Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 3.0
Good, but not great
I'm a huge fan of the Burton-led BATMAN movies. I find Burton's eye for the outlandish and Keaton's quirky take on the character to be one of my top five interpretations of this aged classic. I'm not trying to dredge up more Burton vs. Nolan debates (there are plenty of those out there), I'm simply stating that the reasons I loved Burton's movies are the very reasons I find Nolan's BEGINS to be flat and, dare I say, boring.In Burton's films, much is left open to interpretation. The story and characters are primarily developed using visuals. This is why, if you were ever curious, there is some debate in the geek community over whether or not Selina Kyle inherited "cat powers" from the cats who saved her after her boss tried to whack her.Nolan's film, on the other hand, pretty much spells everything out for the audience. That's a nice way of putting it. I personally felt assaulted after seeing this movie. "Fear, fear, fear, it's all about fear, what's your greatest fear, I want to strike fear", blah blah blah. In my opinion, there's no real sense subtlety or, for that matter, urgency. I knew that Batman would save the day in the end and that's boring. Contrast that with Burton's Batman, who had a lot more at stake than innocent lives in RETURNS- his potential happiness with Selina, his need to shut the Penguin and Shreck down for keeps (beyond just sending them to prison, he needed to know that order can prevail against chaos), etc. Everything Batman believed in and his very soul were at stake which, as a viewer, is an easy thing to latch on to.I found the Gotham City production design in BEGINS to be absolutely bland. It looks like someone just rigged up some cameras in downtown Chicago and taped some dude running around in a Batman costume... which is essentially what happened. Gotham City, as it's presented in BEGINS and in keeping with the "realistic" tone of the film, doesn't feel like an otherworldly place where people like Batman and the Scarecrow are common place... which is, in my opinion, one of it's biggest failures. It is absolutely jarring to see an utterly realistic party scene with Bruce Wayne one minute and then see Batman (an instantly ridiculous site in the real world) beating up criminals the next.Burton's Gotham City (in RETURNS, at least) was an expressionistic, claustrophobic nightmare where freaks like Batman, Catwoman, the Penguin and such are completely at home. The gothic atmosphere perfectly serves both the characters and the plot.In BEGINS, we get some good fight scenes, a "realistic" tone, an admittedly impressive car chase, some fanboy-friendly interactions between Batman and Gordon and a generally epic feeling... and also some really terrible dialog, a script that spares no expense in making sure the lowest common denominator "gets" the theme of fear, Alfred the butler reduced to window dressing, etc.I didn't *love* BEGINS, but if you prefer films where the story and character development lay in the dialog instead of the visuals, this is the Batman for you. Knock yourself out!If, like me, you prefer Burton's gothic nightmares, there's not much here for you.