Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 3.0
Carmine Falcone is the real content
Script felt like it belonged to a second THE SHADOW movie.Then got warmed over for Batman.Worth seeing? If you love comic book movies.Any good? Not bad. Could've been much better.Bruce existed. Batman barely did.The Morgan Freeman character was not a character, just a function.The Alfred character was not a character, just a functionary.The "girl" character had some substance.Most characters were not characters, just bodies to make things happen.1989 Batman had a far better Danny Elfman score (with humor).1989 Batman had a spirit this one at least tried to caoture.1989 Zatoichi had editing technique used here for fight scenes. (You'd see a raised arm. You'd hear a scuffle. You'd see shadows. Then someone would be down.) You'd never actually see a fight.But then that now-ya-see-it-now-ya-don't quality was the creative thrust of the whole movie. Which made it far less satisfying and involving than it might have been.Carmine Falcone represented the corruption of Gotham, meaning of [name your favorite city] and this was meaningful. He was, however, neither an exaggerated comic character nor a realistic one, but a stereotype nonetheless. Identifying this form of evil was worthwhile.Despite emotional characters, there was no emotion in the movie.Oh yes: Some great comic book "splash panels," mostly at the end.And the ending might imply or build demand for a sequel. I think it suggested a full circle return to the content of the 1989 Batman. A good idea. Hollywood just does not trust us so they do sequels that never equal the intensity or creative impulses of the original. They futz with them and end up with more explosions and less story.I think there was a fine movie in there somewhere that, in all the years since the last Batman movie, got dumbed down.