Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
The Batman Movie we all wanted to see in the first place!
There were and are a few grumblings from critics here and there but ultimately this film garnered near unanimous applause and a huge sigh of relief. Batman Begins is not perfect by any measure but is easily the best Batman movie ever, not that it had serious competition from it's predecessors. The first thing director Christopher Nolan does is say the hell with the neon colors, the over the top comic book sensibility, the freakshow circuses, let's take Batman back to his roots. Strip him of all the tarnish and the villians and the crazy gadgets. Let's go to the core of who he is. Who is Batman? Who is Bruce Wayne? How did Bruce Wayne become Batman? Everyone knows the answers to these questions but we never saw these questions answered vividly before our very eyes on the cinematic screen before Batman Begins. One of the genius strokes of this movie is the fact that Batman is not even shown onscreen for the first hour of the film! Unbelievable! That had to have Warner Brothers executives biting their fingernails incessantly. Will those pesky teenagers in the audience sit still as the story of Batman is allowed to unfold at an unhurried pace? Apparently those pesky teenagers weren't so dumb after all since the film was quite a hit. Hey, even adults liked this movie, two birds with one stone.Christian Bale is the best actor to inhabit this character, ever. Some may have their nostalgia for Michael Keaton but Keaton was very low-key and let the freakshow villians dominate his movies with their antics. Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman is a marked difference from previous actors, he is involving and fascinating as a character. From the tragedy of his past to the glory of his future, the whole path of this character makes perfect dramatic sense. Michael Caine does his job as Alfred, Liam Neeson is an intelligent villian, Cillian Murphy gets a bit on my nerves, but anyhow, the only person who lets the cast down is Katie Holmes. She's just there to be a pretty face and she's not that pretty! Gary Oldman as Gordan is right on the money. Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson and even Rutger Hauer are terrific supporting characters. Ken Watanabe's short appearance is significant too. That's a lot of name actors!The script and pacing are terrific, however Batman Begins does have it's faults. Let me list them. There seems to be too many characters and plot points as if Nolan wants to ram a far more epic story into the running time. Then there is the question of the action scenes, Nolan's directing of action is still in it's infancy and there is no action set-piece to take your breath away and go, "Wow, that's amazing!". So the action scenes leave something to be desired and the Batmobile looks like [...] to be honest, but it's design makes sense in light of Nolan's more realistic take on the whole Batman mythology. ( The Batmobile still looks very derivative, admit it! ).Overall, this film was a joy to watch. I saw it on the huge IMAX screen and was very happy to finally be witness to the Batman film we all rightfully deserved. In light of the box-office victory and the critical triumph, this film should not have been called Batman Begins, but instead Batman Redeemed!