Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
DC goes toe to toe with Marvel - and wins.
Any fan will tell you that when Tim Burton announced that Michael Keaton was his Batman, there were gasps of disbelief and horror. Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, however, made us believers. After the first two movies, Burton and Keaton had the good sense to move on before the inevitable: WB going sequel crazy. In the third movie, Val Kilmer almost pulled it off; the inclusion of the Robin storyline actually worked. Director Joel Schumaker turned the Gotham into a black-light world of flourescent paint and was immensely heavy handed in constantly tilting the camera back and forth. Seldom was there a nice, level camera scene. The sucker was saved by the one-two punch of Jim Carrey as the Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones (who replaced Billy Dee Williams, sadly) almost as over the top as Carrey in playing Two-Face.Even then WB couldn't let it go - exit Schumaker (and the need to take Dramamine to combat motion sickness) and Kilmer. Enter George Clooney, who had the looks for the part, but didn't make it work at all. It might have to do with his recent response to a question if he would ever play a gay character; he responded that he already had when he played Batman. Suddenly the movie made more sense, particularly with those damned nipples and 'who gets the larger codpiece' argument on the costumes. Uma Thurman gives a simply horrible performance and Ah-nold the now girlie-man governor was beyond horrific. Thus was the death of the Batman series.Then along comes Chris Nolan, et al. The first thing he did was, as Christian Bale thanked him for upon receiving an MTV award, 'got rid of those bloody nipples'. Amen, brother. Rather than try to fix that which was badly broken, Nolan decided to explore Bruce Wayne's journey to become Batman. By default you also get to see Jim Gordon's journey from an actual uncorrupt cop, helpless to do anything about a system that was essentially owned on all levels by crime.Christian Bale has been an absolute chamelion since being discovered as a child by Spielberg during a miniseries about Anastasia, in which (looking like Alexei's reincarnated doppelganger) he made the miniscule role of the doomed Tsarovich more memorable than the rest of the four hour monstrosity. Spielberg then cast him as the lead in the huge and harsh world of Empire of the Sun. Since then Bale has been in so many movies that to list them here would take forever. He has learned how to sing and dance, all types of accents, been everything from an innocent child to a literal pschopath, and sculpted his own body to fit whatever role he is playing. In this instance he was coming off of playing a role where he dropped to 140 lbs. for the dark, psychological "The Machinist". He then bulked up to 220 lbs, working out, to the point when he showed up for the martial art training he was actually too big. So he lost weight and re-sculpted his body to the shape they wanted him to be in. Even during interviews on the extras disk, as well as when he was doing the publicity tour for the film; he speaks with the American accent, not wanting his British accent to sideline people's focus on the fact that he, unlike his character, is not American. Dedication doesn't even begin to describe Christian Bale.The same could be said for Gary Oldman, also a chamelion of an actor. He IS Jim Gordon. Never once do you think of the various villains and other odd characters he has played during his career.Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman perfectly round out both Bruce Wayne and Batman's inner circle of supporters. Caine perfectly played both the paternal role as well as the keeper of the Wayne family's legacy and honor. You will find yourself saying, "Nevah," with utter conviction in your own life. Freeman's character is brilliant, hidden in the bowels of the Wayne building with scientific and just plain cool items that would be wonderful to make use of in Iraq right now. As Freeman's character notes, however, the military doesn't think that a $300,000 body army suit is worth protecting their soldiers with, so even if the various military prototypes were not fictional - you know that they would be shoved in a drawer waiting for Bruce to 'borrow'. Most well-played was Freeman and Bale's unspoken acknowledgment of what Bruce is doing, even as he aids him under the guise of cave diving and base jumping.WB and fans no doubt want sequels, and there are already things set up for the next film; nonetheless you wonder if it should stand alone rather than trying to make it into another franchise that will eventually be mishandled.My only complaints are that there is no commentary and the extras disc is out and out annoying in its cutesy attempt to use a small comic strip as a way to find 'Easter Eggs', i.e. all the extra features. Just list the damned documentaries. Katie Holmes did a good enough, albeit annoyingly self-righteous, character. You can't help watching her and thinking, "Yep, that's probably the last movie she'll be doing now that she's been sucked into Scientology as a breeder for Tom Cruise.I'd actually give the movie 4 1/2 stars for the above reasons, as well as a few logistical issues. Most people wouldn't notice them, so it likely won't matter. All in all the movie is brilliant in its story, the acting, and the return to classic scenes of the stoic Batman perched like a gargoyle on various older buildings, watching silently over Gotham.