Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
For the Dults...not the Kids
For Father's Day, my son and I went to see the fifthin a series of Batman movies..."Batman Begins". Atrue fan of this big screen sequence, I thought thisprequel was refreshing, exciting...and on a totallydifferent plain from the first four. What Idiscovered was that Batman has a heart...has ahistory...has every reason on the planet to don wings,ears and abilities above and beyond the call ofDracula.While I was expecting the same action-packed thrillsfrom the "Batman", "Batman Returns", "Batman Forever",and "Batman and Robin" full screen classics, this onehit a completely different nerve.It is a two-hour and 20 minute drama...creating thelife of Bruce Wayne from childhood to the Joker.Starring Christian Bale as Bruce (Batman) Wayne, thisone was far from being the action thriller withnon-stop special effects, violence and thrills.Director Christopher Nolan took this opportunity togive Batman a heart...a purpose...a reason forbeing...and he does it masterfully. To achieve thisgoal, he had no choice but to submit a 140-minutemasterpiece that achieves everything it set out to do.Don't bring the little ones. This intellectualthriller is 20% action...80% intellectual.Granted, the action builds in the last 30 minutes andthere's an awesome Batmobile chase, but the true meritof this film is the heart of Batman. Bale turns in ahighly believable performance as the viewer discoverswhy Bruce became the comic book hero of the 50's.The music and sound holds this flick together.Wayne's heart throb Rachel (Katie Holmes), turns in anaverage performance, but this film would have bombedwithout Bale.Perhaps the finest performance is turned in by cinemalegend Michael Caine as Batman's butler. He hasn'tmissed a beat.If this film had been released as the first in thesequence of five films, I would have given it a 5.But because us viewers expected more action based onits predecessors, I give it an 4...which isn't bad.Bale bails this one out.