Most Satisfying Film of 2005

Rating: 9/10 (15 June 2005)

By far, BATMAN BEGINS is the movie to beat this year. I have not seen a better movie, and I couldn't have been more pleased to see it in its full opening night glory. The crowd cheered. This is what making movies is about. The film is about two wonderful things; real, human emotion and bodies in motion (these are THE primary elements of cinema).
Some critics have criticized the film's lack of jokey entertainment (The film is joyously free of Schwarzenegger pointing skyward yelling "Get the heroes!"). To critics who would have preferred a smart-allecky, warmer Batman story, I submit the entire lore of Batman as evidence that real Batman fans like their hero dark and disturbed. It's the age old debate; Superman is too invincible, he has no human interest; Batman is too emotionally distant, too far off base to identify. (Spider-Man is everyman who accidentally overtakes heroism and he's fine the way he is.) But Batman is the original hero to all the comic book boys (and lately girls too) who once fantasized about becoming Superman or Spiderman and realized that they would never fly, never spray web from their wrists. This is their movie, a chilling legend of intense self-searching and more than its fair share of legitimate thrills. Which leads me to the villains, of which there are many.
The film opens with young Bruce Wayne falling down a well and being traumatized by a swarm of bats escaping upward. Later his idyllic father rappels down for him and continues teaching him simpleton wisdoms (the film, it seems, goes on to criticize even the most generous philanthropists, suggesting true heroism is more a matter of perspective, that good is more about common decency than spreading your own privilege.) Bruce is then found years later at what seems to be a North Korean prison where he is letter released after pledging to join a secret society of justice enforcers called the League of Shadows (I think). I won't go on into too much more detail, but the film takes it deliberate time showing exactly why anybody would think fighting crime with a huge cape and a bat costume is the most effective method possible (in the film, it seems downright logical).
The secret will soon spread about the surprise character at the end, but I'd like to congratulate Christopher Nolan's specific interpretation of Scarecrow, one of the less popular Batman villains (who always seemed like a weirder version of the Joker). The sequences devoted to Scarecrow's fear-serum are legitimately frightening and yet contain excellent plot development. And that's the real trick of the film, with the exception of perhaps a few fleeting shots, this film moves, and that's no small task at 2 hours and 20 minutes. It clips along with the pace of a runaway train, quickly delivering its ultimate conflict in the best way possible. The cast is excellent and the action spot on. This is the first contender to take the place of Tim Burton's original from 1989. Fans for decades will debate both film's merits, and rightly so. Here lies the proof that in the hands of a truly avant-garde director, Batman can be both a viable market entity and a film that will outlast its marketing drive in the years to follow. Hopefully, Chris Nolan will return for a second and third, and complete a saga of a film series that started strong and lost its way when it changed captains. Here's hoping no returns to the campy, over-the-top-ness of the 90's Batman films. Bring on the darkness.