Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
The Best of the Batman Movies
Batman Begins is a great addition to the Tim Burton Batman films and in my opinion it slightly surpasses those, but not by much. Let me just get the two negatives I have of the film off my back to begin with. The fight scenes were way too choppy to the point of not being able to tell who was hitting who and it lacks the comic book fun of the first two Batman films (I know it is suppose to be more realistic). Now the great things... Christian Bale shines as Bruce Wayne/Batman proving he is a star on the rise. Check him out in The Machinist where he went from 184 pounds to a skeletal 121 pounds. After he shot that film, Bale had to gain back his original weight and put on around 30 pounds (close to 100 lbs. in only 5 months) of bulk to play Batman. That is one dedicated actor if I do say so myself and I liked him just as much as Keaton in the role because he had the physical build (something Keaton lacked) to go along with the good acting chops to play Batman. The supporting cast is great as well, with Liam Neeson (very good here), Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman being the standouts. The villians are almost side characters in the story, which is drastically different from Burton's films where the bad guys were on screen as much as Batman was. I like how they used very little CGI and relied on real stunts and explosions. The score was well done as well, even though there was no great theme like in the Danny Elfman soundtracks. I am a fan of Burton's Batmobile design, but this one is just as cool in a more realistic way. Some people actually got up too quickly and missed the Joker reference at the end, so make sure you see the credits before leaving.