Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
The way Batman should have been - from the start!
Batman is a thread in the fabric of everyday life in the U.S. There aren't many little boys who haven't once dreamed of being Batman.Batman is different from Superman, the X-Men, Spiderman, Aquaman, or the Green Lantern - he's simply a man. He has no super human powers. He doesn't fly, wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, isn't a mutant, and cannot breathe underwater. Batman is nothing more than the secret identity of the very human Bruce Wayne.Bruce sought solice in revenge and empowerment in order to fight the very forces of evil that destroyed his family. Oh, he's a very priviledged man (he'd have to be in order to have access to all the very expensive gadgetry that he has at his command), but he's still nothing more than a very strong man - with a iron steel will and fortitude that is quite oftem more strong and resourceful than any of those displayed by the super humans elsewhere written about in comics.Batman Begins takes us on a journey as described in the Dark Knight comic series. It reinvented the Batman in a very human and more accessible manner. The film does the same.Nolan's Gotham City may not be New York, but it IS a city from the look of it, not some nightmare vision of a city as Burton envisioned.Rather than create a nonexistent mythos, Nolan gives us believabe corporate greed and believably corrupt police. Even the "super villain" of the film is one that is truly grounded in reality: he's not super at all - he's just really really creepy: the Scarecrow.The Scarecrow has always been one of my favorite villains, because he is so truly believable. The Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler were all created during WWII. They were villains of the Dick Tracy variety: sinister and evil, but not quite real.The Scarecrow is nothing more than a psychiatrist who knows how to get inside people's heads using hallucinogenic drugs. Batman Begins' Scarecrow is a business suit wearing creep, who dons a scarecrow mask after he's dosed his victims with his paranoia-inducing drug. The effect is quite creepy on screen. Further the reality quotient of it is high.Batman Begins is a drama at its heart. It is an action film in its soul. And it is a super hero film in name only. Batman Begins could be a Jackie Chan film, Clint Eastwood, or film of some similar genre. It falls not too far afield of reality and in doing so builds believability and stregnth.Finally, there's the thespian chops this film boasts. This is no super-duper big budget name dropping film (there's no terribly miscast Arnold Schwarzenegger).This film has actors not names. Just off the radar actor Christian Bale stars as Batman. Bale is known to many for his thoughtful and intense portrayals in lesser known Hollywood and independent films.Alfred, the dutiful butler is played by Michael Caine (not overacting or lazy as he can often be); the incredibly fine actor, Morgan Freeman, gives this film further believabity in his subtly nuanced performance as Lucius Fox. Detective Gordon (who later becomes Commissioner Gordon) is underplayed wonderfully by the incredible Gary Oldman. Rounding out this impressive cast are Katie Holmes (who is quite good and who's character is actually allowed to exist beyond mere window dressing) as Batman's childhood girlfriend; Rutger Hauer as the president of Wayne Enterprises, delivering a performance that may put him back on the radar; irish actor Cillian Murphy gives us the super villain as organized crime's pawn - or is he?; Ralph Fiennes as Ra's Al'Ghul is perfectly cast; and Tom Wilkenson is the head of Gotham's organized crime demonstrates that crime in Gotham doesn't need a mask to be powerful.Batman Begins is the version we have been waiting for since Warner Brothers announced it was making one (back in 1985). We've been waiting twenty years for the real thing to be delivered. One decent version and three no show versions of Batman in the past twenty years... Where is the real Bathman? Now we have it....Batman Begins is the TRUE beginning for what I hope will be a real Batman franchise.