Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Batman legend reborn
When i went to see this film, i was filled with both hope and fear. I hoped Nolan would make a return to the dark and gritty world that Burton had made in the first two movie, and i feared he had done a "Shumacher" on the world. Luckily, he had done the first.Batman is such an intriguing character. He is not a superhero, such as spiderman or superman, he has no powers. So that is the platform that allows Burton and now Nolan to create a more mature storyline, it does not need to be colourful and bright. It is a storyline that is believable to adults.Burton originally created the dark fairytale, he turned batman from a dark comic book character and turned him into a believable vigilante with a story line that was plausable, if slightly far-fetched. Nolan has now carried on with this approach to the fable, and it can be seen with most of the movie being related to a more modern day issue of drugs, and with the villans in the story not being "Supervillians", but insted just mortals with a taste for havoc.Now, when finding out that this chapter is seperate to the former versions of the Burton/Shumacher series, I like many of you were afraid that their work was thrown away(if you can call what Shumacher did work). But then, you will realise that this instalment is no different to "Batman" or "Batman Forever". All three of these films were the start of individual views on th franchise. Burton created the dark fairytale that was so chillingly made, while Shumacher made a "Child-friendly" version, without all the darkness and with the colour, and Jim Carrey. All three directors have taken individual parts in the series. Nolan is createing another darker version, with a much more modern role within it.However, when i heard that the new film was not linked to the older films, i felt worried that the films would be scrapped from memory, but i will not worry because i have now realised that each director has made his own series, there is already a split within the franchise. This was never picked up before because the two series never clashed so obviously as the new film does with the original films. Thankfully, one of the differences within the stories told is that in Batman Begins, we finally have a good insight into his parents death. Burton chose the Joker, in his human form, would be their killer. However, the batman legend tells us that batman never get vengence from the killer as it is belived he would loose his motivation. Schumacher then tried to tell us that Two face, despite previously a upstanding DA as Harvey Dent and not becoming a psycho killer until years after the murder, killed his parents. He then ran out of the funeral with a red book, through a wood in the rain, before being scared by a solitary bat flying in slow motion. This time, it combats the stupidity of Schmachers version while keeping to the legend, which Burton did not. It is said that it was "crime" that killed his parents(or at least a man forced to rob and kill through a depression)and that he never got a chance to get vengance for the murder. this means that he wil never loose his motivation. This is finally a plausable explination without disturbing the legend, something the series has always needed.Overall the legend has been split before between the directors, instead be happy that Nolan has restored the element that has been mising with Schumachers movies, The part that made it a favourite for many people. The darkness and realism that sets it apart from all the other superhero films.