Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Batman Begins: You've been liberated at last
Batman Begins is an excellent retelling of Batman's origins (something's that never been properly done in the movies, except maybe in the cartoon movie "Mask of Phantasm") and brings the Dark Knight back to the mantel he stood upon before the late 1990s. That aside, I really have to commend the director -- Christopher Nolan -- on bringing Batman into the silverscreen limelight, the plot was written quite well. It certainly was on par to the Batman Comics themselves and the dark themes of the series. The city used for Gotham City was such an amazing choice of the corrupt city -- much better than cartoonish Gotham City via "Forever," "Batman & Robin," and the early Tim Burton Batman movies. All which reminded me a deranged architect's warped mind.A short overview of the movie is this: A young Bruce Wayne (Gus Lewis) while playing with young Rachel Dawes (Emma Lockhart), falls down a well and is attacked by a flurry of bats. After his father, Thomas Wayne (Linus Roache), pulls him from the well, Bruce begins having nightmares about bats. One night the Waynes go to the opera where Bruce becomes scared at some of the dancers' portrayals of bat-like demons. Bruce experiences a panic attack and begs his father to leave the theater early. The family exits into an alley where they are confronted by a mugger, Joe Chill. Despite the calm submission of Thomas, Chill shoots both him and his wife. Fatally wounded with a bullet in his chest, Thomas Wayne tells his son not to be afriad. Bruce is left physically unharmed, but in a state of total mental shock.From there the movie picks up when Bruce Wayne is in the a Chinese prison for attempting to steal products that, ironically, belong to Wayne Interprises. He approached by Ducard to meet his master Ra's al Ghul and an opportunity to join "The League of Shadows." From the movie becomes very interesting. That aside, the actors chosen for the roles (comic book and original character alike) were also an excellent choice. Aside from Christian Bale and Michael Caine, other well known actors play their roles superbly.Even Liam Neeson, whom I usually haven't liked since "Phantom Menace" was interesting as the character Henri Ducard. Though many people complained about Katie Holmes' performance in the movie as Rachel Dawes, I thought she did a swell performance in this movie than she ever did in the entire series of "Dawson's Creek" and other films she's been in.Cillian Murphy, an actor quite knew to me played his role as twisted Arkam doctor, Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow, like a well oiled machine. The mask he used when his victims were given his hypnotic gas gave me quite a scare. The graphics for the film were top notch. It was hard to tell what was CGI, though there were obvious CGI moments in most of the high shots of the city. The narrows, the rundown and cut off area of Gotham City where the poor reside was nicely created, very reminiscent of Gotham City after the massive earthquake in the "No Man's Land" arc.The action was sparely placed throughout the movie to develop the storyline and character, but when the action was thrown into motion it really captured your in the moment, especially the Tumbler/Batmobile scenes. Batman's fighting style was very Batman-like, though most of the time it was hard to tell what was going in the darkness, even then Batman was grabbing up his enemies on his grappler. All in all, Batman Begins managed to reel you in with its dark comic book style story telling set in a more realistic world that better reflected Bob Kane's universe, while maintaining the mystery of the plot until the very end. This is a film I would defiantly want to own. ----- [a 5 out of 5]