Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
A perfect movie in my book...
Ha! I am the 1500th review of this movie! Me: 1, Rest of the World: 0I am a huge fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. I enjoyed all three films immensely, but this was my favorite. I think I am probably in a minority there. It is always difficult to compare films even when they are by the same director and have the same subject. There are certainly things that I liked better aboutThe Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition)andThe Dark Knight Rises (Blu-ray/DVD Combo+UltraViolet Digital Copy)(I intend, eventually, to write reviews of both). Both of The Dark Knight films had more interesting villains.The reason I still consider this my favorite of the three is because there is literally nothing I would change about this film. That is extremely rare for me. I tend to nitpick even my favorite films, and I almost always find little things I do not like, or that I wish were different. I can honestly say, with this film, that even if Christopher Nolan had come to me with an advanced screening and asked me if I had any suggestions for changes to be made (and frankly I am somewhat put out that he did not) I would have had no suggestions to offer.The movie, of course, charts the rise of Batman. It has been said many times already, by many other people, but I think it is an important point so I will say it again, what separates this movie from most super hero movies, as well as all the Batman movies made before Nolan's trilogy, is that Christopher Nolan has attempted to create a realistic world, as opposed to a cartoonish world, and he has succeeded brilliantly. It is amazing to me that so few super hero movies are able to achieve this degree of realism (most do not even try). It is always necessary in any super hero movie (or any other movie actually) to suspend disbelief to some degree, but this movie gets about as close as possible to a genuinely realistic super hero movie.The acting is superb throughout, and there is a whole host of supporting characters that each add their particular flavor to the whole movie. This is one of Christopher Nolan's genuine talents it seems to me. All of these Batman movies are filled with genuinely interesting, well drawn, and superbly acted, supporting characters. I said that the two Dark Knight movies had better villains, but the villains in this movie are actually very well played, and interesting. The addition of The Scarecrow was one of the highlights of this film for me. And, of course, Alfred (Michael Caine), Sergeant Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) are all spectacular. I also think Katie Holmes did a very good job as Rachel Dawes. All of the pieces of the jigsaw really came together on this one.It is easy to look down on super hero movies. I think they generally play into our human-all-too-human desires for perfect justice, or our desire to feel empowered in the face of things that we feel powerless about, but this movie has some substance. The movie analyzes, to some degree, the role that fear plays in perpetuating conditions that people find undesirable. This is a genuine insight into the way the world works. Batman is not out, in this movie, to single-handedly end all crime, or stop some cartoonish super villain. Batman's goal is to empower the citizens of Gotham, who are paralyzed by fear, and to turn that fear around on those doing the terrorizing (to make sure his enemies "share his dread").The movie also has somewhat of a social conscience in the form of Rachel Dawes and Bruce Wayne's father, as well as Bruce Wayne himself. There are a group of people who are willing to take advantage of people's fear, and the social problems of Gotham, for the sake of profit (like Carmine Falcone and The Scarecrow), but there is also a sense that many of the criminals of Gotham are being forced into crime through desperation. The movie has, therefore, some moral complexity, and is not quite the standard good guy/bad guy super hero film that we are used to, particularly when one takes into account the fact that the main villain, Ra's al Ghul, is acting on "good intentions". In fact, one could argue, that Ra's al Ghul adopts the position adopted by most super hero movies: that criminals are criminals because they are evil, and cannot be reformed, so the only thing to do is simply wipe them out. Batman represents a more subtle, and more complex, moral standpoint since he believes in reforming conditions as opposed to simply getting the "bad guys".Those are just a few of the reasons this is one of my all time favorite movies. I think you should watch it.