Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Tops Every Batman Movie To Date
Did I think it possible? Heck no! I don't consider myself a big theater-goer, but when I do go, I expect nothing short of at least GOOD. What I got from Batman Begins was nothins short of fantastic. This movie is extreme! The script is great, Christian Bale is awesome, the villain is an ultimate bad guy (no crazy colorful costumes or cheesy dialogue come from this villain!), and the movie balances action with actual substance.In Batman Begins, we learn the origins of Batman. It opens with our hero, Bruce Wayne aka Batman, in a prison. He gets into a wicked fight with a group of inmates, so bad that the guards pull him off telling him it's for "protection." When Bruce screams that he doesn't need protection, the guards tell him that it's for the other inmates, not for him. Bruce is a strong-willed, heck just plan strong, man. Soon after, he's picked up by Ducard (Liam Neeson), who trains Bruce to become a member of an elite group called The League of Shadows, but when Bruce's initiation consists of killing someone and he just can't do it, he ends up setting the entire place on fire, stopping only to save Ducard. Bruce heads back to Gotham City, sure that he can be of help to the people. And undoubtedly, he will be exactly the force that the city needs. The city is full of corruption, from the police to the lawyers to the creepy guy, Scarecrow, who runs the mental institution. One of the non-corrupt is Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who is fighting to put the city's biggest mob boss behind bars. Rachel knew Bruce Wayne before his parents died and is upset to learn that his return to Gotham has no more substance than being a playboy (oh, how little she knows...)It's great to finally have backstory. To finally have more than just a couple glimpses of how Bruce Wayne actually became Batman. His greatest fear is bats; what better way to get over the fear than become a bat? There's still comedic one-liners, though it's nothing near as cheesy as the previous films. One of my favorites is when Bruce is trapped under a fiery log and his butler Alfred (played wonderfully by Michael Caine) says, "What's the purpose of all those push-ups if you can't even lift a bloody log?" So, the cheese factor is finally gone from the Batman franchise. If they continue with making Batmans, which I'm sure they will, I hope they take notes while watching this one to create something equally spectacular.