Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 4.0
Finally, someone got Batman right
This is Batman in contemporary turn of the 21st century, not the Batman serial of the 1930s, the campy (but charming) Batman TV show of the 1960s or the more recent Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher abominations that can't be placed in any specific time setting. You will not see Tim Burton's Halloweenesque macabre eccentricities or Joel Schumacher mindlessly colourful spectacles. What you will see are Christopher Nolan's psychological (and if somewhat ponderous) analyses into the nature of guilt and fear. Nolan's Batman is Batman for mature people who want to see a humanized Batman suffering from guilt and fear and venting anger and fear against a corrupt Gotham City. This movie is really about Bruce Wayne as much as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies are really about Peter Parker. By focusing on the emotional man behind the costume rather the cold costume and lifeless gadgets, Nolan has made a realistic superhero film whereas Tim Burton (who has his cult following) merely redid his Halloweenesque "Beetlejuice" and "Edward Scissorhands" films with a bat costume. Whereas Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne is a cold and distant robot with a small body frame, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne is way better by bringing more physical stature and bringing more drama with his emotional suffering. Like the much-lauded Spider-Man and X-Men films, the pain is psychological, the conflict is internal, and display of physical violence is not the point. Yet, I take 1 star off because Katie Holmes is the movie's weak link and because Michael Cain's Alfred is a bit too proletarian compared to Michael Gough's Alfred. Further, why does a villian with an Arabic name speak Japanese in a Himalayan fortress and why do we have to see another runaway train scene after one was already done in Spider-Man 2?