Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Half good, half bloated Hollywood actioner
One cannot fault the cinematography in this film, it's a work of art. And they got the atmosphere right, and added some emotional depth to Batman's backstory. But: the dialog was aimed at the lowest common denominator (and mixed so poorly that sometimes I had to listen to it 3 or 4 times to understand it); the action was so chopped up that it was hard to tell who was who and what was happening; the ethics became a little murky as Batman crunches and crashes dozens of police cars; and the proceedings become way too illogical as: 1) Batman dangles by a cable from a speeding monorail L train as it passes through multiple trestles (how do you do that?); 2) some kind of giant microwave projector is employed to boil the city water supply - that would be some nasty steam, wouldn't it? and wouldn't all water-containing items such as people, etc. be affected as well? Ultimately I ended up constantly making a comparison to Spider-man 2, which also featured a train scene. Nowhere in SW2 was I taken out of the movie by baffling logic gaps; those film-makers had the sense to run their story through an adult-level logic check, whereas these guys obviously didn't. How could Ra's (who is tough but can in no way be as high-tech-equipped) be beating the hell out of Batman who is wearing kevlar and graphite armor? This movie was really good where it stayed small, a scale which the writers could handle. They just don't have the intellect to write "big." Maybe it takes a committee. Anyway, this is entertaining, even beautiful to watch, but the last 45 minutes or so is way over the top and nonsensical.