Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 2.0
I may be in the minority, but it wasn't really that good
Batman Begins is not a good film as many would have you believe.Perhaps on a superficial level you will be charmed by the attractive cast, the gritty sets/ scenes, and the new batman suit and mobile. And to a degree the story is anchored on the question of Vengeance and Justice, which provides a measure of depth. But do they all mesh? Moreover, does it make a good action movie?It could have. This movie did not. There are many reasons that I did not feel any empathy for this movie, but I will name just three.First, I just could not buy the whole idea of Conclave of Shadows - or whatever they called themselves. A group of shinobi types 'balancing out' civilizations for thousands of years... it just did not seem pluasible. It may be cliche, but it still seems more plausible that a villain would rather be what he is for the usual reasons: personal desires, ambitions, goals. The idea of an ancient and secret order bent on global justice seems so way out there that I bet most people don't even care about them at all thruout the movie. And when the archvillain goes out with a bang, the movie quickly cuts to the next and last scene, as if itself did not care about the fate of the Conclace after that last explosion.Second, there is an issue of plausibility. It seemed to me that all the natives Bruce encounters in his warderings across the desolatation of Tibet seem to speak and understand American. And when Bruce Wayne finally climbs up to the very asian looking Temple to meet the Conclave, he finds it occupied by a bunch of white guys with bad ninja costumes? Ok, there was Ken Watanabe, but he is nothing more than window dressing in the Temple sequence. Some may call it a small gripe, but if you want to borrow the asian mystique to justify Batman's scrappy aura, the movie could and should have delievered better.Finally, I hated the action sequences. Batman Begins' idea of action is to stick the camera as close to the action as possible, than shake it very fast left and right to simulate intensity. Is this the best way to handle action in a multimillion dollar movie? They couldn't hire one piano wire guy, much less a legitimate action choreographer? I read somewhere that the director of this movie has Memento and Imsomnia on his resume. Those were two good movies, but niether of them are action - and it shows in Batman Begins. When I pay to watch an action flick, I want action, damnit!On the whole, I found Batman Begins very boring and badly plotted. All the pieces were there, but I think they could have been assembled into a much better movie.