Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Theatricality and deception. . .
Ladies and gentlemen, it's a good time to be a comic book nerd.With the recent renaissance in good comic book films (starting with Blade in 1998 and really kicking into high gear with X-men in 2000), fans of characters like Wolverine, Peter Parker, and now the Dark Knight, have finally been able to enjoy movies that treat their source material with almost unerring respect, and yet still manage to stand alone as solid entertainment. Batman Begins, directed by Memento and Insomnia's Christopher Nolan and written by comic book veteran David S. Goyer, is the best thing to happen to the character since Bruce W. Timm's animated re-imagining of Batman more than a decade ago.Like other "comic book movies" in recent years, Batman Begins lives up to its title, telling the origin story of Gotham's tormented savior from the death of his parents to the "present day." However, unlike Burton's boldly gothic world or the later, glitzier neon Batman incarnations, Nolan's live-action film places the story firmly in a recognizable reality, avoiding even the milder sci-fi trappings of the Spider-man and X-men films. Gotham City is not an evil-looking nest of fiersome gargoyles and gloomy cityscapes; it feels like a real american metropolis, albeit one that has obviously fallen on hard times. Economic depression has created street thugs of honest men and women, and the crime syndicates flourish while the powerful are too scared or too bribed to do anything.All this changes when Bruce's parents are gunned down in an alley by a desperate man, leaving the grieving young boy alone in the world but for a childhood best friend, Racheal, and the family butler, Alfred. When robbed even of the chance to exact vengeance against his parents' murderer, Bruce Wayne abandons Gotham and his inheritance to disappear into the ciminal underworld, eventually ending up a prisoner in Asia. Here, a fateful meeting with Henry Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ras Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) propels Bruce from his training as a member of the League of Shadows to donning the cape and cowl of the world's greatest detective.The film's strengths lie not just in the refreshingly realistic sensibilites that the film uses to portray Begins' ihabitants (everything from corrupt city officials, bent cops, lone idealists, and cocksure kingpins manages to feel grandiose and familiar without coming off as overbearing or cliched), but also in the skill apparent in every frame of the film. The story is a very well-drawn tale that touches on Batman's complex but idealistic morality (something Burton's films forgot when it was time for Batman to break out the chainguns and bat-bombs), as well as creating credible villains.For that matter, the entire world seems credible; Gotham doesn't look too much like any one city to be place (Chicago with multiple digital and practical enhancements plays the part), and everything from the stunts to the more outlandish technology never feels out of place in the film. The same can be said for the music; Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard collaberate to create a subtle yet very moving score that never tries to one-up or emulate Elfman's original.However, perhaps the most impressive accolade the movie can claim is the cast. Christian Bale completely inhabits the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman with a feral strength and darkly ironic sensibility that never quite made it to the character in the previous live-action films. However, even more enjoyable is the supporting cast; Gary Oldman's Sgt. Gordon looks like he stepped right out of the pages of Batman: Year One, and is cast brilliantly against type as Batman's lone ally in the police force. Micheal Caine's Alfred is fraternal and likable enough for two roles, and Cillian Murphy's turn as Dr. Cane/The Scarecrow is so enjoyable that it's almost depressing that he is now unable to play the Joker in any future films. Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer and Morgan Freeman also turn in slightly smaller but no less memorable roles as allies and adversaries to Bruce and his alter ego. These are thesbians who could sleepwalk through their roles in the movie, and yet every one of them turns in a grade-A performance.The film is a pure delight for comic book fans, and does a fantastic job of obtaining its own identity as a very good hi-tech action/adventure film. In fact, the only (very miniscule) flaws of the movie lie in the more action-packed segments. Fisticuffs are never shot from quite enough distance, limiting the view of the coreography and creating perhaps a bit too much "in your face" intensity and not enough of the grace of Batman's combat style. It works the first time we see the Dark Knight in action, as we see from the criminal point of view, and it's mean to be disorientating and frightening. But by the time the duel on the monorail rolls around, one starts to wish that the fights could have been filmed more like The Matrix and less like The Bourne Supremacy.However, these are small complaints in an otherwise astonishingly good and refreshingly serious take on the genre; a movie that is its own film first and foremost, and just also happens to be about comic book characters while treating its source material with the utmost respect.The DVD itself (the double-disk deluxe edition) is a fine investment, not only containing the film with an excellent video and audio transfer, but an entire second disk of bonus features on everything from the secrets of the special effects (you'll be surprised what was real and what was computer generated) to the genesis of the redesigned Batmobile (and some cute comic book easter eggs to boot). All in all, a spectacular addition to anyone's DVD collection, and an absolute must-have for every comic book and Batman fan.