Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
"I Gotta Get Me One of These."
Having no idea what to expect from "Batman Begins", it was with some skepticism that I saw this film. If any other prequels were anything to go on, the expectation was not too high. "Batman Begins" removed all doubts and proved to be an excellent movie.The plot basically delves in detail into the formative life of Bruce Wayne and his development of the alter-ego that would be Batman. The movie covers this is a fair amount of detail, giving you insight as to how he met important people such as Gordon, and where he got his fighting abilities, his gadgets and even symbolic animal. As an underlying thread, Wayne's principles are also developed throughout the movie.Unlike one or two other superhero movies, "Batman Begins" keeps a fair amount of the action and pace present while it deals with the troubling issues that a budding crime-fighter of this kind faces. There is a fair balance between self-reflection and visual action that has been absent in other movies of this kind.Another aspect of the movie that is lacking in the earlier Batman movies is the brooding seriousness of it. Rather than an almost over-the-top, comic book feel, the movie presents a darkly serious characterisation. Even the villains share in this forboding seriousness, and lack some of the light exuberance of Jack Nicholson's Joker, or Tommy Lee Jones' Two Face. While neither good or bad, this does mark "Batman Begins" as different in an important way. For me, this was an excellent difference.All in all, I enjoyed this movie much more than the earlier movies from the Batman franchise. It looks very different from the other movies, for obvious reasons, and I feel that it adds a deeper element to the Batman saga on film. This is a great film, and really has a lot going for it.