Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Better Than the Rest
In the music industry, super-groups are well reviewed and tend to top the charts. Super-groups are, in case you weren't aware, when members from one band and members from another band merge together to form a new band. Velvet Revolver, Audioslave, and A Perfect Circle are examples of that. With movies, you rarely see two filmmakers put their heads together and create something really good. With "Batman Begins" that's what you get.You have the writer/director of "Memento" and the writer of the 3 movies in the "Blade" trilogy. That's a smart pairing up and it didn't go to waste. "Batman Begins" is a wonderful film, in many ways. As a comic book adaptation, as pure entertainment, the art direction and cinematography are great and the cast is unbeatable. Going back to the previous 4 Batman movies, there are several things that are wrong with them. The first two Batman movies (Batman & Batman Returns) were directed by Tim Burton and had Michael Keaton as the masked man. The films had a very gothic, creepy feeling to them; but Michael Keaton couldn't really pull of tough. Don't get me wrong, I love both of those films though. Joel Schumacher took over directing for the next two films (Batman Forever & Batman and Robin) and took a different approach. Those films were more like cartoonish black comedies; and the actors that were chosen to play Batman weren't that great either. Val Kilmer was too serious, George Clooney was too charismatic. Both are great actors and again, I enjoyed both films...But, I don't know. This film is more of an action film/drama that has a serious tone to it. It's dark, but not really gothic. We also have our protagonist Batman being like the comic book character. He's a reserved, reclusive billionaire instead of a womanizing, charming, billionaire. The film doesn't have your typical Batman feel to it, either...I'll explain. First of all, Batman doesn't appear in the film (by that I mean Bruce Wayne donning the cape) until 61 minutes in. In fact, most of the first half of the movie takes place in Japan or somewhere simalar and feels like "The Last Samurai." Ironically, a star from that film appears in this movie as well. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, who hits all the right notes) is in a prison in Japan or China (I get confused) when a man named Ducard (Liam Neeson) gets him out and begins training him, so Bruce can join The League of Shadows; an elite team of heavily trained ninjas that is run by a man named Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe, 'The Last Samurai'). After passing all the tests and realizing that The League isn't for him, he leaves the place in ruins and returns to his home in Gotham City. Gotham City is a crime ridden town, that's run by a mafia boss (Tom Wilkinson) and Bruce feels it's up to him to fix things. It's a perfect cover too, because everyone in Gotham is under the impression that Bruce is dead.So, with the help of his trusty butler Alfred (Michael Caine, who replaces Pat Hingle who played Alfred in all four films), an employee of Wayne Enterprises named Lucius Fox (a wonderful Morgan Freeman), a semi-love interest named Rachel (Katie Holmes), and Detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman); Bruce takes crime fighting into his own hands. Cillian Murphy ('Red Eye') plays the main-villain, who turns out to not even be the "head villain guy" Scarecrow. Oddly enough, Murphy seems to be blending both the roles he played in "Breakfast on Pluto" and "Red Eye" for this role. The character he plays is very flamboyant, but maintains a cold icy stare. Anyway, the cinematography and art direction are absolutely wonderful. This is the best looking Gotham City we've seen on the screen yet. The dialogue is really good; Everything looks different. And the movie is done in a serious way. Nothing cartoonish about this. Everyone plays their roles to perfection;Bale proves his versatilty, Caine and Freeman are wonderful to watch, Gary Oldman is like a chameleon blending into his role. I also like how they bring in a female character (Rachel) as a potential love interest, but nothing comes of it. It really does justice to Batman. Anyway, despite what Ebert & Roeper said, I don't think this was one of the best films of 2005. I think it was the best comic-book based film of 2005 and I think it's the best Batman movie so far; but that's because none of the other ones are taken seriously. Spiderman is a semi-dramatic comedic action film. X-Men are action films.Fantastic Four was a comedy. It's a nice break; Fans of the comics or fans of writer/director Christopher Nolan should be pleased.GRADE: A-