Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
"People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy, and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne."
As a fan of the Batman character, one of the strong points of the Batman persona is how realistic it is, or at least how realistic it could be. I once read a quote stating that, 'Superman is the American dream, Batman is the American reality.' How true. There is nothing fantasy-related like Spiderman, Superman, etc. in this film. Bruce Wayne and the characters he encounters exist in the world we live in; thus, Batman exists as though he were real. For those who aren't aware, Batman is not a "super" hero in the true sense of "super heroes" because he is simply a man, or as director Christopher Nolan aptly put it, "He makes himself extraordinary through force of will." Batman Begins is not only the best Batman film ever made, but as a longtime fan of the comic books, I am convinced it is the greatest Batman story ever told.One of the great elements of this film is its great character arc. Whereas in the previous 4 Batman films, Alfred was more a minor point in the story: an old man in a tuxedo who served as Bruce Wayne's butler, in Batman Begins, the Alfred character is given much more depth as not only the connection between Thomas Wayne and his son, Bruce, but also a friend and a father figure. Likewise with Commissioner Gordon. In the previous films, he has spoken but a few lines and we are not given any background into his character (for that matter, the previous four films did not give much background into Bruce Wayne/Batman's character, either). Here, we see James Gordon prior to being a police commissioner and we understand his motivations as the one good cop in a deteriorating city. Also, the love interest in Batman Begins, unlike the previous four films, is no damsel in distress. She is an assistant district attorney and a childhood friend of Bruce's who is more than capable of taking care of herself. Every character in Batman Begins has a purpose- it is really very well written.Most importantly, we see a very realistic and plausable explanation on the formation of the Batman persona: motivations, mistakes, and challenges ahead. Whereas Batman served as somewhat of a talk-show host in the previous 4 films, inviting more celebrated villains to take center-stage, Batman Begins is a film about the tragedy, loss, and re-invention of Bruce Wayne and his one man war on crime.This film is truly a modern-day classic. It is dark, psychological, haunting, beautiful, well-written, well-thoughtout, and well-acted. I have heard people complain about the action sequences with Batman being shot too tight, but there is an explanation for this as well. In the comics, Batman is somewhat of an urban legend- not many people have seen him, though those that have said his speed in combat was blindingly fast. Therefore, Christopher Nolan shot his action scenes as though those who encounter the Batman don't know what hit them.Upon watching Batman Begins, one can see that the four previous Batman films (they got progressively worse in my opinion, though the first 3 can be described as good)not only have not aged well, but really missed the forest for the trees in terms of story-telling. They spent too much time developing over-the-top villains and their backgrounds while failing to develop Batman or Bruce Wayne as a character. They also failed to stay true to the comics in a number of instances: in the first Batman, the Joker was killed off in the end. In the second Batman, the Penguin was made to be a gross, black-spewing monster. In the third and fourth films, Batman had nipples on the Batsuit.The "new" Batman franchise, directed by Christopher Nolan, will be a trilogy, with the next film, The Dark Knight, to be released in July 2008. It will include Heath Ledger as the Joker in what will prove to be a very different (read: not funny like Jack Nicholson's portrayal) depiction of the character. If the Dark Knight is even in the ballpark of Batman Begins, we're in for another treat.