Batman, it always felt like style over substance. Nolan's Gotham is real. She is a city that is alive, if sick and slowly dying from within. The Gotham City of Batman Begins is the city I had always envisioned Gotham to look (although I was hoping for a couple of GCPD blimps, maybe in the next film).
I have often stated that films like Spiderman 2, Superman, and Hellboy worked because they weren't afraid to be a comic book films. That acknowledging the comic book world in which these stories reside is the only way such films can work. Batman Begins breaks that mold. True, Batman is a comic book character. True that Gotham City is a fake city in a fake world. However, Batman Begins is not a comic book movie. No, Batman Begins is a deeply moving and engrossing action / drama film that just so happens to draw its inspiration from a 66-year-old comic book icon. Batman Begins has some flaws, no that is not true, Batman Begins has some minor quips, but that doesn't stop me from claiming here and now that Batman Begins is the BEST comic book film yet made and quite possibly one of the best films of 2005 5 out of 5 critical hits.