Product: Batman Begins (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2005)
Rating: 5.0
Leaves all other "Batman" films in the dust . . . possibly the best comic book adaptation ever
The "Batman" concept has had an iron grip on American pop culture for decades, but for some reason the various adaptations of the Caped Crusader's tales to the Big Screen have been at best acceptable, and their worst, despicable. Whatever the reason, there hasn't been a film version of "Batman" that really captured the essence of the "Batman" stories.Until now, that is. Christopher Nolan, of "Memento" fame, has made arguably the best "comic book" film ever with "Batman Begins." (I know, fans of "X-Men 2" and "Sin City" get riled up with that assertion, but as Gene Hackman says in "Crimson Tide," "It's a short list.") Taking the "Batman" story closer to the "Dark Knight" versions of our hero and eschewing the more campy elements of other interpretations, Nolan takes an all-star cast and makes a movie that should have George Clooney, Val Kilmer, and even Michael Keaton calling their agents and screaming, "This is the 'Batman' picture I should have made!"Christian Bale takes over the title role, and works wonders with it. Batman has always been a difficult hero to personify. Not only is he a brilliant, daring muscleman, he has to possess the vulnerability brought about by the tragic loss of his parents. He also has to bring off the "billionaire playboy" public persona of Bruce Wayne. No actor donning the Bat Cape yet has achieved this balance with the same ease as Bale - perhaps this isn't surprising, since Bale has been disappearing into wonderful characters long before "American Psycho" -- his work as a young lad in 1987's "Empire of the Sun" and Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" in 1989 was very impressive.To "help out the young guy," Nolan and his team assembled an all-star supporting cast, to say the least. Michael Caine brings the necessary dignity to Alfred the Butler, but also the necessary affection and humor. Gary Oldman is remarkably restrained as the lone straight arrow in the Gotham City police department as a young Jim Gordon. Liam Neeson and Ken Watanabe are creepy as young Wayne's tutors in the nefarious League of Shadows (more on them in a second). Tom Wilkinson plays a gutter-boy-made-it-big crime lord. Rutger Hauer plays a minor villain, as a deceitful corporate hack in charge of Wayne Enterprises. Cillian Murphy ("28 Days Later") brings a youthful menace to the Scarecrow. And once again, Morgan Freeman almost steals the show as Wayne Enterprises' resident technical genius (and source for all the infamous Batman gizmos) Lucius Fox.Only Katie Holmes, as Wayne's love interest and young D.A. Rachel Dawes, seems a bit overwhelmed by all this star power. But I guess Scarlett Johannson can't be in *every* movie."Batman Begins" is aptly titled, as the movie spends most of its time telling the tale of how Bruce Wayne forged the alter ego Batman after his parents were gunned down before his eyes as a lad of ten or so. Wayne, struggling with guilt over his innocent role in his parents' murder as well as the crushing weight of his family's wealth and legacy, tries to research the criminal mind by hanging out with criminals and spending time in foreign jails as a petty thief.There he is "tapped" by Henri Ducard (Neeson) as the chief trainer in the League of Shadows. The League, a collection of ninja-warriors, has been dispensing its draconian form of justice for centuries. Whenever a civilization gets too corrupt, the League brings it down so civilization can start anew. "We sacked Rome. We were there when London burned." Neeson's Ducard is quite insane, but his insanity is so restricted by his rigid code of justice that he is more or less kept in check. Wayne is stellar during the training, but he balks at the League's more draconian beliefs, and Wayne's belief in redemption sparks what is certain to be a long-standing feud between Wayne and the survivors of the League (oh, yeah, Wayne single-handedly burns their headquarters to the ground, which may require the League to "get reacquainted" with Wayne later in the movie).Wayne returns "from the dead" to Gotham City just in time for the Scarecrow, Dr. Jonathan Crane, to unleash his plot to bring the city to its knees using a hallucinogenic drug and the city's water main. All I'll say about that is that this plot line builds to one of the most amazing fight scenes imaginable involving Gotham City mass transit and the tank-like Batmobile.A visual splendour, "Batman Begins" is also more realistic than the more recent stylized "Batman" movies.I imagine a review of "Batman Begins" is redundant if you're already a Batman fan -- you've already seen this movie, probably more than once. But if you've stayed away from Batman because of the terrible reputation of the previous movies, or the Adam West TV show, or because it's a 'comic book movie,' you should watch "Batman Begins." It is a great entertainment, and hopefully the start of a great new line of movies about the Caped Crusader.